WAUSEON, OH – The 2022 points season wrapped up on Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway with season champions being unofficially determined by some very tight margins, including one battle ending in a tie. 2009 Late Model track champion Casey Noonan knew where he needed to finish to earn his second track championship over Devin Shiels who did everything in his power to try to notch a fifth track championship by holding off Rusty Schlenk for the feature win.

Shiels, the defending track champion, started on the pole and led all but one lap in the 25-lap Late Model feature event. Shiels caught the tail end of the field during a long green flag run and had a hard time putting a few of those cars a lap down. That allowed Rusty Schlenk and Colin Shipley to close in. Schlenk and Shiels split by one lapped car three-wide down the backstretch with Schlenk looking high and Shiels going low. Schlenk had the advantage at the line to lead lap 20 by a nose. The Britton, Michigan, driver fought back and reclaimed the lead the following lap and held on to win his third Oakshade feature win of the season. The win capped off another Oakshade/Attica Late Model Challenge Series championship for Shiels, but it wasn’t enough for the Oakshade track championship. Schlenk finished the race a close second followed by Shipley. Noonan’s fourth place finish gave him the track championship by just five points over Shiels. Mathew Chapman finished the feature in fifth.

Carter Murday entered Season Championship Night with a slim point lead over Josh Robertson in the Oakshade Sportsman class. Robertson, out of Defiance, Ohio, started on the pole of the 20-lap feature event and led from flag to flag with Murday trailing in second. Murday’s second-place finish was just enough to earn his first track championship by just a two-point margin over Robertson. Carter Schlenk, Jesse Jones and Rusty Smith were the rest of the top five feature race finishers.

William “Bubba” Cundick trailed Kolin Schilt by 10 points at the beginning of the night in Dominator Super Stocks points and ended up starting on the pole of the 15-lap A Main feature event.  The Wauseon, Ohio, driver jumped out to a big lead at the start and led the entire distance for his second A Main win of the season. Adam Lantz tried to close in on Cundick but had to settle for a second-place finish. Adam Noonan ended up third with Schilt finishing fourth, which was enough to earn his first track championship by just four points over Cundick. Justin Gamber rounded out the top five finishers.

In the Compacts, Ryan Okuley had one of the biggest leads entering Season Championship Night with a 36-point advantage over defending champ Eric Carr from Wauseon, Ohio. Carr started on the pole of the Compact feature event and was leading Okuley. The two drivers were working through lapped traffic and halfway through the race, Okuley attempted to pass a lapped car on the outside down the front stretch. The lapped car squeezed Okuley up into the wall. Okuley’s car launched up into the air off the lapped car’s right-side tires and flew off the top of turn two which ended Okuley’s night. Carr went on to pick up his fifth A Main win of the season with Jason Deshler, Jason Bailey, Jeff Goodman and Dylan Iffland the rest of the top five finishers. Okuley was credited with a 13^th place finish which unofficially resulted in Carr and Okuley in a tie at the top of the point standings. Carr would have the edge in the tie-breaker which was the number of wins.

Dean Taylor looked to have the car to beat in the Dominator Super Stock B Main. Taylor led the first part of the race, but would have mechanical issues after a lap six restart that would knock him out of the event. Oregon, Ohio’s Haley Dippman would inherit the lead and held off Charles Stuckey to pick up the win. John Lonabarger started deep in the field and drove to a third-place finish ahead of Jason Drummond and David Ellis.

Brandon Proffitt out of Adrian, Michigan, held off a late charge from James Stamper to win the final race of the night, the Compact B Main. Aaron Barrick finished third followed by Mike Siegel and Todd Drewes Jr.

Even though the point championships have been unofficially decided, racing still continues every Saturday night through the end of September at Oakshade Raceway. This Saturday will be full racing program of DIRTcar UMP Late Models, Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts. Gates open at 4pm with hot laps and qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7:15pm.

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WAUSEON, OH – Casey Noonan survived several late race restarts to earn his second Oakshade Raceway feature win of the season which highlighted a wild evening of racing on the 3/8-mile dirt oval on Saturday night.

Noonan, out of Sylvania, Ohio, started the 25-lap DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature from the pole and darted out the lead at the drop of the green flag with Devin Shiels challenging from second early. Eventually Noonan would open his advantage over Shiels, but Shiels would slowly reel the race leader back in once they started working lapped traffic.

Shiels began to put some pressure on for the lead late in the race but several late race cautions would reset the field with clear track in front of the leaders. The last caution period would set up a one lap shootout to the finish. Noonan launched off turn four to open a bit of a gap over Shiels on each of the late race restarts, but Shiels managed to stick with Noonan on the final restart. Noonan was able to keep Shiels at bay and held on to pick up the victory. Shiels settled for second. Both drivers continue to sit atop the point standings and are only separated by 18 points heading into the final stretch of races of the season.

Steve Kester was able to pass Curtis Roberts on the final lap to finish in the third position and Rusty Smith finished fifth behind Roberts.

Karl Spoores jumped out to the early lead of the 20-lap Sportsman feature event with Joe Smith close behind. Smith would pass Spoores by the completion of lap two and set sail with the race lead.

Adrian, Michigan’s Carter Murday trailed Smith most of the race, running in the second position. Without the aid of any caution flags to tighten up the field, Murday found lapped traffic to be to his advantage. Murday closed up the gap and made a bid to the outside of Smith in some heavy lapped traffic and took the lead away with just two laps remaining.

The leaders continued to battle through lapped traffic and Murday tangled with a lapped car coming off turn four on the final lap with the checkered flag in sight. Murday spun across the finish line to earn his fourth win of the season and reclaimed the top spot in the track point standings. Smith settled for a close second place finish followed by Jesse Jones, Jake Gamber and Spoores.

William “Bubba” Cundick led the first lap of the Dominator Super Stock A Main, getting the jump on point leader Kolin Schilt. Cundick got into turn one a little high on the second lap allowing Schilt to take the lead away. Cundick tried to fight back to the inside, but the Stryker, Ohio, driver fended off the challenge and began to pull away.

A big wreck just in front of the race leader would bring out the first yellow flag of the race and wipe out the big lead Schilt had built up with just a few of laps remaining. One more caution would set up a two-lap race to the finish and in the end, Schilt proved to be the class of the field and won his fourth Dominator Super Stock A Main of the year. Dean Taylor got by Cundick to finish second with Adam Noonan and Scott Hammer rounding out the rest of the top five finishers.

Cory Gumm, out of Hillsdale, Michigan, started on the pole of the Compact A Main and drove to his first Oakshade Raceway feature win of the season. Aaron Vanpelt looked strong, picking up the win in his heat race earlier in the evening and moved up three positions to finish second ahead of point leader Ryan Okuley in the feature. Eric Carr, winner of the last three Compact A Mains, started on the outside of the front row and slipped back to finish fourth with Jason Deshler gaining four spots to wind up fifth.

Brian Miller grabbed the lead at the start of the Dominator Super Stock B Main and then slipped back to the third position with what appeared to be a very loose race car. Miller would end up spinning on lap nine to bring out the caution flag which ended his top five run.

Fayette, Ohio’s Donovan Paskan took the lead from Miller on the second lap and held off a late race challenge from Craig Turner to earn the win with Turner taking second. Derek Zuver held off Scott Barnhart for third and Gary Domoe was fifth.

Brandon Proffitt out of Adrian, Michigan, led the entire distance of the final race of the night, the Compact B Main. Logan Streight was running second until he lost control and spun on the front stretch on lap number four. Dalton Mcvey climbed 10 positions to finish second behind Proffitt with Lawrence Mullins in third. Streight rebounded to finish fourth and Todd Drewes Jr. ended up fifth.

Racing action continues to heat up in the month of August at Oakshade Raceway. This Saturday, August 13, Oakshade will host another full racing program of DIRTcar UMP Late Models, Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts. Plus, the Vintage American Race Cars (VARC) will make their only appearance of the season with race cars from yesteryear on display and racing. Gates open at 4pm with hot laps at 6pm and racing at 7:15pm.

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