Swanton, Ohio’s Dusty Moore capitalized on other drivers’ bad luck Saturday night to win the Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model Feature convincingly.
It was Ronnie Perrine Jr. that appeared to have the car to beat after taking the lead early and pulling away.
Dusty Moore, with last week’s feature winner Rusty Schlenk just behind, tried to reel in Perrine Jr. until a lap 11 caution changed the entire complexion of the race. Initially the caution was thrown for Chris Keller’s spin in turn four. Just as that incident occurred, Schlenk slowed abruptly on the backstretch and went straight to the pits relinquishing the third position.
Then leader Ronnie Perrine Jr. had a mechanical problem just as the field took the green flag. His car slowly rolled to a stop up high between turns one and two to bring out another caution.
Moore inherited the lead and was pursued by Roddy Schroyer in the closing laps. Moore stretched his lead and went on to pick up the easy victory over Schroyer, Zac Davis, Zach Olger and Tyler Boggs.
Randy Franks was the early leader in UMP Sportsman Feature racing action until Rob Anderzack took over on lap two.
Tim Fisher grabbed the lead on lap 10 and Mike Jessen followed into second as Anderzack began to slip back.
Jackie Sheldrick, Trevor Butor and Joe Smith spun in turn one with seven laps to go to bring out a caution flag.
Jessen jumped to the outside of Fisher after the restart and the two drivers had a good side by side battle for the lead in the remaining laps. Jessen managed to be ahead by a nose at the line on at least one occasion, but it was Tim Fisher who was able to hang on and cross the finish line first when it counted. It was his second feature win of the year.
Jessen finished a very close second followed by Brian Fisher and last week’s feature winner Josh Steinacker. Anderzack fell back to finish fifth.
Danny Hogrefe threaded the needle between Dustin Sautter and Brett Miller to snatch the lead on the first lap of the UMP Bomber A Main.
Jim Scout then began to put the pressure on a lap later, diving to the inside of Hogrefe for the lead. Hogrefe held off the challenge for a while, but Scout finally took command of the race on lap 11 and went on to pick up the win.
Hogrefe finished second followed by Brett Miller, B.J. Gregory and Dan Shaffer.
The UMP Bomber B Main featured a great battle for the early lead between John Renchler, Brian Barden and Billy Brown with Renchler eventually winning that battle.
Roscoe Stetton had to start at the tail of the field after bringing out a caution on the first lap of the race, but worked his way nicely up to second by lap seven.
Stetton couldn’t get any further though as Renchler held on to take the checkered flag over Roscoe.
Aaron Boyd finished third and Marty Bloomer was fourth. Ronnie Leonard finished fifth after completing a 360 coming off turn four
Jim Plotts led the first half of the UMP Bomber C Main with Jerry Signor quickly moving up to challenge.
On lap seven, Plotts got held up behind a lapped car and Signor took advantage and grabbed the lead away and the eventual win. Plotts had to settle for second followed by Jeremiah Floyd, Jeff Geis and Richarde Riffe.
Thirteen year-old Tyler Line was once again uncontested in the brand new UMP Hornet division at Oakshade Raceway that features drivers 12 to 18 years old in front wheel drive, four cylinder cars.
Memorial Day Weekend marks the first of four scheduled American Late Model Series events at Oakshade Raceway this summer. The UMP Late Model Feature winner will pocket $2000. UMP Sportsmen, UMP Bombers and UMP Hornets will also be in action with gates open at 4pm and racing at 7pm.