Rusty Schlenk won his second consecutive UMP Late Model feature at Oakshade Raceway on Saturday night.
Bill Hahn led the first handful of laps after starting on the pole of the Late Model feature with the 91 of Schlenk putting the pressure on.
Schlenk had taken the lead from Hahn, but a multi-car wreck involving four cars brought out the yellow flag before the lap could be scored.
Shortly after the restart, Hahn ended up getting into the guardrail at the end of backstretch which ended his night and turned the lead over to Rusty Schlenk.
Schlenk proceeded to build a substantial lead over Scott Fisk and the rest of the field until Roddy Schroyer’s car came to a stop on the high side of turn two. That brought out the yellow flag and allowed Fisk to close right up to Schlenk’s back bumper.
Fisk managed to put some pressure on Schlenk after the restart, but Schlenk was too strong and began to motor away once again.
Schlenk managed to catch a lucky break toward the end of the race. The young driver from Jackson, MI drove into turn one and went up and disappeared over the turn one banking. Schlenk kept his car going and reappeared in turn two just as the yellow came out. Rusty was not charged for the yellow and since the line up reverted to the last scored lap, he retained his position as the leader.
Schlenk went on to easily capture his second feature victory of the year at Oakshade. Scott Fisk finished in the second spot with Kris Patterson getting by Rick Delong to end up third.
For the second week in a row, the Sportsman feature produced another first time feature winner in that division.
Ray Klawitter’s early pass on Chris Keller was the first of many lead changes in the race. Klawitter’s lead was short lived as Keller reassumed the point on the restart after an early caution.
Rob Liaeff spun on lap six to bring out the second caution flag of the feature after running up in the top five.
Josh Steinacker, last week’s Sportsman feature winner, worked the high groove up to second by lap nine and took the lead from Keller on the 13th lap.
A couple late cautions kept the field tight and on the restart after the last caution, Steinacker kissed the front stretch wall which opened the door for Keller to lead for the third time in the race.
Chris Keller went on to win his first Sportsman feature at Oakshade with Tim Fisher finishing second. Steinacker held on to a third place finish ahead of Ray Klawitter and Mike Jessen.
Joe Smith and Dan Dippman started together on the front row of the Bomber A Main and put on a good side by side battle for the first few laps. The two made contact as they completed the second lap and eventually Smith pulled ahead with the lead.
Jarrett Rendel and Kevin Hanford brought the yellow on lap three. While running under caution, leader Joe Smith realized he had a flat left rear and went to the pits. He returned later three laps down.
That turned the lead over to Dan Dippman and it was a lead he would not relinquish. Randy Roseman finished second behind Dippman with Jake Rendel and Todd Silvey third and fourth respectively.
Bob Rendel was in control of the Bomber B Main in the early going but eventually succumbed to the heavy pressure put on by Ted Goetz Jr. by lap four.
The two leaders worked through heavy lapped traffic as Goetz lengthened his lead over Rendel. Rendel got together with Dan Drummond but both drivers continued on with no caution.
Ted Goetz Jr. took the checkered flag well ahead of second place finisher Bob Rendel. Kevin Cole was third with Dave Sibberson and Brad Blonde rounding out the top five.
The Bomber C Main produced the most exciting finish of the night.
Jesse Burgett, Nick Fenner and Shane Stuckey all battled for the lead through most of the race with 14B of Dan Bleikamp closing in from deep in the field.
Stuckey took the lead from Burgett on lap six and started to put some distance between him and the three-car battle for second between Burgett, Fenner and Bleikamp.
Stuckey suddenly slowed coming off turn two on the final lap and the second place battle tried to squeeze by, but Bleikamp caught the side of Stuckey’s car and both crashed on the backstretch as Jesse Burgett fought off Fenner for the race to the checkered flag.
Roger Davenport finished third followed by Rick Dippman and Steve Dempewolf.
Oakshade Raceway will host the first of four American Late Model Series events on Saturday, May 28 paying $2,000 to the UMP Late Model feature winner. Sportsman/Trucks and Bombers will complete the racing bill.
