Brian Ruhlman finally found his way back to victory lane for the first time this year in the UMP Late Model Feature at Oakshade Raceway on Saturday night.
Two-time Late Model Feature winner Ronnie Perrine Jr. suffered from some bad luck with a spin on lap five to bring out the only caution period of the race. Then later Perrine Jr. spun again but kept going without a yellow, but not before going a lap down to the leaders.
Ruhlman started on the outside of the front row in the Zeller’s Towing number one car and led the entire distance and was uncontested at the checkered flag.
Casey Noonan got by points leader Rick Delong to finish second. Rusty Schlenk borrowed a car from Dusty Moore for the second week in a row and finished fourth with Rusty Seaver taking fifth in his first appearance of the year.
Mike Sudeth had trouble on the first lap of the UMP Sportsman Feature when he spun in turn two and collected six other cars just about blocking the track which resulted in a complete restart with the cars involved in the incident going to the tail.
With Josh Steinacker leading, Scot Mills spun on the second lap and Rob Liaeff had significant contact with his car bringing out another yellow and causing a little fire under the hood of Liaeff’s car. Liaeff later rejoined the race 12 laps down.
Back under the green, Steinacker pulled away with the lead, but Ky Harper soon began to close in.
Another caution on lap 13 tightened up the field behind Steinacker for a final time. After the restart, Steinacker and Harper pulled away from the rest of the pack with Harper pressuring for the lead.
Oakshade’s UMP Sportsman points leader Josh Steinacker fended off the challenge en route to his sixth feature win of the year relegating Harper to a second place finish.
Rusty Schlenk recovered to finish third after being involved in the pile up on the first lap of the race and having to restart at the tail. Mike Jessen and Brad Mills rounded out the rest of the top five finishers.
Brett Miller got by Wade Rick for the the lead early in the UMP Bomber A Main with Garry Domoe and Tom Ordway close behind. By lap three, it was Domoe at the front of the field and eventually Ordway took second from Miller and then closed in on Domoe for the lead.
Josh Montague started 12th and worked his way up to third by lap 17, but Brett Miller got into the back of Montague going into turn three sending Montague spinning which brought out the yellow flag.
Ordway got up alongside Domoe on the final lap, but could not make the pass as Domoe went on to post his second consecutive Bomber A Main win with Ordway settling for second again as he did a week ago.
Brett Miller held on to finish third and Craig Dippman took the Racer’s Connection Tail Start Challenge, but came up a few positions shy in fourth. Jeff Geis was fifth.
Jake Rendel started on the pole of the UMP Bomber B Main and went on to pick up the victory over Brian Przepiora who started deep in the field. Dan Bleikamp also started deep in the field and finished third ahead of Toxic Moe, Bob Rendel and Dave Sibberson.
Jerry Signor took the lead at the white flag in the UMP Bomber C Main and held off Kyle Light at the checkers to win his second feature of the year. Dustin Sauter led much of the race, but had to settle for a third place finish ahead of Chris Tressler and Trevor Reed.
Saturday, July 28 will be Swanton Sports Center Night at Oakshade Raceway featuring more great racing action with UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsmen and UMP Bombers. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.
