Fans were treated to a great night of racing Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway, highlighted with wins by Brice Luttrell, Ryan Missler, Jim Scout, Ben Finch III and Norm Van Ness.
Gracious race fans gave over $1,400 in donations for the Northwest Ohio Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fight breast cancer for the Fourth Annual Celebrity Charity Race. Defending race winner and Oakshade Raceway announcer Scott Hammer started on the pole and led the first couple laps until loosing control and spinning down the front stretch which brought out the yellow flag. Oakshade Raceway’s Dan “Links” Rice then inherited the race lead, but NBC 24’s Norm Van Ness eventually took the lead away. Van Ness went on to become the first and only repeat winner of the race with track photographer Chad Johnson finishing second. Hammer recovered to finish third and WTOL Channel 11’s Ryan Vetter was fourth after a last lap spin. Dan Rice finished fifth after suffering a flat tire earlier in the race.
Next up was the previously rained out Season Championship feature event for the UMP Sportsmen with the unofficial 2010 Champion Mike Jessen starting on the pole. Outside pole-sitter Brice Luttrell took became the early leader as Jessen slipped back a few positions. Steve Mills put some pressure on Luttrell for the lead the first part of the race, but eventually fell back. Next to take a stab at Luttrell was B.J. Gregory. The two drivers battled side by side lap after lap. Gregory had the lead by a nose for one lap, but Luttrell fought back on the outside. Gregory used up his tires and began to fall back as Luttrell went on to pick up his fourth feature win of the year. Gregory held on to finish second with Joe Smith taking third. Steve Mills fell back to finish fourth with Mike Jessen ending up fifth.
The final UMP Late Model feature of the year at Oakshade Raceway was a topless event with no roofs on any of the cars. Casey Noonan started on the pole and led the first six laps. Last week’s feature winner Dona Marcoullier shot out to the lead on a restart after a caution and proceeded to open up a huge lead. Ryan Missler started coming on strong near the end of the race moving into second with five laps remaining. Kyle Perry who was a lap down got turned around by Missler as he was charging toward the front with just three laps to go. That spin brought out the yellow flag and eliminated Marcoullier’s big lead. Missler darted out to the lead on the restart and went on to pick up his first Oakshade Raceway feature win. Following Marcoullier was Ronnie Perrine Jr. who finished third. Devin Shiels was fourth with Casey Noonan rounding out the top five finishers.
Unofficial 2010 Oakshade Bomber Track Champion Jim Scout led the entire distance of the UMP Bomber A Main on his way to his sixth feature win of the year. Craig Dippman started ninth and fought his way up to second, but ran out of laps before he could catch Scout. Billy Brown worked his way as high as second, but lost that spot to Dippman to finish third followed by Tony Tolles and Garry Domoe.
William Cundick started off strong in the Hornet feature event and led early with Drew Smith challenging. The two drivers were side by side going by Breanna Franks to put her a lap down when she slid up into the side of Cundick pushing him up into Smith which cut down a tire. Smith ended up going to the pits after losing control and smacking the front stretch wall with that flat tire. Cundick maintained the lead until sixteen-year-old Ben Finch III got by and went on to post his second consecutive feature win. Cundick held on to finish second just ahead of Logan Hough. Troy Schalitz finished fourth with Taylor Dippman recovering after an earlier spin to wind up fifth.
Twenty-seven cars started the final race of the night, the UMP Bomber B Main in which Allen Tolles led the majority of the caution-filled race. The first caution was for Dave Gumby’s spin on the first lap. Another yellow flag came out on lap two after a hard crash in the middle of the front stretch involving Greg Lane, Ted Hill and Josh Curtis. After a few more cautions, a string of green flag laps were finally able to be completed with Tolles leading Jim Remley and Donovan Paskan. Both Remley and Paskan got by Tolles shortly after Tolles got held up behind a lapped car. Remley and Paskan went on to finish first and second followed by Tom Baumgartner, Matt Rose and Fred Birch.
The final weekend of racing of the season at Oakshade Raceway takes place October 2nd and 3rd. The 11th Annual Bomber Spectacular paying $1,000 to the winner of the A Main happens Saturday night along with UMP Sportsmen and Hornets. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm. Then it is a 200 Lap/2 Hour Enduro Race on Sunday afternoon paying $1,000 to the winner of that race as well. General admission tickets are just $3 for the Enduro with gates opening at 11am and the race at 3pm.
