Michigan driver David Hilliker set a blistering pace in his Outlaw Late Model on the fastest night of racing of the year at Oakshade Raceway. Hilliker turned a lap in qualifying at just over 12 seconds around the 3/8 mile track earning him quick time of the night.
The huge lexan side boards towered up from the left side of most of the Outlaw Late Models which helped produce some incredible speeds. With the field inverted for the feature based on qualifying times, Hilliker had to start at the back, but the rest of the competitors would have probably liked him to start even further back if it were at all possible.
Josh Montague started on the pole and led the first lap. Chuck Hummer then grabbed the lead very briefly until Rody Schroyer flew by and began to pull away from the rest of the field.
Schroyer was trying to put as much distance between himself and the 21 car of David Hilliker who was rocketing through traffic toward the front. Schroyer’s lead quickly evaporated and Hilliker closed in and took the lead away on lap nine.
Schroyer tried to stay close to Hilliker and got into the lapped car of George Laney. Laney spun and the yellow flag came out.
With Brian Koebbe in third behind Schroyer on the restart, Koebbe and Schroyer made contact and Koebbe spun and had to restart at the tail.
Terry Sroufe took advantage and got by Schroyer for second on the next restart, but David Hilliker was by far the class of the field lapping all but just a few cars in the extremely fast Outlaw Late Model Feature.
Sroufe held on to finish second ahead of Schroyer. Koebbe was the second fast qualifier of the night and recovered to finish fourth after his spin earlier in the race. Mark Wagner was fifth.
Mike Jessen, the unofficial state of Ohio UMP Sportsman Champion started on the outside of the front row in the UMP Sportsman Feature and took command early.
Ky Harper, looking to make up for some bad luck suffered a week earlier in the Twin 25’s, moved his way up through the field after starting eighth.
Harper got by Brad Mills for second and then took the lead from Jessen on lap seven. Jessen managed to hang with Harper and keep the pressure on. Smoke began to billow from out of the back of Jessen’s car entering the corners as he continued to stay right with the leader, but soon began to fade back through the running order.
Harper pulled away and went on to pick up the easy victory over Brad Mills, Brian Fisher and Tim Bernard. Jessen wound up finishing in fifth.
Dan Dippman and Tom Ordway put on a great show in the Bomber A Main with the two drivers trading the lead back and forth for much of the race. Dippman led the most laps as the two drivers battled the entire race until Dippman got held up just a bit by a lapped car with less than two laps to go.
Ordway capitalized on Dippman’s misfortune and snatched the lead away. Ordway had just locked up his second consecutive Bomber track championship a week ago and added another Bomber A Main win to his already successful season.
Dan Dippman had to settle for second with Craig Dippman third. Jim Scout and Brad Miller rounded out the rest of the top five finishers.
Cody Tredway had a great run in the UMP Bomber B Main. The young driver from Berky, Ohio led most of the race with Ron Tolles putting the pressure on.
It wasn’t Tolles that Tredway needed to be concerned with as the 12 car of Garry Domoe closed in and past both drivers, taking the lead on lap nine. Tredway did all he could to stay with Domoe, but Domoe was too strong and went on to the easy victory. Tredway held on to finish second ahead of Tolles, Ron Bloomfield and Jeremy Grover.
Chris Williams led flag to flag after starting on the pole of the Bomber C Main. A big wreck right in front of the flag stand that involved Bill Vorce, Richard Riffe, Brad Brehm, Chas Sentel and Jeff Grochowski resulted in one of the multiple complete restarts.
Joe Overmyer was running third and suffered mechanical problems on lap five which brought out the caution and put an end to his night.
Williams continued to lead and held off Jeff Strock on his way to the checkered flag. John Gamber finished third followed by Jim Plotts and Corina Belcher.
The final Saturday night racing program of the 2007 racing season at Oakshade Raceway takes place on September 29 with the 7th Annual Bomber Spectacular paying $1000 to win. The UMP Sportsman will also be back in action for a final time with gates opening at 4pm and racing at 7pm. Sunday, September 30, Oakshade will host the first of the three afternoon 200 lap/2 hour enduro races starting at 3pm with the gates opening at 12pm.