Zack Olger was the fastest of the fast in Saturday night’s Outlaw Late Model show at Oakshade Raceway that featured exciting racing action in each of the classes including the Racing for the Cure celebrity charity race.
Lambertville, Michigan’s Ron Miller had the lead at the start of the Outlaw Late Model feature, but Zack Olger quickly moved in from his sixth place starting position.
After a pair of cautions for Mark Pollack’s spins, Olger began to set sail and pull away from the rest of the field. Setting the fast time of the night at just under 13.5 seconds, Olger was to be the class of the field.
Rody Schroyer out of Ottawa Lake, Michigan managed to hang with Olger for a few laps while running second, but the St. Johns, Michigan driver opened up his lead over Schroyer while working through lapped traffic on his way to his first Oakshade Raceway feature win of the year.
Schroyer finished second with Ron Miller third after recovering from being involved in an earlier incident. Bryan Koebbe and Chris Keller were the rest of the top five finishers.
Several Toledo area media personalities took part in the rescheduled Racing for the Cure charity race which raised over $1,100 for the Northwest Ohio Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation to help in the fight against breast cancer.
Defending champion Ryan Vetter of WTOL Channel 11 News had the most donations and got to start on the pole. He grabbed the early lead over NBC 24 weatherman Norm Van Ness.
Oakshade Raceway announcer Scott Hammer started at the tail and worked his way up to second, challenging for the lead, before spinning exiting turn four to bring out the only caution. Electrical problems kept Hammer from getting the car restarted forcing an early exit from the race.
Van Ness got his car figured out and started a charge to the front and went on to win. Oakshade’s Dan Rice took second and Vetter slid back to finish third. WIOT’s afternoon drive DJ Pyke finished fourth.
In UMP Sportsman feature action, Tim Fisher from Blissfield, Michigan started on the outside of the front row and proceeded to lead the entire distance.
Mike Jessen was the pole sitter and applied pressure to Fisher the entire race, but could not find a way to get around him with George Lindsey making it a tight three car battle for the lead.
Fisher hung on to pick up his eighth feature win of the season with Jessen and Lindsey maintaining second and third. Rusty Smith got by Brian Fisher to finish fourth.
One of the most exciting races of the night was the UMP Bomber A Main which was a prelude to next week’s $1,000 to win Bomber Spectacular. Things started off with Curt Lancaster taking the early lead.
Danny Hogrefe was running fourth when he dropped a drive shaft on lap five which ended his night.
Lancaster, Billy Brown and Brice Luttrell had a heated battle for the lead for much of the race. While under a late debris caution, Luttrell retired to the pits giving up the second position which moved Jim Scout into striking distance with just two laps remaining.
Scout got alongside Lancaster on the final lap and was able to snatch the win away. It was the Addison, Michigan driver’s second A Main win of the year.
Lancaster finished a close second followed by Brett Miller who started dead last in 23rd. Billy Brown fell back to finish fourth with Jeff Geis claiming fifth.
Adam Noonan earned his second consecutive UMP Hornet feature win after trailing Derek Morris for a majority of the race. Noonan finally got by Morris in the second half of the race after putting on the pressure much of the first half.
Dylan Herman from Bowling Green, Ohio finished second followed by Tyler Line, Dylan Burt and Curtis Spurgeon. Line and Burt got together racing for the third position as they crossed the finish line and Line spun into the concrete barrier on the inside of the track after the checkered flag.
Next was the UMP Bomber B Main. Last year’s UMP Sportsman track champion Josh Steinacker got by Kyle Light on lap three to take the lead. Steinacker opened up a large margin over second place until Adam Bailer spun with just two laps to go.
Garry Domoe got to close up behind Steinacker in second for the restart. Steinacker went on to cross the finish line first, but after post-race inspection, his car was deemed illegal. Steinacker was disqualified and Domoe got credit for his second feature win of the year.
Dustin Sautter started 18th and earned an impressive second place finish with Ron Leonard taking third in a borrowed car. Jamie Grochowski also had an impressive run finishing fourth after starting 22nd. Steve Morris was fifth.
The UMP Bomber C Main featured three different leaders with Brian McKenzie leading at the start. Fred Birch took command on lap four and three laps later, Chris Williams took over as the final leader of the race on his way to his first feature win of the year.
Fred Birch held on to finish second with Tony Tolles marching through the field from 21st to finish third. Ron Bloomfield and Chris Sands rounded out the rest of the top five.
Saturday, September 27 will be the final Saturday night racing program of the 2008 season which will feature the Ninth Annual Bomber Spectacular paying $1,000 to the winner. UMP Sportsmen and UMP Hornets will also be in action with gates opening at 4pm and racing at 7pm. Then on Sunday afternoon, Oakshade Raceway will host the first of two scheduled 200-lap/Two Hour Enduro races. Gates open at 11am with the race starting at 2pm.
Events will continue throughout the month of October at Oakshade Raceway with another Enduro scheduled for the afternoon of October 11, a swap meet on October 18 and Haunted Hay Rides every weekend. See www.oakshaderaceway.com for more details.
