Oakshade Raceway hosted an American Late Model Series (ALMS) $2,000 to win double header and crowned the 2012 UMP Late Model Champion on Saturday night. Canadian driver Andrew Reaume earned his first Oakshade Raceway feature win, which was also his first feature win in the United States. Matt Miller won the second ALMS feature and Rusty Schlenk unofficially captured his fifth track championship.
The night started off with the with the first ALMS feature that was postponed due to rain on the night of August 4. Andrew Reaume, Jim Scout and Matt Miller battled three-wide for the lead at the drop of the green flag. Reaume came out ahead of that battle by the completion of lap two. Reaume, from Blenheim, Ontario Canada, driver started to pull away from Miller, but a caution flag for Ky Harper’s spin on lap 18 tightened up the field. That turned out to be the only caution of the race and Reaume once again opened up his advantage over Miller in the closing laps after the restart.
After countless runner-up finishes over the past few seasons, Reaume finall closed the deal and earned that elusive first Oakshade feature win. Miller had to settle for second followed by Devin Shiels, Brian Ruhlman and Rusty Schlenk.
Later in the night, after a brief rain shower had slightly delayed the night’s racing program, the second 30-lap ALMS feature race rolled on to the track. Reaume started on the outside of the front row as he did in the first feature of the night and immediately jumped out to the lead. Jeff Babcock was breathing down his neck, challenging for the lead and had finally gotten by Reaume just as the yellow flag flew for Ryan Vanderveen’s spin on lap 12. That was a bit of a reprieve for Reaume’s lead. A few laps after the restart, Babcock’s decent run came to an end when his car slowed and retired to the pits. Matt Miller then closed in and challenged Reaume for the lead. The two drivers race side by side with Miller finally taking over for good on lap 17. Miller went on to pick up his fourth Oakshade feature win of the year which was enough to unofficially earn him a 10th place finish in the final 2012 Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model point standings. Devin Shiels and Brian Ruhlman got by Reaume to finish second and third respectively. Following Reaume’s fourth place finish was Dan Wallace in fifth.
Rusty Schlenk entered the UMP Late Model Season Championship Night with a 78 point advantage over Casey Noonan. Noonan had been coming on strong recently with two feature wins in the past three weeks. Schlenk managed to stay ahead of Noonan all night and unofficially earned an unprecedented fifth Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model Track Championship with a 94 point advantage over Noonan.
Matt Lindsey took the early lead in an exciting UMP Sportsman feature event. Tim Line applied some early pressure on Lindsey as a couple multi-car pile ups kept the field under the yellow. Lindsey managed to open up a bit of a lead once a string of green flag laps were run, but a yellow for James Fox late in the race allowed a new competitor to challenge for the lead. Mike Jessen dove to the inside of Lindsey on the restart and the two drivers battled side by side all the way to the checkered flag with Lindsey managing to hang on to win his third feature of the year. Jessen finished a very close second with Line slipping back to finish third. Bob Krumm was fourth and Joe Derbeck started 12th and ended up fifth.
Bob Gregory was leading the Sportsman points at the beginning of the night, but got caught up in the first mult-car incident that ended his night and knocked him back to third in the points. With three weeks left in the point chase, Jessen took over the point lead with a 31 point advantage over defending track champion Tim Line.
After last week’s caution-filled UMP Bomber A Main, Terry Rushlow led this week’s race right from the start and the first nine laps of the 15 lap event ran caution free. Charles Stuckey was the first to bring out the yellow flag after getting into the tire at the bottom of turn two. Only one other caution flag flew on lap 11 for an incident involving Kyle Light and Mike Plotts. Rushlow managed to lead the entire distance and fought off the challenge from Jeff Foks to claim his third feature win of the year. Dave “Gumby” Golembiewski Jr. finished third followed by Amy Bernard and Adam Noonan. Rushlow’s win closes him to within 44 points of Foks in the Bomber point standings.
Maverick Wright made a nice move to squeeze through the middle of a couple cars to dart out to the lead at the start of the Hornet feature race. Taylor Dippman fresh off her feature win last week, moved into second and tried to figure out a way to get around Wright. Dippman charged to the outside of Wright on the final lap, but Wright was able to hang on to pick up win number two on the season. Dippman had to settle for second. Drew Smith finished ahead of Brandon Myers for third with Breanna Franks rounding out the top five.
Derek Morris looked to break Trent Delong’s string of four consecutive UMP Sport Compact feature wins and jumped out to the lead at the start with Delong right behind. Newcomer Chad Tomczak started at the tail of the field and took the lead from Morris on lap three. Tomczak proceeded to pull away all the way to the checkered flag for his first win in his first visit to Oakshade. Morris finished a distant second and Delong held on to finish third after slowing a bit in the middle stages of the race before getting back up to speed. Jeff Wells finished fourth with Brian Shammo fifth.
Steve Morris was running second behind Donovan Paskan in the UMP Bomber B Main when he spun in turn four on the fourth lap and was hit head-on by Curt Dickie who was able to continue. That ended the night for Morris. Curt Lancaster got by Paskan for the lead one lap after the restart. Dan Shaffer and Karl Spoores got hooked together on the backstretch on lap six to bring out the yellow. Both drivers were running in the top five. Lancaster went on to pick up the victory followed by Paskan, Ted Hill and Derek Zuver. Curt Dickie survived the head on collision with Morris and managed a fifth place finish.
Oakshade Raceway continues the Saturday night racing excitement throughout the month of September. Saturday, September 8 will feature UMP Sportsmen, UMP Bombers, Hornets and UMP Sport Compacts in action. Saturday, September 15 will feature a full show including Topless UMP Late Models and the Celebrity Charity Race. Season Championship Night for the UMP Sportsmen, UMP Bombers, Hornets and UMP Sport Compacts will be September 22 and the Bomber Spectacular will cap off the season on September 29. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm each Saturday night. A couple of Sunday afternoon Enduro races are scheduled for September 16 and September 30. Gates open at noon with the Enduros starting at 2pm on both Sunday afternoons.
