WAUSEON, OH – Oakshade Raceway hosted its annual Trick or Treat Night on Saturday evening. Many kids in costume lined up along the front of the grandstands during intermission and collected bags full of sugary goodness. Just after intermission, the kids and their parents were treated to Casey Noonan holding off Rusty Schlenk to pick up his first DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature win of the season at the 3/8-mile banked oval.
Rusty Smith started on the outside of the front row and led the first half of the 25-lap DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature event. Smith was working through slower traffic at the tail end of the lead lap when Noonan made a power move on the outside past Smith and a lapped car coming off turn two on lap 13. The Sylvania, Ohio, driver then pulled away with the lead until a lap 17 caution would tighten the field back up.
Rusty Schlenk restarted third behind Noonan and Smith and immediately made the pass for second when the green flag came back out. Earlier in the season, Schlenk made a last lap pass to take away the Barney Oldfield feature win from Noonan on the final lap. Noonan made sure this didn’t happen again and maintained his lead over Schlenk to take his first checkered flag of the season at Oakshade. Colin Shipley got by Smith to finish third and Jake Rendel finished fifth.
Main & Sons Plumbing, Heating & Cooling added extra money to the DCR Graphics Sportsman feature event, a class that suffered a lot of attrition during the night with only eight competitors taking the initial green flag. Four-time DCR Graphics Sportsman track champion Mike Jessen got by Nick Fenner to pick up the feature win. It was the Berkey, Ohio, driver’s first feature win of the season with Fenner ending up second. Karl Spoores was third followed by Dylan Jessen and Brian Retcher.
Fresh off his fifth-place finish in the DIRTcar UMP Late Model finish, Jake Rendel jumped into his Dominator Super Stock and put on a dominating performance. Scott Hammer started on the pole and led the first couple of laps. Rendel would take the lead shortly after an early restart for caution and drove away from the rest of the field.
A scary moment brought out the red flag on the final lap after Levi Fisher caught the infield tire at the bottom of turn one and barrel rolled hard up the banking. Fisher was OK.
Rendel, from Adrian, Michigan, went on to pick up the win over Donovan Paskan, Scott Hammer, Herbie Haynes and Jarrett Rendel.
Eric Carr from Wauseon, Ohio, earned his first Compact A Main feature win of the year in impressive fashion. He had a big lead at the finish over a tight battle for second between James Stamper and Jason Deshler. Deshler was able to get by Stamper on the final lap to finish second. Wesley Belkofer gained nine positions to finish fourth and Chris Yockum finished fifth.
Bowling Green, Ohio’s Ken Wells led from start to finish in the Compact B Main, the final race of the night. It was also his first feature win of the year. Eli Kolodie came home second followed by Austin Gray, Marcus Davis and Nathan Goodman.
This Saturday (9/28) will be the final night of racing for the 2024 season at Oakshade Raceway. On the bill will be the Hammer Down Clash pitting Fremont Speedway Dirt Trucks against Oakshade Raceway’s Dominator Super Stocks ($750 to win as of press time), topless DIRTcar UMP Late Models (no roofs), DCR Graphics Sportsman and Compacts in action. Gates will open at 4pm with hot laps/qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7:15pm. Adult general admission is just $15, ages 6-11 are $5 and kids 5 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $25.
