WAUSEON, OH – The Night of Wheels lived up to its name Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway. Nearly 40 brand new donated bikes, scooters, etc. were given away at intermission to a bunch of happy kids and Toledo, Ohio’s Dan Wallace found this way back to victory lane for the first time since 2018 in the DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature event.
Wallace jumped out to a nice lead at the start of the 25-lap main event over Rusty Smith and Carter Murday after starting on the pole. He continued to check out on the rest of the field until a caution flag flew with just four laps remaining which tightened the field back.
Once the green flag dropped for the final laps, Wallace once again pulled away and was able to take the checkered flag. Colin Shipley got by Rusty Smith for second in the final laps which moved him up to second in the points, just 26 behind the fourth-place finisher, Carter Murday. Jake Rendel ended up fifth.
With double features for the Dominator Super Stocks to make up for the rain-shortened event on June 8, the Dominator Super Stock A Main took to the track next. Adrian, Michigan’s Jake Rendel, who was doing double duty and had to quickly jump from his late model and into his super stock, started from the pole and would lead from flag to flag. Gabe Mueller started sixth and marched his way toward the front, ending up in second. Last week’s A Main winner, Dylan Burt, finished in the third position with Jeff Foks Jr. and Kenny Rice rounding out the rest of the top five finishers.
The Dominator Super Stock B Main followed which turned out to be a caution-filled event that ran up against its 12-minute time limit. Roscoe Stetten from Adrian, Michigan, started on the pole and managed to stay in front of the chaos behind him to pick up his first feature win of the season. Ryan Clair finished second followed by Scott Barnhardt, Joe Nickloy and Steve Reeves.
In DCR Graphics Sportsman feature action, “The Outlaw” Jesse Jones led the first few laps until Kolin Schilt from Stryker, Ohio, took the lead away on lap four. He would go on to earn his second feature win of the season. Ian Palmer finished second with Jones holding on to third. Ryan Davis got by Adam Lantz late in the race to take away the fourth finishing position.
A healthy field of Compacts filled the Oakshade pit area once again after having the previous week off for the Birthday Race. In the A Main, four-time track champion Eric Carr took over the race lead on lap two. Unfortunately for Carr, mechanical issues would knock him out of the race after a lap seven restart. Jason Deshler and Toledo, Ohio’s Jeff Wells would battle for the lead in the remaining laps with Wells getting the best of Deshler by the finish. Ken Wells finished third followed by James Stamper and Devin Goodman.
An exciting Compact B Main followed with Mark Prather and Nathan Spencer trading the lead early. That battle concluded with Spencer slipping off and over the turn two banking which brought out a red flag. Just after the restart, Hudson, Michigan’s Austin Gray took over the race lead and went on to pick up the checkered flag with Prather settling for second. Adam Thomas, Tyson Harper and Devin Harper were the rest of the top five finishers.
Jarrett Rendel started on the pole of the Dominator Super Stock A Main make up feature and led the first few laps. Jeff Foks Jr., from Holland, Ohio, tracked him down and took over the race lead on lap five on the way to his first feature win of the season. Rendel settled for second. Adam Noonan and Chane Stuckey had a heated battle for third much of the race with Noonan taking the position at the checkered flag. Scott Hammer finished fifth.
The make up Dominator Super Stock B Main had one of the night’s most exciting finishes. Dylan Burt took command on the second lap of the race and Mason Lutrell worked his way up to challenge for the lead soon after. Lutrell kept getting to the outside of the Toledo, Ohio, driver but could not complete the pass. Lutrell mounted one last challenge on Burt on the final lap and tried to squeeze to his inside in turns three and four as the two drivers came up on a slower car. Burt was just able to hang on for the win as Luttrell tried to squeeze between him and the slower car coming to the checkered flag. Josh McNicol ended up third followed by Jeremiah Gilbert and Landon Bleikamp.
This weekend Oakshade Raceway will host a full racing program featuring Oakshade/Attica Late Model Series, DCR Graphics Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts. Gates open at 4pm with hot laps/qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7:30pm. Adult general admission is just $15, ages 6-11 are $5 and kids 5 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $25.
