A couple of season championships came right down to the wire on Oakshade Raceway’s Season Championship Night. Mathew Chapman maintained an extremely slim lead in the UMP Sportsman class and Bomber track championship wasn’t decided until the final lap of the 16th Annual Bomber Spectacular that was dominated by Gregg DeTray.
DeTray, from Swanton, Ohio, came into the night tied for second in the point standings with Adam Noonan. Both drivers were just a single point behind Chris Sands. DeTray started on the pole of the 25-lap $1,000 to win Bomber Spectacular feature event and led the entire distance. Sands ran second the first part of the race, but couldn’t challenge DeTray for the lead.
Detray had opened up a big lead, but almost had his championship hopes erased on lap 17. At least four cars wrecked going into turn three just in front of DeTray who turned right at the last moment to avoid getting caught up in the incident. That move allowed DeTray to go on and pick up the victory as well as become the unofficial 2015 Bomber track champion by just five points over Sands who finished fourth. Chris Henry and Craig Dippman finished second and third respectively with Dylan Hough ending up fifth. Adam Noonan got caught up in an incident earlier in the race that took him out of competition and ended up 16th.
The UMP Late Models were also in action with the roofs removed for some topless racing action. Dusty Moore took the lead at the drop of the green flag after starting on the outside of the front row. 2014 Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model Track Champion Rusty Schlenk took over the lead on lap two and went on to pick up the easy victory. It was the fourth Oakshade feature win of the year for the McClure, Ohio driver. Traverse City, Michigan’s Brandon Thirlby finished second with the unofficial 2015 Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model track champion, Brian Ruhlman, ending up third. Ryan Vanderveen and Dusty Moore were the rest of the top five finishers.
Rich Ruff started on the pole of the Season Championship UMP Sportsman feature and led the first six laps before slowing on the backstretch and retiring to the pits. That turned the lead over to championship contender Jamie Grochowski. His championship competition, Mathew Chapman, took the lead one lap later. The rookie driver from Tecumseh, Michigan, maintained his advantage through multiple caution periods before finally picking up his sixth feature win of the season. The win also earned him the unofficial UMP Sportsman track championship over Grochowski by just 10 points who finished the race in second. Bob Gregory finished third followed by Drew Smith and Rusty Smith.
Brogan Rehklau from Waldron, Michigan, had already unofficially locked in the Oakshade Raceway Sport Compact track championship and finished up the season in championship form by picking up his sixth feature win of the year. Richard Riffe worked his way up to second late in the race and would finish in that position. Jason Deshler was third with Kyle Light and Josh Martis the rest of the top five finishers.
A different kind of racing action will take over Oakshade Raceway on Saturday, October 3rd with the Wiener Dog Nationals wiener dog races and a Power Wheels Demolition Derby for kids aged 3 to 8. Wiener dog registration will be from 9:30am until 10:30am with racing starting at 11am. The Power Wheels Demo Derby will immediately follow at approximately 12:30pm. Admission is free to watch and there is just a $5 charge to enter either the wiener dog races or the demolition derby. Visit www.oakshaderaceway.com for more information.
