Craig Dippman had to come from deep in the field to claim his second consecutive Bomber Spectacular victory over some very stout competition at Oakshade Raceway on Saturday night.
Dan Plath took the initial lead of the Bomber Spectacular feature event after starting on the outside of the front row over Gregg Detray. The first caution flag flew for Adam Noonan who slowed on the backstretch on the second lap. After the restart, Tim Line was pressuring Plath for the lead when he spun in turn two. Previous Bomber Spectacular winner Jim Scout got caught up in the incident and was done for the night. Back under green flag racing, Dan Plath had to fight off a three-wide battle with Chris Henry and Kyle Light. Henry fell off the pace and came to a stop on the track on lap five to bring out another caution period. With Plath still leading, Light suffered a flat tire and had to pit. Plath then had to contend with Craig Dippman, who started 15th, and Tony Tolles. Dippman and Tolles finally got by Plath to take over the top two positions on lap eight. Tolles pressured Dippman for the lead for a few laps but after a few more cautions, slipped back to third when Plath got back by. Dippman held on to win with an overheating car. Plath finished second just ahead of Tolles. Jeff Foks started 18th and climbed up to finish fourth with Dan Bleikamp taking fifth after starting dead last in the 21-car starting line-up.
Rich Ruff had some problems at the start of the UMP Sportsman feature. Ruff got into the rear of B.J. Gregory on the backstretch on the first lap and then ended up in the wall resulting in a complete restart. Joe Derbeck took the initial lead with Tim Fisher trailing behind in second. Bob Krumm lost a right rear wheel on lap three which brought out another caution flag.
Matt Lindsey worked his way up to second by lap six and began to challenge Derbeck for the lead late in the race. Derbeck held on and picked up his first feature win of the year with Lindsey having to settle for second. Tim Line was third followed by Tim Fisher and Bruce Stuart who started in 13th.
“Sparky Marky” Gillingham became only the fourth different driver of the year pick up a Hornet feature victory in what was his very first feature win ever. Twelve-year-old Gillingham took that lead at the start and never looked back, leading the entire distance. Drew Smith and Taylor Dippman had a great battle for second most of the race which Smith was able to win. Dippman finished third followed by Logan Hough and Brandon Myers.
This weekend is the final weekend of racing for 2011 and Oakshade Raceway is ending it with a full weekend of exciting racing action. Saturday, October 1st will feature the Fifth Annual Celebrity Charity Race, Topless UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsmen, UMP Bombers and Hornets. It will also be an autograph night with the pits open from 3pm to 5:45pm for fans to meet drivers and get autographs. Come dressed in your Halloween costumes because it is also going to be a Trick-or-Treat night with plenty candy for the kids. Gates open at 3pm with racing at 7pm. Then on Sunday, October 2nd, there will be a 250 lap or 2.5 hour Enduro Race paying the winner $2,000! Gates open at 12pm with the race starting at 2pm on Sunday. Grandstand tickets are just $3 for the Enduro. For more information, visit www.oakshaderaceway.com.