The 2012 racing season came to a close this weekend at Oakshade Raceway with Season Championship Night on Saturday and a 250-lap Enduro on Sunday. Jeff Foks was the big winner on Saturday night with a Bomber Spectacular win which sealed up the Oakshade Bomber Championship and Mark Henderson dominated Sunday afternoon’s Enduro race.
Foks started on the outside of the front row in the 25-lap Bomber Spectacular and took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Multiple cautions kept the field tight early in the race. After a caution on lap seven, Foks tried to pull away from Adam Noonan who had been running second, but Noonan wouldn’t let him get away. Foks did manage a little separation from Noonan after both drivers had a some trouble getting passed a lapped car. Noonan closed back in on the final lap and tried to get to the inside of Foks. Foks was able to hang on and picked up his 11th Bomber feature win of the year in an exciting finish. Noonan finished a very close second followed by Terry Rushlow in third. Joe Smith and Chane Stuckey, a couple of Sportsman regulars, rounded out the rest of the top five finishers.
With a full moon overhead, the Season Championship Sportsman feature rolled onto the track. Only one point separated Mike Jessen and Tim Line at the top of the point standings at the start of the race. Those two drivers started side by side in the second row. Bruce Stuart started on the outside of the front row and quickly took command of race after squeezing through the middle of a three-wide battle for the lead on the first lap. Caution after caution kept the competitors from getting into any kind of rhythm with the longest green flag run being only two laps. Tim Line’s title hopes went away on lap 11 after most of the front nose of his car came off on the the track which brought out the final caution for the debris. Line retired to the pits. Stuart led the entire distance and finished the season with three straight feature wins. Matt Lindsey got by Jamie Grochowski just before the finish to wind up second. Joe Smith followed up his fourth place finish in the Bomber Spectacular with another fourth place finish. Mike Jessen’s fifth place finish was good enough to win the points championship.
The four cylinder Hornet feature had one of the most exciting finishes of the night. William Cundick took the lead at the start and led a tight pack with Maverick Wright and Cody Laney running right in his tire tracks. Finally, thirteen-year-old Wright dropped to the inside of Cundick and made the last lap pass for his fourth feature win of the year. Cundick finished a close second followed by Laney and Drew Smith who wrapped up the point championship before the night began. Josh Froelich was fifth.
Exciting racing action continued in the UMP Sport Compact feature. Steve Miller hopped into the car his daughter, Stephanie Miller, usually runs to race in the feature. On the first lap, Steve Miller got into a dirt embankment that surrounds a light pole and rolled the car over on the first lap. Miller was OK, but the car was done for the night. Jeff Wells and Trent Delong put on a great show for the lead. Wells and Delong got together several times, the last of which ended up with Wells spinning on the backstretch on lap three. Delong went on to pick up the victory with Austin Casteneda finishing second. Wells recovered after his spin to finish third. Regan Ford and Scott Wilson were the rest of the top five finishers. Derek Morris did not finish the race, but had already wrapped up the points championship.
The final race of the year was Sunday afternoon’s 250-lap Enduro. Colin Walker set a fast pace very early in the race. Mark Henderson took the lead by lap 25 and never surrendered it. Walker continued to run second until shortly after the 75 lap mark when he lost control coming off turn four and caught the front stretch wall. Nick Fenner then took over second for awhile until he suffered some mechanical problems with his left rear wheel. Henderson kept out of trouble and picked up his third Enduro win of the year. Jeremy Grover finished second, seven laps behind Henderson. Ray Jackson survived to finish third with Ron Bloomfield Jr. ending up fourth after winning the Enduro two weeks ago. Marvin Howard finished fifth.
Haunted Hay Rides return to Oakshade Raceway on Friday and Saturday nights starting on October 12th. Also coming up in October is the Oakshade Raceway Swap Meet on October 20th at 9am. For more information, visit www.oakshaderaceway.com.
