Oakshade Raceway hosted its final American Late Model Series (ALMS) event of the year as the 2009 racing season begins to wind down. Jon Henry, the ALMS point leader, added to his point lead over Brian Ruhlman after picking up the victory Saturday night and taking the check for $2,000.
Henry started on the pole and got the initial jump at the drop of the green flag over Matt Miller, who has three Oakshade Raceway feature wins this year, but Miller got by Henry before the completion of lap one.
Miller then began to pull away and appeared he might be on his way to another feature win. Jon Henry would spoil that plan as he began to close back in on Miller while the duo worked through lapped traffic. Henry reclaimed the lead just past the halfway point of the 30-lap feature event.
Henry continued to wheel the Halcomb Racing machine through the lapped traffic while maintaining his advantage over Matt Miller all the way to the checkered flag in an event that went caution-free. It was the Ada, Ohio driver’s fifth Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model Feature win.
Matt Miller had to settle for a second place finish behind Henry. Dona Marcoullier was probably hoping for a caution flag late in the race after he had worked his way up to third and was closing in on the race leaders. Marcoullier ended up finishing third ahead of Brian Ruhlman and Rusty Seaver.
Tim Line opened up a big lead early in the UMP Sportsman Feature event, but Mike Jessen reeled him in and took the lead on lap six on his way to his third feature win of the year.
Rusty Smith had a great run going until he spun after trying to get to the inside of Oakshade Sportsman point leader Brett Miller for the second position with two laps remaining.
Jessen held off Miller the final two laps and the point leader settled for a second place finish. Tim Line ended up third with Matt Lindsey and Brian Fisher rounding out the rest of the top five finishers.
Jeff Foks led the entire distance of the UMP Bomber A Main to pick up his first feature win of the the year.
Danny Hogrefe caused a bit of excitement when he got crossed up exiting turn four in front of a lot of oncoming traffic. Among the drivers caught up in the incident were Jeff Geis, last weeks A Main winner Todd Silvey and Oakshade Bomber point leader Jim Scout.
Dan Shaffer put some pressure on Foks at the end of the race, but second was the best he could do once the checkered flag waved. Australian driver Brad Blake finished third followed by Terry Rushlow and Craig Dippman.
The youngsters in the UMP Hornet Feature event event ran a clean race with no caution flags.
Derek Morris took command early in the race and never looked back. Fourteen-year-old Morris went on to win his fourth feature event of the year and took over the point lead from Drew Smith who failed to start the feature event.
Dylan Herman barely fended off a challenge from Adam Noonan for second at the checkered flag. Curtis Spurgeon finished fourth and Josh Froelich was fifth.
Curt Lancaster started on the outside of the front row of the UMP Bomber B Main and maintained the lead throughout the entire event despite multiple caution periods. One of which came out on lap six when Roscoe Stetten got sideways coming off turn four and was tagged by Jamie Grochowski who had nowhere to go and almost pushed Stetten’s car over on to its side.
Lancaster was followed by Kyle Light, Karl Spoores and Chris Williams who started eleventh. Marty Bloomer finished fifth.
The UMP Bomber C Main turned out to be a race of attrition with only a handful of cars circling the track at the end.
Robert Meinen was chasing Justin Gamber for the lead when he fell off the pace and rolled to a stop in turn two ending his night with a push to the pits.
In the end, Gamber found his way to victory lane. Also surviving the race were Jack Garland finishing second, Jeff Goodman third and Devin Goodman fourth. Rob Kast ended up fifth.
Tracks champions in the UMP Sportsman, UMP Bomber and UMP Hornet divisions will be determined on Season Championship Night this Saturday at Oakshade Raceway. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.
