Saturday was a busy night at Oakshade Raceway with the Night of Wheels, Memorial Night and the second leg of the Oakshade/Attica Late Model Challenge Series which was won by Sylvania, Ohio’s Casey Noonan.
Dozens of donated bikes, trikes and other wheeled rideable toys were given away many elated kids during the Night of Wheels intermission just before the Memorial Night feature events. Each lap of all feature races were in memory of lost loved ones and also meant sponsorship money that would be awarded to the leader of each of those laps.
The first Memorial Night feature of the evening was the Oakshade/Attica Late Model Challenge Series main event. Casey Noonan took the lead at the drop of the green flag after starting on the outside of the front row. Ryan Missler, who won the night before at Attica Raceway Park, battled three-wide for the second position with Dan Wallace and defending track champion Devin Shiels. Missler was eventually able to take second, but Noonan had checked out to a big lead. On the final lap, Noonan got held up in some lapped traffic that allowed Missler to close in, but it wasn’t enough to catch the leader. Noonan led every lap and collected all the lap sponsorships, including a $50 bonus for the win in memory of Dan & Valerie Jo Miller. It was his first Oakshade feature win of the season. Missler settled for a second place finish with Shiels third and Wallace fourth. Steve Kester, who entered the night atop the Oakshade/Attica Late Model Challenge Series points, finished fifth.
Mathew Chapman was going for his fourth consecutive AmerGas UMP Sportsman feature win and appear poised to do just that after getting by Tim Fisher for the lead as they completed the first lap of the 20-lap main event. Chris Keller had worked his way into second before retiring to the infield on lap five. That turned second over to Rusty Smith. The Sylvania, Ohio driver battled with Chapman for the lead and finally got by on lap 17. Smith was able to fend off Chapman and Mike Jessen as the three cars battled for the lead all the way to the checkered flag. Chapman just edged out Jessen for second with Jerry Signor and Josh Robertson the rest of the top five finishers.
Chris Henry drove his way to his third consecutive Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bomber A Main win. Henry, out of Jackson, Michigan, started outside the second row and quickly got the 68 car out front. Rich Riffe followed Henry to a second place finish followed by Adam Noonan and Craig Dippman. Jeff Foks Jr. started ninth and still remains the Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bomber points leader after posting a fifth place finish.
Toledo, Ohio’s Cameron Tusing started on the pole of the Memorial Night Compact feature event and picked up his first feature win of the season. Joe Elliot finished second to Tusing in their heat event earlier in the evening and once again had to settle for second in the feature. Eric Carr was a heat race winner earlier in the night and ended up finishing third in the main event which has him on top of the compact point standings. Ken Watts and Jason Deshler were the rest of the top five finishers.
Oakshade Raceway capped off a great night of racing action with the Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bomber B Main. Scott Hammer took the lead at the start from the pole. Donovan Paskan from Clayton, Michigan, drove by and took the lead by the completion of lap three. Hammer was able to maintain contact with Paskan and the two drivers battled all the way to the checkerd flag with Paskan coming out on top for his first feature win of the season. Joe Nickloy took third followed by Cody Stetten and Ian Palmer.
The Vintage American Race Cars will join a full racing program of UMP Late Models, AmeriGas UMP Sportsman, Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bombers and Compacts on Saturday, July 7 at Oakshade Raceway. Gates open at 4pm, hot laps at 6pm and racing at 7pm.
