The regions top Late Model drivers gathered at Oakshade Raceway for the American Late Model Series (ALMS) event on Saturday night. The UMP national point leader and Oakshade Raceway point leader, Rusty Schlenk, added to his point leads with his second Oakshade feature win of the year.
Last weeks feature winner, Jon Henry, started on the pole and held the early lead while Rusty Schlenk and Matt Miller battled for second. Miller eventully got the position and then worked the outside around Henry for the lead on lap eight. A few laps later, Schlenk disposed of Henry for second.
Schlenk closed in on Miller for the race lead and on lap 20, the two drivers were racing side by side and came up on Kevin Reeve who was at the tail end of the lead lap. The leaders split to the inside and outside of Reeve. There was a little contact and Reeve spun around to bring out the first yellow flag of the race.
A couple laps later, Schlenk finally worked his way around Miller to take over the lead for good. Schlenk was presented with the $2,000 ALMS check for the victory. The 1991 Late Model track champion, Matt Miller, settled for a second place finish with Jon Henry ending up third. ALMS point leader Jeep Van Wormer finished fourth with Brian Ruhlman rounding out the top five.
The 2008 Oakshade Raceway UMP Sportsman champion was back in championship form in the UMP Sportsman feature. Mike Jessen took the lead from Brice Luttrell on lap four and didn’t look back. If he did, he would have seen the 71 of Rusty Smith trying to close in. A caution on lap 14 set up a double-file restart in which Smith tried to cut down to the inside and got hooked together with Brett Miller. The two drivers then spun in turn two, giving up the second and third positions and bringing out the yellow flag again.
Jessen went on to pick up his first feature win of the year and put himself just one point behind Tim Line for the Sportsman point lead. Brian Fisher got by Brice Luttrell to finish second with Luttrell crossing the finish line third. Scot Mills and Joe Smith finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The UMP Bomber A Main produced some of the most exciting racing of the night with multiple lead changes. Jeff Foks led the first lap while battling three-wide for the lead. By lap two, Terry Rushlow took command. Shortly after that, Foks spun and collected last week’s feature winner Danny Hogrefe. Curt Lancaster then showed his hand and pressured Rushlow for the lead. After a couple more cautions, Jeff Geis finally took over the lead on lap six. One lap later, Lancaster took his turn in the lead for a single lap. Rushlow battled back to the lead on lap eight. Geis challenged Rushlow for the top spot and eventually took over the lead. Rushlow came back to pressure for the lead again late in the race, but Geis held on to win his first Bomber A Main. Terry Rushlow wound up second and Jim Scout worked his way to a third place finish after starting 19th. Billy Brown was fourth and Danny Hogrefe recovered to finish fifth and maintains his Bomber point lead.
Derek Morris led from flag to flag in a caution-free Hornet feature event fending off the challenge from Drew Smith to pick up his second feature win of the year. William Cundick finished third behind Smith with Cody Stetten and Josh Froelich rounding out the rest of the top five finishers.
Todd Silvey won the Bomber C Main last week. This week he led the entire distance of the Bomber B Main to pick up another feature win. Kevin Cole had a top five run going, but spun on lap five, putting a damper on his strong run. In the end, Tony Tolles wound up second behind Silvey after starting way back in 17th. Joe Cordes was third followed by Josh Montague and Jim Remley.
The final event of the night, the Bomber C Main, started off with a wreck in turn one with Terry Rump, Skyler Plotts, Joe Foks and Jamie Faller in the pile up. Chris Tressler led the first lap once racing resumed and Adam Noonan took over the lead on lap two. Noonan held on to the lead all the way to the finish to earn his first UMP Bomber win after moving up to Bombers from the Hornet division this year. Chane Stuckey moved up to finish second with Ron Todd taking third. Chris Tressler slipped back to finish fourth with Jesse Burgett finishing fifth.
On Saturday, June 5, race fans will be treated to two full Late Model features for the price of one. It is the UMP Late Model Push Truck Dual Features along with action from the UMP Sportsman, UMP Bomber and Hornet divisions. Gate open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.
