Defending Track Champion Rusty Schlenk took the top spot in the Oakshade Raceway point standings for the first time this season by picking up his second UMP Late Model feature win of the year.
Matt Miller and Andrew Reaume occupied the top two positions in the points after last week’s American Late Model Series event. With both drivers taking the week off, Schlenk made the best of the opportunity and led the entire distance of a caution-free UMP Late Model feature. Casey Noonan and Jeff Babcock began closing in on Schlenk late in the race as the leaders worked through lapped traffic, but Schlenk held on for the victory. Noonan held off a hard-charging Babcock for second. Babcock started 10th and had to settle for a third place finish followed by Devin Shiels and Brian Ruhlman.
Mike Jessen maintained the early lead in the UMP Sportsman feature event with Matt Lindsey closing in. Lindsey dropped to the inside of Jessen and took the lead halfway through the race and then began to open up his advantage. A late caution with two laps to go allowed Jessen and Tim Line to close up right behind Lindsey for the restart. Lindsey went on to pick up his first feature win of the year. Jessen held off Line for second. Last week’s feature winner Bob Gregory finished fourth which was good enough to maintain his slight point lead over Tim Line. Bruce Stuart finished fifth.
The UMP Bomber A Main turned out to be a crash-fest with some multiple car pile-ups. The first of which happened on lap two after Terry Rushlow got sideways in turn two and collected the cars of Roscoe Stetten, Jim Plotts, Josh Sisty and Chris Sands. Another big wreck occurred on lap eight that involved Satch Crispen, Donovan Paskan, Kyle Light, Randy Murday, John Gamber and Joe Heffner. Jeff Foks stayed ahead of the chaos to lead the entire distance of the UMP Bomber A Main and earned his fourth feature win of the year. Curt Lancaster ran just behind Foks most of the race and ended up finishing in the second position. Jeff Geis was third followed by Amy Bernard and Adam Noonan.
Thirteen-year-old Cody Laney found himself leading early in the Hornet feature race, but lost control in turns three and four and spun. Laney continued on, but Maverick Wright had spun to avoid and was unable to get going before the caution came out. This was a break for Laney. Since Wright was charged with the caution, Laney was placed back in the lead where he was at the completion of the last scored green flag lap. “Sparky Marky” Gillingham didn’t waste anytime taking the lead away after the restart. Gillingham went on to pick up his second feature win of the year. Last week’s feature winner Brandon Myers held off point leader Drew Smith to finish second. William Cundick and Josh Froelich finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The UMP Bomber B Main was next and was marred by multiple caution periods as was the A Main. After a couple early cautions, Perry Cox assumed the race lead. Tom Baumgartner spun on lap two and just caught Shaun Sharp which cut a tire down on his 82 car. Both drivers were running in the top five. Zach Titpon began challenging Cox for the lead, but Cox fended him off to pick up his first feature win. Tipton had to settle for second followed by Nick Fenner who started 16th. Curt Dickie and Justin Woodruff rounded out the rest of the top five finishers.
A newcomer to the UMP Sport Compact class ended the Morris domination. Derek Morris had won three features in a row and last week it was Steve Morris who won. This week, Jeff Wells from Toledo, Ohio was the man to beat. Things started off bad for Derek Morris who spun on the first lap of the race and brought out the caution flag. Adam Noonan led at the start, but Wells closed in and took the lead on lap three. Wells went on to beat Noonan to the checkered flag. Morris recovered to a third place finish followed by Stephanie Miller and Rich Fowler.
Next Saturday, Oakshade Raceway will host another big weekend of racing action starting with Wallace Racing Products Night featuring a full program UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsmen, UMP Bombers, Hornets and UMP Sport Compacts. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm on Saturday. Then on Sunday afternoon there will be a 200 Lap/2 Hour Enduro race starting at 2pm. Gates open at 12pm and general admission is just $3. For more information, visit www.oakshaderaceway.com.