By: Scott Hammer
WAUSEON, OH (August 26, 2023) – Oakshade UMP Late Model point leader Devin Shiels rebounded after last week’s DNF (did not finish) to win the Oakshade Raceway Season Champion Night feature in dramatic fashion with a last lap pass for the lead.
Carter Murday started on the pole of the 25-lap UMP Late Model feature event and took the early lead. That lead would be short-lived. Murday would lose a left rear tire before completing lap number two, forcing him to the pits.
Colin Shipley then took over the race lead. Shipley entered the night second in points and needed Shiels to have some bad luck if he were to have a shot at this season’s track championship. Shipley would maintain the lead all the way to the white flag.
An epic battle brewed just behind the race leader as Casey Noonan and Devin Shiels battled side by side just off Shipley’s rear bumper. Multiple caution flags kept the field tight. The last of which came out for debris on lap 19.
The top three cars ran in a tight pack the final handful of laps. Finally, Shiels was able to duck under Shipley in turn two on the final lap to steal the lead away.
The Britton, Michigan, driver went on to earn just his second feature win of the year and in the process unofficially clinched his fifth Oakshade Raceway UMP Late Model track championship. Shipley settled for a second-place finish.
Noonan slipped up in turn three of the final lap allowing Brad Wade to get by for third. Noonan ended up finishing fourth and got an extra $45 bonus for his efforts because track promoters Pam and Terry Henricks were celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary by giving the fourth-place finishers in all of the A Mains an extra $45 bonus. Jason Haskell from Chatham, Ontario, had to restart at the tail of the field earlier in the race and battled back to a fifth-place finish.
Carter Schlenk trailed Josh Robertson by 24 points in the Oakshade Sportsman championship standings at the beginning of the night, but had some bad luck early in the 20-lap feature event.
Schlenk started on the pole and slowed while leading the first lap. He would try to give it a go after having to restart at the tail, but ended up retiring to the pits.
Sylvania, Ohio’s Rusty Smith took over the race lead and never looked back to earn his first checkered flag of the season. Kolin Schilt had been running second, but the unofficial 2023 Oakshade Sportsman track champion, Josh Robertson, would get by to finish second with Schilt slipping to third. Last week’s feature winner, Ryan Davis, was fourth with Jake Gamber ended up fifth.
A huge pile up on lap one in the Dominator Super Stock Season Championship Night A Main brought out the red flag. The incident involved nearly half the field and blocked turns one at two resulting in a complete restart.
William “Bubba” Cundick trailed Justin Gamber by just 12 points in the closest of the night’s championship battles.
Cundick would take the lead on the ensuing restart. Cundick led the majority of the race, but former track champion Gabe Mueller muscled his battle-scarred machine into the lead late in the race and went on to pick up the win.
Cundick settled for a second-place finish behind the Holland, Ohio, driver. Justin Gamber finished third and unofficially claimed the 2023 Dominator Super Stock title. Alex Krall and Mason Luttrell were the rest of the top five finishers.
Wauseon, Ohio’s Eric Carr came into the final points race for the Compact class with a commanding point lead and drove his way to his fourth A Main win of the season which unofficially earned him his fourth consecutive track championship in the division.
Carr did have to work for the win as last week’s feature winner Josh Bailey took the lead at the start. It wasn’t until a restart after a hard crash by Jeff Goodman that Carr would get by Bailey to take the lead. Shortly after that, Bailey’s car went up in smoke and slowed on the track ending his night early.
James Stamper would finish second followed by Geoff Wasnick, Brandon Paskan and Memo Hernandez.
Logan Hough led the start of the Dominator Super Stock B Main in his first night out this season. A lap one caution for a spin by Andy Lopresto would slow the field.
Hough’s car came to a stop in turn four under the yellow. He would then retire to the pits before the field went back to green.
Jayden Bleikamp would then inherit the lead. The Wauseon, Ohio, driver went on to pick up his second consecutive B Main win followed by Zeke McNew, Derek Zuver, John Young and Ryan Clair.
Nathan Goodman got out to a big lead at the start of the Compact B Main. Mason Streight was running second when he slammed into the backstretch wall on lap two to bring out the caution flag.
Joe Carr would take over second but was unable to challenge Goodman who went on to pick up the checkered flag easily.
It was the first feature win of the season for the driver from Wauseon, Ohio. Carr ended up second with Andy Cutler, Marcus Davis and Peyton Hovis the rest of the top five finishers.
This Saturday night, Oakshade Raceway will host a full racing program of UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts.
Gates open at 4pm with hot laps/qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7pm. Adult general admission is just $14, ages 6-11 are $5 and kids 5 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $25.