By: Scott Hammer
WAUSEON, OH – Rusty Smith from Sylvania, Ohio, followed up last week’s second place run with a dominating win at Oakshade in this week’s DIRTcar UMP Late Model A Main.
Things got off to a bit of a wild start with Smith leading the field to the green flag of the 25-lap event. A big pile up that involved at least a handful of cars after Casey Noonan got loose in turn two ended with the red flag out for Scott Boyd Jr. who ended up on his lid. Boyd was OK.
After the complete restart, the rest of the event went much smoother without any further cautions. Smith opened up almost a straightaway lead over Devin Shiels, but Shiels chipped away at that advantage while working through lapped traffic starting with about 10 laps remaining.
Shiels was able to get to the rear bumper of Smith a couple times but could not mount a substantial challenge for the lead.
It was Rusty Smith’s first win of the season which catapulted him to the top of the point standings. Shiels settled for a second-place finish ahead of Drew Smith, Steve Kester and Jamie Grochowski.
In DCR Graphics Sportsman action, “The Outlaw” Jesse Jones extended his win streak to four after leading the 20-lap main event from start to finish.
The win gives the Liberty Center, Ohio, driver sole possession of the point lead with Roman Brown trailing by 42 points.
Brown, coincidently, got by a couple competitors to finish the feature race in second behind Jones. Mike Jessen finished third with Ryan Davis gaining six positions to finish fourth. Chris Williams finished fifth.
Holland, Ohio’s Jeff Foks Jr. earned his first Dominator Super Stock A Main win of the season, but he had to work for it.
Late in the race, Scott Hammer mounted a challenge for the lead to the outside of Foks as they took the white flag in an event that had no caution periods up until that point.
However, the caution flag would fly putting an end to a great side by side battle for the lead. Foks went on to lead the final laps after the restart to pick up the victory.
Hammer narrowly edged out Jarrett Rendel for second with Jake Rendel and Mason Luttrell the rest of the top five finishers.
Ryan Okuley started on the pole of the final event of the night, the Compact A Main. Eric Carr tried to challenge Okuley early, but the driver from Holgate, Ohio, went on to claim his third feature win of the year.
Carr held on to finish second with Tim Streight coming home third. Gage Rushlow ended up in fourth and Jeff Wells charged from the back of the field to end up fifth, creating a bottleneck atop the Compact point standings.
Wells still has a share of the point lead but now is tied with Tim Streight for first with Okuley only 14 points behind the two drivers.
The Vintage American Race Cars will join a full racing program this coming Saturday, July 5 at Oakshade Raceway featuring DIRTcar UMP Late Models, DCR Graphics Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts in action.
Gates will open at 4pm with hot laps/qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7:15pm. Adult general admission is just $15, ages 6-11 are $5 and kids 5 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $30.