MASON LUTTRELL
By: Scott Hammer
WAUSEON, OH – Saturday was a night of first-time winners at Oakshade Raceway with Sylvania, Ohio’s Rusty Smith picking up his first ever Oakshade DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature win and Mason Luttrell getting his first Dominator Super Stock A Main victory in an exciting finish.
Smith started on the outside of the front row for the start of the 25-lap Oakshade/Attica Late Model Series feature event and took the early lead over pole-sitter Terry Rushlow. With no caution periods, Smith found himself dealing with lapped traffic by lap six.
That allowed Rushlow to chip away at the lead Smith had built up about halfway through the race, but he could not quite get close enough to mount a challenge on Smith. Rushlow would then slip back through the running order.
Smith went on to lead from flag to flag with point leader Carter Murday finishing not far behind in second. Colin Shipley, who is also in the track points championship hunt, finished third with Devin Shiels and Rushlow the rest of the top five finishers.
Ryan Davis and last week’s DCR Graphics Sportsman feature winner Kolin Schilt battled side by side for the lead at the start of the 20-lap main event.
Schilt eventually got the advantage on Davis, but Davis hung around in the second position for much of the race.
After a late race restart, Davis got turned around in turn two after some contact with Adam Lantz to bring out the caution flag. That forced the DCR Graphics point leader to have to restart at the tail.
Schilt, from Stryker, Ohio, drove the Buckeye Concrete Coatings, Spangler Candy Company, Tri-State Pole Barns, Legacy Spray Foam number 55 to its third feature win of the season and close to within 13 points of Davis.
Lantz finished second with Chris Williams and Matt Ringger finishing third and fourth respectively. Kyle Eckhart climbed nine positions from the start to end up fifth.
Jeff Foks Jr. was a lap and a half away from getting his second Dominator Super Stock A Main win. Foks started from the pole of the caution-free race and led all the way until just before the white flag flew.
That is when Foks had to check up for a slower car which allowed Mason Luttrell to sneak by for the lead. It was the Metamora, Ohio, driver’s first career A Main win at Oakshade.
Point leader Jarrett Rendel was narrowly able to beat Foks back to the checkered flag to finish second. Chane Stuckey ended up fourth with John Lonabarger gaining five spots to finish fifth.
Ryan Okuley from New Bavaria, Ohio, started on the pole of the Compact A Main and drove away from the rest of the field in another caution-free race to earn his second A Main win of the season.
Warren Barrand finished a distant second with point-leader Jason Deshler in third. Defending track champion Eric Carr wound up fourth with Ken Wells celebrating his birthday with a fifth-place finish.
Joe Nickloy led the first lap of the Dominator Super Stock B Main. Toledo, Ohio’s John Young rebounded after carb issues forced him to sit out last week’s feature events by taking the lead on lap two and driving away for his third B Main win of the season.
Dan Dippman and Brandon Goad tangled late in the race while battling for second which brought out the caution flag and ended Goad’s night.
Dippman was able to dart back up through the field in the remaining laps to finish second ahead of Derek Zuver, Landon Bleikamp and Jeremiah Gilbert.
The final event of the night was the Compact B Main. Gavin Stambaugh, out of Fayette, Ohio, drove his Jacoby’s Old Smokehouse sponsored 24GT to the front by lap two and never looked back.
Stambaugh picked up the easy win with Megan Elliott holding off Chris Rutan at the finish for second. Marcus Davis and Dallas Hawkins were the rest of the top five.
This weekend Oakshade Raceway will host a full racing program of DIRTcar UMP Late Models, DCR Graphics Sportsman, Dominator Super Stocks and Compacts.
Gates open at 4pm with hot laps/qualifying at 6pm and racing at 7:30pm. Adult general admission is just $15, ages 6-11 are $5 and kids 5 and under are FREE! Pit passes are $25.
RUSTY SMITH