Saturday, June 28, 2008

by Scott Hammer

Rusty Schlenk won the UMP Late Model Feature for the second time this year at Oakshade Raceway.

Schlenk started inside the second row of the Don Williams Excavating Night UMP Late Model Feature and immediately went to work on pole sitter Mike Miller. The two battled hard and spun in front of the entire pack, stacking things up behind them and bringing out the only caution flag of the race. The result was a complete restart which was a lucky break for Miller and Schlenk as they both got their starting positions back.

Schlenk wasted no time getting the lead. By the time they got to the backstretch, Schlenk was in command.

Brian Ruhlman moved up to second and began to make up just a little bit of ground on Schlenk's large lead in the latter stages of the race as they worked through lapped traffic.

Schlenk went uncontested to the checkered flag with Ruhlman finishing in second. Dusty Moore assumed the Oakshade UMP Late Model points lead with his third place finish. Zach Olger was fourth and Rody Schroyer finished fifth and falls three points behind Moore in the point standings.

Veteran driver George Lindsey sat on the UMP Sportsman Feature pole and proceeded to open up a lead over the rest of the field until a debris caution on lap eight tightened everyone back up behind him.

Brian Fisher took advantage of the opportunity and got to the inside of Lindsey and after a few laps of side by side racing, Fisher took the lead.

Shortly after Fisher took command of the race, Rob Anderzack brought out the red flag after a scary incident in which he slammed the front stretch wall extremely hard coming off turn four. The car got slightly airborne and burst into flames as it came to rest. Anderzack quickly climbed out of the car under his own power.

The excitement continued back under the green flag. With Fisher leading the way, Ky Harper was picking off positions using the high groove through the corners and eventually worked his way up to the lead on lap 17, just as another caution came out. That turned the lead back over to Fisher and set up a great race to the finish.

The two drivers battled side by side all the way to turn four on the final lap. Harper slipped up a bit in that corner which was just enough to allow Fisher to pick up the victory. Harper finished a close second with Lindsey falling back to finish third.

Mike Jessen came home fourth and maintains a 21 point advantage over Brian Fisher for top spot in the Oakshade's UMP Sportsman point standings. Rusty Smith finished fifth.

Todd Silvey jumped out to the early lead in the UMP Bomber A Main. Craig Dippman closed in and took the lead on lap nine.

Two laps later, Brad Miller took the lead and went on to hold off the Oakshade UMP Bomber point leader Jim Scout for the win. Brett Miller got by Dippman to finish third as Dippman fell back to end up fourth with Curt Lancaster fifth.

Dave Sibberson took the lead from Aaron Boyd on the second lap of the UMP Bomber B Main and went on to post the win. Boyd held on to finish second followed by Jeff Grochowski, Kevin Hanford and Terry Rushlow.

Joe Heffner got by Jake Recker to take the lead on the second lap of the UMP Bomber C Main. Jerry Signor quickly closed in and had a heated battle with Heffner before finally taking command of the race for good on lap five.

Signor went on to capture his second C Main win of the year with Heffner settling for second. Chuck Faller finished third with Jake Reckner and Matt Rose rounding out the rest of the top five.

It was another exciting night for the four-cylinder UMP Hornet division with Dylan Burt picking up his second win of the year.

Celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with the Howard Miller Memorial at Oakshade Raceway on Saturday, July 5^th. In addition to the great UMP Late Model, UMP Sportsman, UMP Bomber and UMP Hornet racing, there will be a fireworks display courtesy of Crazy Joe's. Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm.