Steve Kester Wins 29th Annual Barney Oldfield Race

A huge crowd braved the hot and humid weather Saturday evening at Oakshade Raceway to witness a first time Barney Oldfield Race winner. Holland, Ohio’s Steve Kester continued his success in 2018 at Oakshade with the Sunoco American Late Model Series (ALMS) 29th Annual Barney Oldfield Race win, and his third feature win of the season at the 3/8’s mile banked dirt oval.

At the start of the 40-lap ALMS main event, Dan Wallace jumped out in front of the field after starting on the pole. Jon Henry was running second when he suddenly slowed on lap 18 which brought out the caution flag. This moved Dona Marcoullier up to second for the restart behind Wallace. A few laps later, Brad Wade spun in turn two spoiling a nice top five run for the Dundee, Michigan, driver. That brought out the yellow once more and now it was Kester restarting in second behind Wallace. One lap after the restart, Kester took the lead from Wallace.

A big crash on lap 29 brought out the red flag so that track crews could clear the cars of Ken Hahn, Steve Miller, Brad Wade and Matt Lindsey who all piled into turn one. A few laps after returning to green flag racing, Marcoullier took over second from Wallace who later slowed and retired to the pits with only three laps remaining. Marcoullier was unable to mount a challenge for the lead and settled for a second place finish following Kester who led the final 14 laps to earn the $5,400 check for the win. Devin Shiels had a great run to finish third after starting 14th and ALMS point leader Casey Noonan took fourth after racing his way into the feature through the last chance race and starting 16th. Ryan Missler gained six positions to finish fifth.

Mathew Chapman has been on a tear the past few weeks in the AmeriGas UMP Sportsman class and notched his third consecutive feature win Saturday night. Brandon Gregory started on the poll and led the first few laps, but Chapman took command on lap four and pulled away. Gregory, Tim Fisher and Mike Jessen had a good battle for second behind the Tecumseh, Michigan, driver with Gregory coming out on top for second. Fisher, who has one feature win this season, settled for third with Jessen fourth. Rusty Smith was fifth.

The Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bomber A Main featured a lot of lead changes and a three-wide race for the lead at the finish. Chuck Stuckey took the lead from the pole and fended off contenders early. Last week’s B Main winner, Rich Riffe, finally took the lead away on lap nine, but last week’s A Main winner, Chris Henry, got by him on a lap 11 restart. Bomber point leader Jeff Foks Jr. joined the battle with Henry and Riffe at the finish, but in the end, Henry was able to come out ahead. It was the second consecutive A Main win for the driver from Jackson, Michigan. Riffe held on for second with Foks coming home third. Tim Hancock and Chuck Stuckey were the rest of the top five finishers.

Eric Carr took the early lead of the Compact feature event after a little contact with Cameron Tusing. Nathan Goodman moved up from his sixth starting position to challenge the Wauseon, Ohio, driver for the lead, but Carr was able to hang on and pick up his first feature win of the year. Goodman settled for second followed by Josh Proffitt and last week’s feature winner, Joe Elliott. Jason Deshler moved up eight spots to finish fifth.

Jake Gamber led at the start of the Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bomber B Main, but fell off the pace early. Shane Estes then took command, but Toledo, Ohio’s Dylan Burt got by on lap four after starting at the back of the field. Burt went on to pick up the checkered flag over Taylor Dippman. Estes slipped back to finish third followed by Dave McMannamy and Dave “Gumby” Golembiewski Sr.

Oakshade Raceway returns to action this coming Saturday, June 23 with a full racing program of UMP Late Models, AmeriGas UMP Sportsman, Hot Rod Welding & Engineering Bombers and Compact. Gates open at 4pm, hot laps starts at 6pm and racing begins at 7pm.