Shiels, Lantz, Smith & Carr Bill Reckner Memorial Winners
4 min read
WAUSEON, OH – Oakshade Raceway opened its gates for the first time in 2021 with an exciting Bill Reckner Memorial night of racing. Three-time track champion Devin Shiels drove to the UMP Late Model feature win and Adam Lantz pocketed $1,200 for winning the Bomber A Main.
Dusty Moore won his heat race earlier in the night and started in the pole position for the UMP Late Model feature. Moore darted out to the lead over Ryan Missler at the start. Britton, Michigan’s Devin Shiels methodically marched his way up to second after starting sixth, taking advantage of a series of early cautions that kept the field tight. Moore continued to lead and appeared to have the car to beat until something broke in the rear end forcing him to abruptly head to the pits on lap 16 of the 25-lap main event. Shiels took over as the race leader and went on to take the first checkered flag of the season. Missler had dropped back as far as fifth earlier in the race, but recovered for a second place finish ahead of Colin Shipley, Jake Rendel and Casey Noonan.
Joe Smith from Sylvania, Ohio, led from flag to flag in the Bill Reckner Memorial UMP Sportsman feature. Carter Murday got into Jeff Robertson just a bit while the two were battling for second. Murday ended up spinning in turn three and collected fourth place Rusty Smith forcing both drivers to restart at the tail. Jeff Robertson held on to finish second with Josh Robertson moving up five positions to finish third. Mike Jessen and Jerry Signor were the rest of the top five finishers.
Multiple sponsors stepped up to increase the Bill Reckner Memorial Bomber A Main to pay $1,200 to win and additional monies throughout the finishing order. Those sponsors included PTSD Awareness Racing, Dynamic Technologies Setup & Consulting, Spiess Electric, Johnny Babb, Cory Gumm Racing, Ron Miller Race Cars and Tim’s Sims.
Terry Rushlow started third in the Bomber feature and took over the race lead by the completion of the first lap. Brad Eitniear managed to get by Rushlow on lap three, but a caution flag reverted the lineup back to the last completed lap with Rushlow maintain the lead position. On the ensuing restart Eitniear along with Donnie Ringman, Chane Stuckey, Jordan Conover and Cody Houston all got caught up in an incident in turn two. Wauseon, Ohio’s Adam Lantz restarted in second just behind Rushlow after the caution and took over the lead with a pass to the outside on lap five. Lantz appeared to be on the way to the easy victory after opening up a comfortable lead, but a late caution would set up an exciting finish. Lantz appeared to slip up a bit in turn two on the restart which opened the door for Rushlow to get back alongside. The two battled side by side for a lap or two, but Lantz was able to get back in front of Rushlow at the white flag and went on to earn the $1,200. Rushlow settled for second followed by Craig Dippman and Jeff Foks Jr. who started deep in the field after transferring in through one of the B Main’s earlier in the night. Gabe Mueller finished fifth.
The Compact feature event turned out to be one of the wildest races of the night. It was the only feature to run without a single caution flag despite multiple spins. In each case, drivers were able to right their cars and continue on, but it caused for lapped traffic to be spread all around the track. Joe Carr darted out to the lead on lap one, but defending track champion Eric Carr took command by lap two. Cory Gumm stormed up to battle with Eric Carr and took the lead on lap five. The two drivers continued to battle side by side while scattering around slower lapped traffic with Carr taking back the lead on lap seven. The two drivers made contact while trying to squeeze by one lapper and then Gumm fell off the pace allowing Wauseon, Ohio’s Eric Carr to pick up a convincing win despite an ill-handling car. Jason Deshler, Nathan Goodman, Ryan Okuley and Joe Elliott were all able to get by Gumm who slipped back to finish sixth.
Oakshade Raceway returns to action with a full program of UMP Late Models, UMP Sportsman, Bombers and Compacts on Saturday May 8 with gates opening at 4pm, hot laps at 6pm and racing at 7pm.
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