By: Ron Burt
Most tri-state tracks are having season championships. This doesn’t always mean they’re closing for the year. Some of these tracks will run into October and many have big races coming up. This fall and winter I will feature the champions from the different tracks I cover in my column along with pictures.
Last Saturday, Oakshade Raceway had their season championship. In the Late Model Division two events were taking place in the feature. Drivers were competing for the track Late Model championship and for the Attica/Oakshade Series Title. It comes down to numbers. You know where you must finish to clinch the crown. Devin Shiels has been on a terror lately. The night before he notched his 3rd feature in a row when he took the win at Attica. If you were in Vegas, a good bet would be Shiels out of Britton Michigan. A few other drivers had something to say before it was over. Shiels, is the defending track champion. The 2009 Late Model track champion Casey Noonan knew where he needed to finish to earn his second track championship over Devin Shiels who did everything, he could, to win a fifth track championship. Shiels, started on the pole and led all but one lap in the 25-lap Late Model feature event. Shiels caught the tail end of the field during a long green flag run and had a hard time putting a few of those cars a lap down. That allowed Rusty Schlenk and Colin Shipley to close in. Schlenk and Shiels split by one lapped car three-wide down the backstretch with Schlenk looking high and Shiels going low. Schlenk had the advantage at the line to lead lap 20 by a nose. Shiels fought back and retake the lead the following lap and held on to win his third Oakshade feature win of the season. The win capped off another Oakshade/Attica Late Model Challenge Series championship for Shiels, but it wasn’t enough for the Oakshade track championship. Schlenk finished the race a close second followed by Shipley. Noonan’s fourth place finish gave him the track championship by just five points over Shiels. Mathew Chapman finished the feature in fifth.
Carter Murday is the 2022 track Sportsman Champion. The feature went to Josh Robertson. Murday was 2nd and Carter Schlenk 3rd. The Dominator Stock Champion is Kolin Schilt. In the feature taking the checker was William “Bubba” Cundick. He started on the pole and lead the entire race. Getting 2nd was Adam Lantz and 3rd went to Adam Noonan. Eric Carr is the Compacts Champ because of a tiebreaker. Carr had the most wins. Carr won the feature with Jason Deshler, and Jason Bailey rounding out the top 3.
The USAC Sprints were in Kokomo for the Smackdown. Three big nights of Non-Winged Sprint action. Kyle Cummins went wire-to-wire for the win and $35,000.00. He had a 4.008 lead over second place C.J. Leary and 3rd Brady Bacon.
Friday night at Attica Raceway Park, 410 Sprint Car driver Cole Macedo won his third feature of the year at the track and his 10th in 2022. Devin Shiels won his 5th UMP Late Model feature of the summer at Attica and his 15th over-all at the speedway. 17-year-old Kasey Jedrzejek drove to his first ever 305 Sprint Car victory.
More racing, high school football and other sports are covered daily on the Ohio Sports Blitz Facebook page. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out! ohiosportsblitz@yahoo.com
