Devin Moran, Chad Bauer Win Birthday Race at Oakshade Raceway

Contact: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR Coordinator

Credit: DIRTcar Racing  DIRTcarSummerNationals.com ModifiedNationals.com

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PIECE OF CAKE: Moran Wins 24th Annual Birthday Race at Oakshade

Teenage polesitter Shipley leads opening laps, finishes sixth, car builder Schlenk runner-up

WAUSEON, OH – July 16, 2022 – His father Donnie did it in 1999, and now Devin Moran has a big slice of Birthday Race cake cut all for himself.

Moran took the lead from Colin Shipley on Lap 10 and never looked back, leading the final 31 circuits around Oakshade Raceway Saturday night en route to Victory Lane in the 24th running of the Birthday Race.

“To win the Birthday Race is pretty cool,” said Moran, of Dresden, OH. “I never get to come up here, but it’s a home-state track. To come out here and win is definitely a lot of fun.”

He and father Donnie Moran now join six-time Hell Tour champion Billy Moyer and son Billy Moyer Jr. as the only two father-son duos to win the coveted Summer Nationals event.

“The crowd and the fanbase here are pretty electric, and it’s a lot of fun to come race in front of these guys,” Moran said. “To win it with my dad is pretty badass.”

Moran took the green from third on the starting grid and wasted zero time in his charge to the front, getting around Payton Freeman for second on Lap 2 and setting his sights on leader Shipley, who was nearly two seconds ahead at one point.

When 16-year-old Shipley, of Weston, OH, reached lapped traffic and overshot Turns 1-2 on Lap 10, Moran was ready to pounce in the bottom lane and zoomed by to capture the top spot.

“I was just being patient and letting [Shipley] go as hard as he could,” Moran said. “I knew eventually, he was going to mess-up a little bit. When he did, I slid underneath him and tried to hold on from there.”

But his fight wasn’t done there. Moran encountered a heavy challenge from six-time Oakshade track champion Rusty Schlenk in the closing stages. Schlenk, of McClure, OH, worked his way up through the top-five after starting eighth and came to life in the second half. He pressured Moran heavily after a restart with 13-to-go, then threw a big slide job at him to take the lead for one turn before Moran crossed him back over in Turn 4 to regain the spot.

Despite more pressure from the #91 in the final laps, Moran was able to hold on to score the $10,000 check and his fourth career Summer Nationals Feature win.

Schlenk held on for second while Bobby Pierce crossed in third after dropping as low as eighth at one point early on. Payton Freeman bagged his fifth top-five finish of the season with a fourth-place run, and defending track champion Devin Shiels rounded-out the top-five.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models are back in action Sunday, July 17, for the tour debut at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, OH. If you can’t be there in person, watch every lap live on DIRTVison.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 40 Laps | 00:24:33.927

1. 9-Devin Moran[3]; 2. 91-Rusty Schlenk[8]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. F1-Payton Freeman[2]; 5. 51S-Devin Shiels[10]; 6. 44S-Colin Shipley[1]; 7. 71DS-Drew Smith[17]; 8. 27H-Ken Hahn[13]; 9. 30-Mark Voigt[21]; 10. 14G-Joe Godsey[7]; 11. 71- Rusty Smith[23]; 12. 1N-Casey Noonan[22]; 13. 77K-Steve Kester[14]; 14. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 15. 8-Rob Anderzack[12]; 16. 4D-Doug Tye[15]; 17. 75-Dusty Moore[19]; 18. 22-Brad Eitniear[20]; 19. 63-Terry Rushlow[6]; 20. 55-Jeep Van Wormer[18]; 21. 34-Herb Reich[16]; 22. 53-Hillard Miller[9]; 23. R4-Rich Ruff[11]; 24. 14R-Jeff Roth[24]

BAUER POWER: Chad Bauer Wins First Career Summit Modified Event at Oakshade

After many attempts and starts in his veteran career, Chad Bauer is now a DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature winner.

The Farwell, MI-native scored his first victory with the tour Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway, taking the lead from polesitter Dylan Woodling on Lap 2 and holding off the field the rest of the way to etch his name into the Summit Modified history books.

“It feels great to finally get one, for sure,” Bauer said.

He redrew the outside pole for the Feature and wasted no time in his pursuit of the lead, sneaking by Woodling on the bottom of Turns 1-2 after completing the opening circuit. From there, Bauer played defense, battling through restart-after-restart to keep the lead.

“I wanted to try to get the lead early because I knew it was going to be tough to get by,” Bauer said. “[Woodling] just kinda slid up a little bit and I got under him, and that was it.”

In the final laps, Bauer met a worthy opponent in Brian Ruhlman, who came soaring through the field on the bottom and even threw a pair of slide jobs at Bauer to try and take the spot.

“I was worried about him,” Bauer said. “He got in there and slid up, and it allowed me to get back under him again. I tried to hold it down a little bit more to keep him from doing it again, and it worked out.”

In the end, Bauer was able to outdrive Ruhlman’s efforts and pick up the $1,500 payday.

Ruhlman crossed the stripe in second, followed by Dalton Lane, Andrew Smith and Bill Griffith.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Modifieds are back in action Sunday, July 17, for the tour debut at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, OH. If you can’t be there in person, watch every lap live on DIRTVison.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 25 Laps | 00:27:56.415

1. 19B-Chad Bauer[2]; 2. 49-Brian Ruhlman[9]; 3. 82-Dalton Lane[6]; 4. 86-Andrew Smith[11]; 5. 4G-Bill Griffith[14]; 6. 22T- Tony Anderson[17]; 7. 54-Zachary Hawk[20]; 8. 9-Garrett Rons[15]; 9. 5A-Jerry Bowersock[7]; 10. 1-Brian Przeporia[12]; 11. 32-Scott Boyd Jr[13]; 12. 3W-Dylan Woodling[1]; 13. 114-Clayton Bryant[4]; 14. 5CS-Curt Spalding[5]; 15. 65-Todd Sherman[3]; 16. 52-Nate Hutchison[24]; 17. 9C-Troy Cattarene[10]; 18. 55-Justin Matson[8]; 19. 25M-Brian Mcfeeters[16]; 20. 9PG-Percy Gendreau[18]; 21. ZERO-Brent Hole[22]; 22. 12M-John McClure[19]; 23. 60-Shannon Fisk[21]; 24. (DNS) 53-Pete Dotson