May 23rd: Yes Chevrolet & Yes Ford Cabin Fever Bash

Coons, Ripley, Swaney, Pendleton, Brown, Cassidy, Inbody, Bailey win Cabin Fever Bash at Ona

ONA, WV-The historic Ona Speedway returned to racing after an extended offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturday, May 23rd. A total of 87 race cars from 4 different states came to do battle for the Yes Chevrolet & Yes Ford Cabin Fever Bash. No spectators were in attendance due to West Virginia state mandates, but over 28,000 people watched the event on the Facebook Live Stream by Kindred Communications.

The first race to start the night was the 20 lap Crazy Compact feature. The biggest car count in the two year history of the class came to do battle. Outside polesitter Thomas Bailey took the early race lead and led all 20 laps to take the win in a race that only saw one caution. Donna Bush finished second with Dillon Higginbottom third, Travis Hall fourth, and James Saylor rounding out the top five in fifth.

Stevie Brown took the lead at the start of the Classic Car feature while intense battles inside the top five raged on. The race saw one caution flag that occurred early in the race when Dawson Cooper made heavy contact with the inside frontstretch guardrail. Cooper was thankfully ok. Brown led all 25 laps to take the win by 1.827 seconds while Will Hass and Brad Cooper charged from eighth and ninth place starting positions to finish second and third respectively. Kenny McCallister finished in fourth with Rob Morrison rounding out the top five in fifth.

For the first time since in several years, Sport Mods took to the track in what was one of the most exciting races of the night. Mike Gue jumped into the early race lead with Braden Swaney right on his bumper in second. The two battled nose to tail for the races first 10 laps with Swaney eventually passing Gue on lap 11 to lead the remaining laps and take the feature win! It was an emotional win for Swaney as his father passed away the week before the race. Marty Powers finished second with Chris Jividen third, Scott Pierson fourth, and Mike Moses fifth. Mike Gue had mechanical problems on lap 14 and had to retire from the race early.

Bellefontaine, Ohio’s Brad Coons took the lead to start the nights 30 lap Late Model feature with Jacob Bell quickly moving into second. A car that was quickly moving through the field was last place starter Don Mahaffey. Maheffey, winner of last year’s Late Model portion of the Mountaineer 100, quickly moved into the third position before being slowed by mechanical problems and having to retire early. With only 3 laps to go, second place runner Jacob Bell spun in turn two and had to retire with mechanical problems. Coons would lead every lap to take the feature win with Kenny Parsons in second, Joe Fihe third, Jacob Bell fourth, and Rob Dunlap fifth.

The much anticipated return of the Legends Car division lived up to its hype with a wild 20 lap feature. Chase Malone took the early race lead with double file racing all through the pack in the opening laps! Veteran driver Jerry Inbody quickly moved into the second position and battled for the lead with Malone. On lap seven, Malone and Inbody made contact with Malone spinning into the infield. Third place runner Hunter Tolliver went high to avoid the accident and caught the outside guardrail, spinning him around in front of the pack. Brad Bowen and Jerry Graley had nowhere to go and slammed into Tolliver in a vicious wreck. Thankfully, all drivers were ok.

When the race resumed, Malone got his position back up front but Jerry Inbody quickly moved around him to take the lead and lead the remaining laps to win. The excitement wasn’t over though as off of turn four on the last lap, Malone and Thomas Crabtree were side by side for second as Malone finished second with Crabtree spinning across the start/finish line backwards to finish third. Tommy Rowe finished fourth with Robbie McFarlin rounding out the top five in fifth.

Brett Carey took the early race lead in the Hobby Stock division with Colt Locker in second. Tenth place starter Chad Pendleton, winner of the Hobby Stock special during Mountaineer 100 weekend last year, quickly moved through the field and by the races halfway point was battling for second with Locker. The two battled hard for second for several laps until Pendleton was able to make the pass with 11 laps to go and set his sights on Brett Carey.

Pendleton closed initially, but his run on Carey stalled out until a caution for a Clinton Thompson spin with three laps to go bunched the field back up. Under the caution, heartbreak occurred for Carey as he had to pull off the track with an overheating problem. Pendleton inherited the lead and led the final laps to come from tenth starting position to take the win. Colt Locker finished second with Jason Salmons third, Chris Jividen fourth, and Brett Carey in fifth.

The ground pounding Modifieds battled for their 40 lap feature with Todd Ripley moving into the early race lead. Ripley ran a great race and maintained a two second lead for much of the race to lead all 40 laps and take the $850 win. A great battle for second occurred during the last 10 laps of the race between Jeremy Cooper and Greg Chandler with Cooper finishing second and Chandler third. Lucas Ripley finished fourth while Andy Booten rounded out the top five in fifth.

A large field of 25 Contempo Trophy & Award U Cars took to the track for their 40 lap feature to close out the night of racing. Brent Shreffler took the early race lead with all eyes on a hard charging Tim Cassidy who started tenth but quickly made his way through the field and into second. On a lap 8 restart, Cassidy charged to the lead past Shreffler and never looked back to take the win in what was a wild race through the field with some big accidents and great side by side racing. Don Rufener came from thirteenth starting position to finish second with Michael Hughart coming from twelfth starting position to finish third. Eric Johnson finished fourth with Derek Morris in fifth.

The next scheduled race for the Ona Speedway will take place whenever West Virginia state mandates allow spectators to return as we anxiously anticipate the return of fans to the track. The next race on the original schedule is for Saturday, June 13th. Please follow the Ona Speedway Facebook page for more information and news on the next race.
Complete Results

Late Models
30 lap Feature-Brad Coons, , Kenny Parsons, Joe Fihe, Jacob Bell, Rob Dunlap, Don Maheffey, Anthony Thompson
Car Count-7

Modifieds
40 lap Feature-Todd Ripley, Jeremy Cooper, Greg Chandler, Lucas Ripley, Andy Booten, Nathan Embree, Steve Hass, J. R. Webb, Marty Powers, Scott Pierson, Rick Elkins, Braden Swaney
Car Count-12

Hobby Stocks
40 lap Feature-Chad Pendleton, Colt Locker, Jason Salmons, Chris Jividen, Brett Carey, Clinton Thompson, Buck Purtee, Jamie Womack, Kenny Chapman, Steve Hursey (DNS: Rich Gleason)
Car Count-11

U Cars
40 lap Feature-Tim Cassidy, Don Rufener, Michael Hughart, Eric Johnson, Derek Morris, David Adkins, Ron Sagers, James Harper, James Suggs, Chris Wheeler, Ricky Nelson, Marcus Esch, Joshua Ferrell, Brent Shreffler, Jacob Bell, Nathan Higginbottom, Reuben Fetty, Travis Hall, Keith Watson, Clayton Oliver, Anthony Vilcheck, Jared Cassidy, T. J. Fannin, Joe Workman
Car Count-25

Classic Cars
25 lap Feature-Stevie Brown, Will Haas, Brad Cooper, Kenny McCallister, Rob Morrison, Danny McGowan, Jeff Taylor, Harvey McGowan, Dawson Cooper
Car Count-9

Sport Mods
20 lap Feature-Braden Swaney, Marty Powers, Chris Jividen, Scott Pierson, Mike Moses, Mike Gue (DNS: Justin Shanteau)
Car Count-7

Legends Cars
20 lap Feature-Jerry Inbody, Chase Malone, Thomas Crabtree, Tommy Rowe, Robbie McFarlin, Chad Woodrum, Brad Bowen, Hunter Tolliver, Jerry Graley
Car Count-9

Crazy Compacts
20 lap Feature-Thomas Bailey, Donna Bush, Dillon Higginbottom, Travis Hall, James Saylor, Randy Bailey, Stephanie Smith, Lexy Jividen, Dustin Higginbottom, Preston Hysell
Car Count-10