ONA, WV-A big crowd and drivers from 5 different states came to Ona Speedway on Saturday, May 1st for the second night of the 2nd Annual Yes Chevrolet/Yes Ford Cabin Fever Bash which was headlined by the season opening race for the Tolley Farms Midwest Modifieds Tour.
The night started with the 25 lap Chandler Auto Performance Crazy Compact feature. Chaos occurred on the start as contact between Tyler Bailey and Tony Fletcher sent Fletcher into the turn four guardrail in front of the field. Stacie Watson and Preston Hysell had nowhere to go, slamming into Fletcher in some of the hardest impacts we have seen at Ona in quite some time. Drivers involved in the incident were shaken but thankfully walked away uninjured. When the race resumed for start #2, Kassidee Bush took the lead with her mother Donna Bush in second. Last year’s track champion Thomas Bailey started last and immediately began picking his way through the field.
Up front, Kassidee Bush maintained a 3-4 car length lead over Donna Bush in the early laps until Kassidee hit lap traffic on lap 5. Into turn 3, Kassidee got stuck behind a lapped car, allowing Donna to get a run and go around her on the high side to take the lead on lap 5. A couple laps later, Thomas Bailey passed Kassidee Bush for second and began chasing down Donna Bush. By lap 10, Bailey was right on the bumper of Bush. After a couple laps of hard racing for the lead, Bailey took the lead on lap 12 and never looked back to claim the impressive last to first victory! Donna Bush finished second with Kassidee Bush third, Evan Proctor fourth, and Dustin Higginbotham in fifth.
The next race up was the 30 lap Keaton’s Collision Center Late Model feature. Polesitter Jake Keaton took the lead at the start with Brad Coons moving into the second position. A great battle ensued for third in the early race stages between Jacob Bell and Jerick Johnson. After several laps of hard racing, Johnson made the pass on Bell and set his sights on second place Brad Coons. Coons and Johnson then engaged in an intense battle for the second position with Johnson making the pass on lap 12. Johnson then began to set his sights on leader Jake Keaton who had pulled out to a near 4 second lead. On lap 18, things got hairy in front of Johnson as John Morton got loose and spun in front of Johnson as he was lapping him in turn one. Johnson avoided Morton as Morton spun to the infield, bringing out the races first caution.
The caution flag erased Keaton’s big lead and put the former NASCAR driver Johnson right on his outside. On the restart, Keaton and Johnson battled side by side through turns one and two and down the backstretch! Keaton cleared Johnson off of turn 4 to maintain his lead as Johnson tucked into the second spot. For the next several laps, Johnson stalked Keaton, only a couple car lengths behind him. As the laps wore on, Keaton gradually increased his lead and came to the checkers to take the feature win over Johnson in second! A great battle ensued for the third position during the final third of the race between Brad Coons and Jacob Bell with Coons hanging on to the position and Bell finishing fourth. Westerville, Ohio’s Joe Fihe rounded out the top five in fifth. Keaton was the night’s fast qualifier, turning an impressive lap time of 17.959.
A wild 20 lap Keaton’s Collision Center Semi-Pro feature then took the speedway with veteran driver Jerry Inbody taking the lead at the start with Matthew Martin right on his tail in second. Inbody and Martin battled nose to tail and side by side for the lead for the races first several laps with Martin making the pass on Inbody to take the lead on lap 8. With the two Legends Car classes split in half by times in qualifying, the track put a breakout rule in place that if the leader in the Semi-Pro race ran a lap more than 3 tenths of a second faster than what they qualified in the race while leading that a caution would be thrown and the leader would go to the tail. On lap 10, while pulling away up front, Martin brokeout, resulting in a caution flag thrown and Martin going to the tail. This inherited the lead back to Jerry Inbody.
On the restart, Inbody led while a great battle for second occurred between Will Geer and Newton Moore. Moore was able to get by Geer for second and then set his sights on Inbody. At one point, Inbody, Moore, and Geer were all nose to tail battling for the lead while Matthew Martin moved from the tail to come up to fourth. On lap 15, while in second battling for the lead, Newton Moore spun bringing out the caution. On the restart, Inbody continued with the lead until he broke out on lap 17, resulting in a caution flag and Inbody going to the tail. This inherited the lead to Will Geer. Geer had a great restart and led the final three laps to take his first career Ona Speedway win! Dale Garrett finished second in his very first race while Aaron Auffant, who was also in his very first race, finished third. Wiley Jeffrey finished fourth and Newton Moore rounded out the top 5 in fifth.
The next race on track was the night’s main event, the Yes Chevrolet/Yes Ford Cabin Fever 50 for the Tolley Farms Midwest Modifieds Tour. A fast field of 23 cars entered the pits with 21 cars making the call to start the feature. In qualifying, the Midwest Modifieds Tour put down blistering lap times with Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Matt Dimit the fast qualifier at a lap time of 17.590 for an average speed of 89.540 mph. The top 10 cars in qualifying were all in the 17 second bracket with the top 14 cars only separated by 0.477 tenths of a second. The entire 21 car field was only separated by 1.099 seconds in qualifying. After an electric driver introductions and command to start engines, the Midwest Modifieds Tour took the green for their 50 lap feature.
On the race start, Danny Jackson and Brad Yelton battled side by side for the lead with the two making contact down the backstretch, resulting in a flat tire for Yelton and a big multi car wreck behind them. The accident knocked Nick Lechota, Stephen Klinect, and Jamie Womack out of the race. Yelton’s crew was able to chang the flat tire and sent him back out on track. Per series rule, everyone get’s their spot back on a multi-car accident on lap one, putting Yelton back on the front row for the races second attempted start. On the second start, Jackson and Yelton once again battled side by side for the lead with Yelton taking the lead from the high side to lead lap one. Jackson stayed tucked right behind Yelton during the races early stages while a great battle for third ensued between Rick Sibila and Matt Dimit. Dimit was finally able to pass Sibila for third on lap 12 while Sibila also got passed by Michigan’s Buddy Gray and former Mountaineer 100 winner Brian Nester.
Yelton maintained a 4-5 car length lead over Jackson for much of the first half of the race as the leaders started to enter lapped traffic. On lap 29, Jackson caught Yelton as they were bumper to bumper for the lead! The two remained bumper to bumper for the next five laps and battled side by side for the lead through lapped traffic on lap 34! Yelton was able to hang onto the lead through the lapped traffic and as they cleared lapped traffic begin to gradually pull back out to a 5-6 car length lead. In a race that never saw another yellow after the lap one wreck, Brad Yelton came to the checkers to take his first career Midwest Modifieds Tour win over Danny Jackson second, Buddy Gray in third, Matt Dimit fourth, and Brian Nester fifth. The 50 lap feature only took a little over 15 minutes to complete after the first lap red flag.
The final race of the night was another barnburner for the Southern Ohio Speed Legends Car Pro. The 20 lap feature started with polesitter Tyler Martin taking the lead. Jerry Graley quickly moved into second with Steve Swann in third. On lap two, off of turn 4, Graley got loose and Swann went underneath of him down the frontstretch and also got loose, resulting in Swann spinning wildly in front of the field. Somehow, Swann managed to keep the car off the guardrails and all drivers were able to avoid contact. Swann would have to go to the tail. On the restart, Graley used highside momentum to pass Martin and take the lead on lap 3. Thomas Crabtree then passed Martin to move into the second position and quickly caught Graley by lap 8. The two then battled side by side for the lead lap after lap until Crabtree made the pass to take the lead on lap 11.
Tyler Martin joined Crabtree and Graley to make it a three car battle for the lead until Martin spun from third on lap 12. On the restart, Graley used highside momentum to take the lead over teammate Crabtree off of turn 2 but coming off of turn 4 while in the lead, Graley spun his machine and made contact with the inside guardrail and Tyler Martin, bringing out the caution. Both cars were able to continue with only minor damage. This setup a double file restart with Crabtree the leader and Steve Swann making his way from the tail to restart in second on the outside of Crabtree. On the restart, Crabtree and Swann battled side by side for two laps with Swann making the pass on lap 14 to take the lead. Swann led the remaining six laps to do the unthinkable, come from last to win for the second straight time! Crabtree finished second with Corey Steinbrecher third, Joe Workman fourth, and Cameron Gue rounding out the top 5 in fifth. Steinbrecher and Workman were in their first ever Legends Car race. Steve Swann was the fast qualifier.
The Ona Speedway will be in action next on Saturday, May 15th for K&J Demolition & Excavation Night featuring Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models, McCam Builders Modifieds, Greg Chandler Frame & Body Sport Mods, Rocky Top’s Pizza Street Stocks, McCam Builders Classic Cars, Contempo Trophy & Awards U Cars, and Chandler Auto Performance Crazy Compacts. Both Legends Car classes will have their one off week of the season on May 15th. Racing will start at 6:00 pm with adult general admission only $10 for the exciting 7 division show. For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
Complete Results
Tolley Farms Midwest Modifieds Tour
Fast Qualifier-Matt Dimit, 17.590
Yes Chevrolet/Yes Ford Cabin Fever 50-Brad Yelton, Danny Jackson, Buddy Gray, Matt Dimit, Brian Nester, Rick Sibila, Chad Poorman, Dave Christensen, John Gearhart, Joe Beaver, Brad Springer, Greg CHandler, Andy Booten, Damon Breedlove, Marty Powers, Josh Kempf, Greg Fullarton, Wes Smith, Nick Lechota, Stephen Klinect, Jamie Womack (DNS: Dave Nester, Cole Carper)
Lap Leaders-Brad Yelton (1-50)
Car Count-23
Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models
Fast Qualifier-Jake Keaton, 17.959
30 lap Feature-Jake Keaton, Jerick Johnson, Brad Coons, Jacob Bell, Joe Fihe, Greg Sigler, Mike Burcham, Kenny Parsons, John Morton
Lap Leaders-Jake Keaton (1-30)
Car Count-9
Southern Ohio Speed Legends Car Pro
Fast Qualifier-Steve Swann, 19.949
20 lap Feature-Steve Swann, Thomas Crabtree, Corey Steinbrecher, Joe Workman, Cameron Gue, Jerry Graley, Tyler Martin, Scott Martin, Derik Gocum, Evan Proctor
Lap Leaders-Tyler Martin (1-2), Jerry Graley (3-10), Thomas Crabtree (11-13), Steve Swann (14-20)
Car Count-10
Keaton’s Collision Center Legends Car Semi-Pro
Fast Qualifier-Thomas Bailey, 20.795
20 lap Feature-Will Geer, Dale Garrett, Aaron Auffant, Wiley Jeffrey, Newton Moore, Brad Bowen, Jerry Inbody, Matthew Martin, Zach Steele (DNS: Thomas Bailey, Aiden Coons, Sam Collins, Adam Jeffrey)
Lap Leaders-Jerry Inbody (1-7), Matthew Martin (8-9), Jerry Inbody (10-16), Will Geer (17-20)
Car Count-13
Chandler Auto Performance Crazy Compacts
25 lap Feature-Thomas Bailey, Donna Bush, Kassidee Bush, Evan Proctor, Dustin Higginbotham, Rex Burton, James Saylor, Dillon Higginbotham, Tommy Ross, Tony Fletcher, Tyler Bailey, Stacie Watson, Preston Hysell (DNS: Michael Baldridge)
Lap Leaders-Kassidee Bush (1-4), Donna Bush (5-11), Thomas Bailey (12-25)
Car Count-14
