ONA, WV-Coming off of a highly successful Opening Night with the 2nd Annual Freedom Used Autos Fly by 40 on Saturday, May 14th, the Ona Speedway returns to action this Saturday, May 21st with another special event. This Saturday’s K&J Demolition & Excavation Night will feature a double special event with the USAC Eastern Midgets and the zMax Pro Grand National Racing Series featuring Baby Grand Stock Cars. Ona’s Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models, Bumper Pounding Street Socks, McCam Builders Classic Cars, Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro, Geer Brothers Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro, Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s, and SNAP Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts will also be on the jam packed racing card.
The USAC Eastern Midgets made their first ever trip to Ona last season and put on one of the most exciting races of the 2021 season when Jessica Bean passed Sam Mazzo coming to the white flag to take the win. The USAC Eastern Midgets bring an exciting style of high speed, breathtaking racing to Ona as they are the fastest cars that will compete at Ona in 2022. This will be the only USAC event in the state of West Virginia in 2022 and feature a rare opportunity to see open wheel racing on asphalt in the region.
For the USAC Eastern Midgets, Saturday’s race at Ona will be their fourth race of the 2022 season. The three prior races saw the series compete at Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina and then a double header at the legendary South Boston Speedway in Virginia. The series has had three different winners in three races. Those winners include Chris Lamb, Neal Allison, and Hunter Wise. Saturday’s race at Ona is the series only event scheduled for the month of May, something that should help increase the car count even more. Hunter Wise comes into Saturday’s event with a narrow 6 point lead over Logan Sulyi. Wise competed at last season’s event at Ona, finishing 5th.
Saturday will feature the first ever visit to Ona from the zMax Pro Grand National Racing Series with Baby Grand Stock Cars. Baby Grand Stock Cars are popular throughout the southeast. They are a smaller, scaled down version of a NASCAR stock car and run a motorcycle engine similar to what the Legends Cars run. Female driver Quinn Davis, a regular at Highland Rim Speedway in Tennessee, is one of the series regulars who will be in attendance this weekend.
The Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models and SNAP Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts will both have their first races of the season Saturday. Both classes were originally scheduled to compete in the postponed Yes Chevrolet/Yes Ford Cabin Fever Bash weekend in April. The drivers in both classes will be extra anxious to hit the track on Saturday. In the Late Models, 2021 track champion Jake Keaton will look to keep his winning streak dating back to April 2021 alive while all other drivers will be looking to keep Keaton out of victory lane and claim a win. In the Crazy Compacts, Stacie Watson will look to carry her momentum from a big Mountaineer 100 win last season and get her 2022 campaign started off strong. She will no doubt have a fast field of cars behind her looking to take the first checkered flag of the 2022 season.
The Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s will also have their first race of the season, although many of the drivers competed last weekend in the Vores Compact Touring Series event. It was Ona Speedway UCAR regular Nick Fowler taking the win in that race. Fowler brings lots of momentum into Saturday’s points opener for the class after winning the Vores race last weekend and the Mountaineer 100 race last November. Ona drivers Joe Workman, Tim Cassidy, and Chris Deskins all had top 10 finishes in the Vores race and Keith Watson was one of the fastest cars on track before mechanical problems hit. All of these drivers and many more will also be looking for a win in the first points race of the season in what should be one of the most exciting races of Saturday’s K&J Demolition & Excavation Night.
Cam McKinney and Kenny McCallister gave us a taste of what we might see this season in the McCam Builders Classic Car class as the two drivers battled hard all race long last Saturday with McKinney taking his first career win. These two are no doubt favorites for the track championship, but you can’t count out Danny McGowan and Rick Keaton who both made their returns to racing last Saturday. McGowan and Keaton had a great battle of their own with McGowan finishing 3rd and Keaton finishing 4th. Both of those drivers will no doubt be battling McKinney and McCallister for race wins as they get more laps under their belt.
There’s already a friendly rivalry brewing in the Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro class between Jake Keaton and Steve Swann. This battle goes back to last year when Keaton joined the Legends Car class and had some great battles with Swann. Swann took the win over Keaton every time last year, but Keaton was able to make a high side pass on a restart last Saturday to take the lead from Swann and go on to win the first race of the 2022 season. It’s a battle between these two that will no doubt last all season long. Steve Hass was also impressive in his first ever Legends Car race, finishing second. Tyler Martin picked up speed throughout last year and was also extremely fast last Saturday, claiming a third place finish. It will no doubt be an incredible battle to see who can win race #2 of the season on Saturday.
The Geer Brothers Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro class is also setting up a friendly rivalry between youngsters Will Hass, Dale Garrett, and Will Geer. The three battled close all race long last Saturday with Hass taking the win in his first ever Legends Car start. Adam Jeffrey also picked up a ton of speed and came home with a strong third place finish, showing he will be up for the battle against the young drivers. An even larger car count is expected in this class as the season goes on.
The Bumper Pounding Street Stocks got off to a great start last season with Chris Jividen taking the win in a dominating performance. One of the headlines of the race was Clark Perry who started the feature from the tail in 10th after missing qualifying due to finishing an engine change at his race shop in Man, WV. Perry didn’t arrive at the speedway until after 7:00 pm on Saturday with his first lap on track the first lap of the feature. Perry stormed from last to finish in the second position. Last season saw Jividen and Perry battle all season long for the track championship with Perry taking the title. Those two will look to battle for the track championship again this year while 2020 champion Brett Carey, who finished 3rd last year, will also no doubt have something to say about who wins the title.
General admission on Saturday is only $15 for ages 15 and up, $10 for ages 11-14, and free for ages 10 and under. All access pit passes are only $30 for ages 15 and up, $15 for ages 11-14, and free for ages 10 and under. Pit gates open at noon with general admission gates opening at 4:00 pm. Racing will start at 6:00 pm. There will be open practice Friday, May 20th from 5:00 pm until dark. Pit passes for practice are only $5 while the cost to practice a race car is only $20.
For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
