ONA, WV-Despite threatening weather earlier in the day, Ona Speedway persevered and a good crowd and 65 cars gathered into the speedway for One Way Septic Night on Saturday, August 6th. Due to weather pushing gate opening times back, there was no qualifying as every class started their features by way of pill draw.
The first feature of the night was the 20 lapper for the Geer Brother’s Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro. Dale Garrett took the lead at the start as all eyes were on Will Geer who quickly moved up from the 10th starting position to second place during the opening 5 laps of the race. More eyes were on the #14j of Adam Jeffrey as he used the extreme high side of the speedway to pass several cars, going three wide at times, to quickly move up to the third position. On lap 6, a caution flew due to timing & scoring going down, putting Garrett and Geer side by side at the restart. On the restart, Garrett and Geer battled side by side for a couple laps in an intense battle with Geer clearing Garrett and taking the race lead. Geer then pulled away and look destined for victory until a caution flew with three laps to go for a Randall Cline spin. On the restart, Garrett stuck right behind Geer for a lap but Geer slowly began to gap Garrett and came across the checkered flag to take his second win in a row! Garrett finished second with Jeffrey third, Jeremy Dosier fourth, and Cole Sowards fifth.
Bobby Fihe led the opening lap of the 25 lap Keaton’s Collision Center Late Model feature with fifth place starter Jake Keaton quickly moving into second. On lap two, Keaton would look underneath of Fihe on the backstretch and storm to the race lead. With Keaton leading and Fihe in second, a great battle for third took place between Carson Lucas, Gregg Carby, and Jacob Bell. After several laps of battling, Carby would take third on lap 8 with Bell following behind Carby to move into fourth. As the laps wore on, Fihe’s car began to fade due to electrical issues and would be passed by Carby for the position on lap 15. On that same lap, Bell began to slow with mechanical problems and pulled off the speedway. Those mechanical issues would move Lucas back up to the third spot. Keaton would go on to lead every lap to claim his third win of the season! Carby finished second with Carson Lucas narrowly holding off Kenny Parsons to finish third with Parsons fourth. Mike Burcham rounded out the top 5 right in behind Parsons to finish fifth.
Chris Deskins took the lead at the start of the night’s 25 lap Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR feature with Jay Workman right behind him in second and Joe Workman quickly moving up to third. For much of the race Jay Workman would stalk Deskins, staying between a half second-one second behind him. Workman would never be able to get any closer to Deskins for the remainder of the race as Deskins came across the checkered flag to claim his second win of the season! Jay Workman finished second with Joe Workman third. One of the closest and most entertaining finishes of the year came for fourth in this race between Nick Fowler and Keith Watson. The two were side by side off of turn four heading to the finish line, beating and banging in a scene reminiscent of the Ricky Craven-Kurt Busch finish at Darlington in NASCAR action in 2003. Fowler would edge Watson at the line by 0.020 hundredths of a second to claim fourth with Watson fifth.
Chaos ensued at the start of the night’s 20 lap Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro feature as contact sent Tyler Martin spinning with Zach Steele hitting the guardrail hard and suffering significant damage. Scott Martin and Rob Dunlap were also collected in the accident. All drivers except for Steele would continue on. On the second attempted start of the race, Jake Keaton would take the lead with Steve Swann right behind him in second. For most of the race, Keaton maintained about a half second lead over Swann. During the final few laps, Swann started to mount a charge on Keaton and got within a car length of him several times. That’s as close as Swann would be able to get however as Keaton came across the checkers to claim his second win of the season! Swann finished second with Tyler Martin third, Matthew Martin fourth, and Marty Powers fifth.
Kenny Chapman and Clark Perry battled side by side for the lead at the start of the night’s 25 lap Bumper Pounding Street Stock feature. Chapman would clear Perry with Perry staying right on Chapman’s bumper. With a bumper-to-bumper battle for the lead up front, top points runners Chris Jividen and Brett Carey were putting on a show coming through the field. A lap six caution for water on the track from a car hitting a water puddle in the infield would bunch the field back together. On the restart, Chapman would clear Perry and continue with the lead and start to pull away up front. Meanwhile, the battle for second was as good as it gets between Perry, Jividen, and Carey. This battled raged on for several laps with Jividen clearing Perry using the high side on lap 15 and set his sights on Chapman who was leading by nearly two seconds. Meanwhile, the battle for third between Perry and Carey was one of the most intense of the entire season with both drivers side by side and nearly sideways through the corners lap after lap battling for the position. Up front, nobody would have anything for Chapman as he came across the checkered flag to claim his first feature win of the season! Jividen finished second with Perry third, Carey fourth, and Tommy Rowe fifth.
Wes Smith and Andy Booten battled side by side at the start of the night’s 20 lap McCam Builders Modifed feature with Smith taking the lead on lap one. Smith would start to pull away up front in the opening laps while Booten, Jason Garrett, and Jeremy Cooper had an intense battle for second. Garrett would stick his nose underneath of Booten and grab the second position with Cooper following right in behind him. Garrett and Cooper would then be involved in an intense battle for second that lasted for several laps until Garrett spun while battling with Cooper on lap 10. Garrett was charged with the caution. This setup a restart with Smith and Cooper side by side up front. On the restart, Smith and Cooper battled side by side for the lead with Cooper clearing him in turn three to come around and lead lap 11. Smith’s #135 machine went high and got really loose allowing Josh Artis to get by him and move up to second and Booten moving back to third. Cooper would go on and lead the remaining laps to take his third win of the season! Artis finished second with Booten third, Smith fourth, and Garrett fifth.
Bradly Workman took the lead from Rex Burton on lap one to lead at the start of the night’s 20 lap Snap Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compact feature. Workman would pull away up front while an intense battle from second through sixth took place between Burton, Evan Proctor, David Harris, James Saylor, and Stacie Watson. Proctor would eventually clear all of those drivers and move into second while the rest all battled intensely, side by side every lap for those positions. The races first and only caution would fly on lap 10 when Saylor and Harris made contact with Saylor spinning and collected Watson and Bill Arthur. All cars would continue on except for Saylor. On the restart, Workman continued to lead with Proctor in second and now Stacie Watson in third. Workman would pull away up front and come to the checkers to claim his second win of the season! The battle for second between Proctor and Watson waged side by side lap after lap. On the final turn, the two were still side by side and would beat and bang to the start finish line with Proctor taking the second position by .003 thousandths of a second! Watson finished third with Burton fourth and Arthur fifth.
The Ona Speedway will be back in action on Saturday, August 20th for Carpenter’s Repair Night featuring the first ever appearance to Ona by the Ohio Wheelman Street Stock Series for a big 50 lap feature. Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models, McCam Builders Modifieds, Greg Chandler Frame & Body Sport Mods, McCam Builders Classic Cars, Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s, and Snap Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts will also be on the racing card. Racing will start at 7:00 pm. General admission is only $15 (ages 15 and up), $10 (ages 11-14), and free for ages 10 and under. Race fans can upgrade their experience with an all access pit pass which is $30 for ages 15 and up, $15 for ages 11-14, and free for ages 10 and under. The track will be hosting a open practice night on Friday, August 19th from 5:00 pm until dark. Pit passes for the practice night are only $5 while the cost to practice a race car is only $20. For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
Complete Results
Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models
25 lap Feature-Jake Keaton, Gregg Carby, Carson Lucas, Kenny Parsons, Mike Burcham, John Morton, Bobby Fihe, Jacob Bell
Lap Leaders-Bobby Fihe (1), Jake Keaton (2-25)
Car Count-8
McCam Builders Modifieds
20 lap Feature-Jeremy Cooper, Josh Artis, Andy Booten, Wes Smith, Jason Garrett
Lap Leaders-Wes Smith (1-10), Jeremy Cooper (11-20)
Car Count-5
Bumper Pounding Street Stocks
25 lap Feature-Kenny Chapman, Chris Jividen, Clark Perry, Brett Carey, Tommy Rowe, Clinton Thompson, Keith Watson, Anthony Thompson, Lexy Lambert (DNS: Jason Skeens)
Lap Leaders-Kenny Chapman (1-25)
Car Count-10
Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s
25 lap Feature-Chris Deskins, Jay Workman, Joe Workman, Nick Fowler, Keith Watson, Tim Cassidy, David Adkins, Reuben Fetty, Jacob Burgoff, Dustin Higginbotham, Danny Keyser, Dillon Higginbotham
Lap Leaders-Chris Deskins (1-25)
Car Count-12
Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro
20 lap Feature-Jake Keaton, Steve Swann, Tyler Martin, Matthew Martin, Marty Powers, Jay Dunlap, Rob Dunlap, Scott Martin, Cameron Gue, Zach Steele
Lap Leaders-Jake Keaton (1-20)
Car Count-10
Geer Brothers INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro
20 lap Feature-Will Geer, Dale Garrett, Adam Jeffrey, Jeremy Dosier, Cole Sowards, Mick Sansom, Dean Brotherton, Teddy Berry, Kenny McCommas, Randall Cline, Bruce Finley (DNS: Andrew Simmons)
Lap Leaders-Dale Garrett (1-6), Will Geer (7-20)
Car Count-12
Snap Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts
20 lap Feature-Bradly Workman, Evan Proctor, Stacie Watson, Rex Burton, Bill Arthur, David Harris, Tommy Ross, James Saylor, Preston Hysell
Lap Leaders-Bradly Workman (1-20)
Car Count-9
