ONA, WV-73 cars from 7 different states packed the Ona Speedway pit area on Saturday, May 21st for K&J Demolition & Excavation Night. Despite a near 20 minute rain delay before the final feature of the night, the entire jam packed racing program was completed before 10 pm.
The night started with the 20 lap SNAP Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compact feature. Thomas Bailey took the lead at the start with Stacie Watson in second. The race got crazy on lap 4 when Shane Summers flipped hard off of turn two, resulting in a red flag. Summers was thankfully uninjured. When the race resumed, Bailey maintained around a 2 car length lead over Watson for the majority of the race in what stayed a close battle all the way through. At one point racing through lapped traffic, Watson was able to sneak a nose underneath of Bailey. Bailey would pull away in the final couple of laps to come across the checkered flag and take the feature win! Watson finished second with Preston Hysell third, Evan Proctor fourth, and David Harris fifth.
Cam McKinney led every lap of the night’s 10 lap McCam Builders Classic Car feature to take his second win in a row. Rick Keaton finished in second and moved to second in the point standings behind McKinney.
The wildest race of the night came in what was an instant classic for the Geer Brother’s Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro. Polesitter Aaron Auffant jumped out to the lead with Dale Garrett right on his bumper in second. Garrett was able to move underneath of Auffant and take the lead on lap 6 with Auffant freight trained back to fourth. The caution would fall on lap 7 for a Trey Turley spin, setting up a double file restart. On the restart Garrett would miss a shift and allow second place runner Will Hass to pass him to take the lead. Hass would lead the next four laps of the race until Will Geer muscled his way underneath of Hass in an impressive pass to take the lead on lap 13.
Geer and Hass would then engage in a classic battle for the lead. On the final lap into turn one, Hass drove deep into the turn and put the bumper to Geer, getting him loose and taking the lead off of turn 2! Down the backstretch Geer was tucked up right behind Hass, giving him a shot to the bumper into turn 3. Geer and Hass made contact again in turn 4 with both drivers spinning bringing out the caution! Both Hass and Geer were charged with the caution and would have to go to the tail, giving the race lead back to Auffant. On the green white checkered restart, Auffant led with Hass quickly moving back into third. As the field came to the white flag, Hass moved under Adam Jeffrey to take the second spot and set his sights on Auffant. Into turn 3 Hass was still four car lengths back but made up a ton of time on Auffant through the corner. Off of turn 4 Hass was now on Auffant’s bumper as they would drag race to the checkered flag with Auffant taking his first career win! Hass finished second with Jeffrey third, Chris Bishop fourth, and Geer in fifth.
Justin Shanes and Danny Trent battled for the lead at the start of the nights 25 lap zMax Pro Grand National Racing Series Baby Grand Stock Car feature. Shanes would lead with Trent right behind him. On lap 3, Trent would look to the inside of Shanes and make contact with him, resulting in both cars spinning and going to the tail. This left the lead to Kent Baledge. Baledge would lead on the restart with Trent and Shanes zooming back through the field. Trent would quickly moved into second using the high side and set his sights on Baledge. On lap 10, Trent put his machine around the highside of Baledge to make the pass and take the lead. Trent would go on to lead the remaining laps to take the feature win! Shanes finished second with Justin Garris third, Baledge fourth, and Joe McCloud fifth.
Jake Keaton stormed to the lead to start the night’s 25 lap Keaton’s Collision Center Late Model feature. A lot of eyes early on were on North Carolina racer Tyler Johnson who was moving his way up through the field from last. It only took Johnson 5 laps to move into second where he would set his sights on Keaton. Keaton, however, would pull away from Johnson and looked bound for victory until the caution flew with 5 laps to go for a Kenny Parsons spin. On the restart, Johnson stayed right with Keaton with only a couple of car lengths between them. Coming to the white flag, Johnson began to catch Keaton and off of turn two on the final lap was right on his bumper! Into turn 3 Johnson would give Keaton a shot to the bumper, but it wouldn’t be enough for him to make the pass as Keaton would come to the checkered flag to claim the feature win! Johnson finished second with Mike Burcham third, Gregg Carby fourth, and Jacob Bell fifth.
Things nearly got wild at the start of the night’s 35 lap USAC Eastern Midget feature when the front row of Chris Lamb and Logan Sulyi made contact going into turn one. Both cars would get crossed up a little but Lamb would come away with the lead with Sulyi in second. Lamb would pull away up front while Sulyi had a great battle for second with Hunter Wise that lasted the majority of the race. Wise would get by Sulyi with 10 laps to go and set his sights on Lamb. He wouldn’t be able to catch Lamb however as Lamb would pull away and win in dominating fashion! Wise finished second with Sulyi third, Brady Allum fourth, and Caleb Edington fifth.
Nick Fowler took the lead to start the nights 30 lap Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR feature with Chris Deskins in second. Deskins chased Fowler the entire race, running mostly 2-3 car lengths behind Fowler, but wouldn’t ever have enough to mount a challenge to pass Fowler as Fowler came across the checkers to claim his second big win in consecutive weeks! Deskins finished second with Keith Watson charging to third, Tim Cassidy fourth, and David Adkins fifth. The race went all 30 laps without a caution.
The final race of the night was the 25 lap Bumper Pounding Street Stock feature. Brett Carey would take the lead at the start with Chris Jividen immediately moving into second. For much of the opening laps of the race, the front four of Carey, Jividen, Kenny Chapman, and Clark Perry were all nearly bumper to bumper. Perry decided to take his machine up high and would battle side by side with Chapman for third for several laps. On lap 7, the two would make contact battling for third with Perry charged with the caution and Chapman out of the race with a flat tire. On the restart, Carey would continue with the lead with Jividen tucked behind him. A couple laps later, Jividen would go up high and find traction and battle side by side for the lead with Carey! The two battled side by side for several laps with Jividen making the pass and clearing Carey on lap 12.
Jividen started to pull away from Carey until a caution flew on lap 14 for a Lexy Lambert spin. On the restart, Carey would find traction on the outside as Jividen and Carey battled side by side for the lead! Carey would use high side momentum to lead lap 15 while Jividen retook the lead on lap 16. After another lap of side by side battling Jividen would come out with the lead with Carey tucked behind him in second. Jividen would lead the remaining laps to take his second win of the season with Carey finishing second. Clinton Thompson third, Tommy Rowe fourth, and Lambert fifth.
The Ona Speedway will be off next weekend for Memorial Day weekend but return to action on Saturday, June 4th for Throwback Night featuring the Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models, McCam Builders Modifieds, Greg Chandler Frame & Body Sport Mods, Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s, Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro, Geer Brother’s Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro, and SNAP Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts. Racing will start at 7:00 pm. General admission is only $10 for ages 15 and up, $5 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. There will be no Thursday practice due to the tire shortage.
For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
Complete Results
USAC Eastern Midgets
Fast Qualifier-Brady Allum, 17.301
35 lap Feature-Chris Lamb, Hunter Wise, Logan Sulyi, Brady Allum, Caleb Edington, Chad Allum
Lap Leaders-Chris Lamb (1-35)
Car Count-6
zMax Pro Grand National Series
Fast Qualifier-Danny Trent, 18.964
25 lap Feature-Danny Trent, Justin Shanes, Justin Garris, Kent Baledge, Joe McCloud, Brady Allum, Don Napier
Lap Leaders-Justin Shanes (1-2), Kent Baledge (3-9), Danny Trent (10-25)
Car Count-7
Keaton’s Collision Center Late Models
Fast Qualifier-Jake Keaton, 18.275
25 lap Feature-Jake Keaton, Tyler Johnson, Mike Burcham, Gregg Carby, Jacob Bell, Kenny Parsons, Bobby Fihe, Hayden Daniel
Lap Leaders-Jake Keaton (1-25)
Car Count-8
Bumper Pounding Street Stocks
Fast Qualifier-Brett Carey, 19.933
25 lap Feature-Chris Jividen, Brett Carey, Clinton Thompson, Tommy Rowe, Lexy Lambert, Mike Christy, Clark Perry, Kenny Chapman, Jason Thompson
Lap Leaders-Brett Carey (1-11), Chris Jividen (12-14), Brett Carey (15), Chris Jividen (16-25)
Car Count-9
McCam Builders Classic Cars
10 lap Feature-Cam McKinney, Rick Keaton
Lap Leaders-Cam McKinney (1-10)
Car Count-2
Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s
Fast Qualifier-Chris Deskins, 20.181
30 lap Feature-Nick Fowler, Chris Deskins, Keith Watson, Tim Cassidy, David Adkins, Stephen Kuhn, Danny Keyser, Jake Murdoff, Dillon Higginbotham, Joe Workman, Reuben Fetty (DNS: Jason Price, Jay Workman)
Lap Leaders-Nick Fowler (1-30)
Car Count-13
Southern Ohio Speed INEX Legends Car Pro
Fast Qualifier-Tyler Martin, 19.955
20 lap Feature-Steve Swann, Jake Keaton, Tyler Martin, Matthew Martin, Zach Steele, Scott Martin, Marty Powers, Jay Dunlap, Rob Dunlap
Lap Leaders-Steve Swann (1-20)
Car Count-9
Geer Brothers Body Shop INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro
Fast Qualifier-Will Hass, 20.278
20 lap Feature-Aaron Auffant, Will Hass, Adam Jeffrey, Chris Bishop, Will Geer, Andrew Simmons, Jeremy Dosier, Dean Brotherton, Trey Turley, Dale Garrett
Lap Leaders-Aaron Auffant (1-5), Dale Garrett (6-7), Will Hass (8-12), Will Geer (13-18), Aaron Auffant (19-20)
Car Count-11
SNAP Lawn & Handyman Crazy Compacts
Fast Qualifier-Thomas Bailey, 21.962
20 lap Feature-Thomas Bailey, Stacie Watson, Preston Hysell, Evan Proctor, David Harris, Rex Burton, Tommy Ross, James Saylor, Bradly Workman, Lauren Summers, Shane Summers
Lap Leaders-Thomas Bailey (1-20)
Car Count-11
