ONA, WV-The Ona Speedway is set for race #8 of the 2024 season on Saturday, August 17th for Nitro Construction Services Night. The night will feature a full racing program of All Season’s Powersports Late Models, LG Pressure Washing Modifieds, Haunted Majestic Street Stocks, Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Cars, Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s, and Brody Nash Century 21 Crown Vics.
The racing is expected to be intense on Saturday as the points battles will take center stage. No points battle is closer than in the All Season’s Powersports Late Models. The points battle took an unexpected turn the last race as Hurricane Debby disrupted travel plans for points leader Jake Keaton, causing him to miss the August 3rd race. Keaton now comes into Saturday’s race with a slim 1 point lead over Mike Burcham who has ran second in points for nearly the entire season. The two will now find themselves in a near head to head battle these last three points races.
Kenny Chapman’s win in the August 3rd Haunted Majestic Street Stock feature kept him atop the point standings in the Street Stocks and helped extend his lead to 4 points. The Street Stock championship battle is still wide open with Tommy Rowe 4 points back, Mike Christy 8 points back, and Marty Powers 13 points back. Each of the remaining three points races are going to be crucial for all of these drivers. One bad race could potentially knock one of these drivers out of contention with so few points races remaining. While Chapman’s win last race proved the best defense is a good offense, Rowe, Christy, and Powers will all be on full offense to try to make up points. The closeness of the points battle makes not just the feature race important, but also the battle for the 1 bonus point to the fast qualifier.
The Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR championship battle has also tightened up to the closest it has been since the opening races of the season. In what once seemed like an insurmountable points deficit after scoring 0 points the first race due to being involved in a practice accident, Jay Workman has moved all the way up to within 5 points of championship rival Nick Fowler. Fowler came into the last race with a comfortable 17 point lead, but broke on lap 15, negating him to a 11th place finish while Workman went on to win the race. This resulted in a huge points gain for Fowler and now has the championship rivals in a neck and neck race for the final three points races. It’s fitting that the two are so close in points down the stretch as they have battled each other neck and neck all season long.
In the other divisions, Jeremy Cooper in the LG Pressure Washing Modifieds, Jason Garrett in the Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Car Pro, Kenny McComas in the Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Car Semi-Pro, and JR Adkins in the Brody Nash Century 21 Crown Vics all find themselves with large points leads heading into the final three points races. These drivers will look to avoid trouble these final three points races and maintain their large points gaps. But as seen last week in the Late Model and UCAR divisions, one bad race or not being able to start the feature can easily result in a large points gap being erased.
In addition to the points battles, Saturday’s Nitro Construction Services Night sees a lot of excitement for a few other reasons. First, for the first time in over 5 years heat races will return to Ona Speedway. The Three Sixteen Motorsports INEX Legends Cars and Contempo Trophy & Awards UCAR’s will both run a pair of heat races to set their feature lineups. The heat races will each pay $25 to win and 1 additional bonus point. The heat races will allow fans the opportunity to see more exciting racing with the heats and the format should promote a lot of passing.
A dunk tank will also be setup from 5:30 until after 7:00 pm with race fans having an opportunity to dunk their favorite (or least favorite) drivers. Fans can purchase three ball throws for $5. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit the Ona Volunteer Fire Department that volunteers their time to keep everyone safe at the speedway. The Ona Volunteer Fire Department will also be giving out free t-shirts for the first 50 students in attendance and will have fire trucks on display.
Pit gates will open on Saturday at 1:00 pm with practice at 2:00 pm and qualifying at 4:00 pm. General admisison gates will open at 5:00 pm with racing at 7:00 pm. General admission is only $15 for ages 13 and up and FREE for ages 12 and under. All access pit passes are $35 for ages 13 and up and FREE for ages 12 and under. For more information visit www.onaspeedway.com.
