News and notes from

If you noticed, there was no Keaton on the track at Ona Speedway last weekend.

Simple explanation. Jake Keaton has a ride in the Super Cup Stock Car Series and was racing at Lonesome Pine Speedway in Virginia.

Yep, Jake is now one of the registered drivers in the new series, which incidentally, will be making a stop at Ona Speedway Saturday, August 16, with a 100-lap feature race.

That night, all other classes will race, except the Late Models.

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Happy Birthday to #27 Late Model car owner R.Z. Hill – his 68th cake day. He got a pretty good ribbing all night long about it being his birthday, but he exacted his revenge on everyone when driver Eric Maynard bested Harvey Harrison and Shane Koontz for the win.

Not a bad present for Hill.

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And speaking of Shane Koontz, he put on quite the show Saturday night in what was the best race I’ve seen him drive to date.

Starting from the pole, he led a good bit of the race, but was passed by Maynard. Then, it was the battle for second with Harvey Harrison. So Shane finished 3rd, not quite 2.5 seconds behind Harrison and almost 4 seconds behind the race winner Maynard.

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And finally from Ona Speedway, you gotta love the Kids Bike Races. They’re just soooo cute – the bitty kids, sometimes with training wheels. They always get about a half-track lead before track spokesman Mike Gue lets the big kids take off. And yes, they catch up before turn three.

I don’t pull for the big kids, let their parents and buddies do that. I don’t have kids, just a pit bull. So I scream like crazy for the tiny riders. “Go little people, go!” or “Keep pedaling little riders!” and when they cross the start-finish line, they each get a big “woo-hoo!” from me, sitting underneath the press box.