BARBOURSVILLE, WV :: Jake Keaton is eyeing a return to Hickory Motor Speedway while preparing to run on July 4th at Portsmouth Raceway Park in Ohio. Keaton’s last race on the asphalt side was a successful one when he picked up the win at Ona Speedway in West Virginia on May 25th.
“We’re waiting to get our motor back for our Late Model for Hickory,” said Keaton. “We’ve been refreshing it since that win. It was an exciting win for us. There’s some good competition at Ona. Our guys worked really hard and gave me a really good car. We started second and got out front on the first lap and led every lap. It was just an awesome race for us.”
Keaton’s next race will likely be on July 4th at Portsmouth Raceway Park in Ohio. Last time Keaton raced there, motor problems in the heat race forced him to retire early.
“We had a new front clip put on our modified and just got it back last Monday,” said Keaton. “We put it all back together and went to Portsmouth. We had motor problems in the heat race and came home. Hopefully we will get it back together and go racing this weekend.”
Keaton is planning on racing more at Hickory Motor Speedway in the second half of the 2013 season.
“As soon as we get our late model motor back, we’ll get back to racing it,” Keaton remarked. “I’m just not sure when that will be right now. We’re hoping it will be in the next few weeks. I think the second half of the season is going to be much better than the first.”
Keaton has been running races in both a Late Model Stock Car on the asphalt side and a Modified on the dirt side. He has one win, three top five finishes and five top 10 finishes so far in 11 starts on the season. His next race will be on July 4th at Portsmouth Raceway Park.
