March 19, 2011 – One driver backed up a season opening win and four more made a visit to Victory Lane in Saturday night racing at East Bay Raceway Park.

The night opened with Outlaw 4s making their first official appearance after a March 5 date was rained out. Billy Howard and Roberto Morfin Jr. won heat races. In the feature, Shirlene Hammond moved from the second row to grab the early lead. No one would deny Hammond, who kept at the head of the field through several restarts. Howard charged forward to be the last challenger, but couldn’t catch Hammond. The winner told the crowd she will be turning over her ride and debuting a new car after a visit to Europe. She plans to return to action in May. Jesse Brown claimed third, ahead of Morfin Jr. and Stephen Hohlbaugh.

The Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Limited Late Models made their first appearance of the year and Scotty Williams proved to be untouchable. Williams kept his ride at the helm throughout the 15 laps with John Gross, who finished second, providing the best chances to catch the winner. Jason Pope slipped up to third in the last few laps with Shane Koperda fourth. Daniel Woody rebounded from a mid-race spin to gain fifth. Woody and Brown took care of the heats.

The Late Model feature proved to be a Bryan Bernhardt/Travis Varnadore show, but the show really never got going until the second half of the race. The class developed yellow fever, unable to complete more than two laps before the caution waved. On each restart, Bernhardt was able to defend, never giving up the lead and rolling to his second straight feature win. Travis Varnadore posted second with Steve Mathis a steady third. Roger Crouse and Shan Smith staged a great battle for fourth with Crouse winning out for the position. Bernhardt, Mavrick Varnadore and David Schmauss were heat winners (Schmauss was unable to run the feature due to engine problems).

For the second straight week, it was a driver named Gay who claimed the Street Stock main. After watching his dad Tim take last week’s win, Jarod Gay was inspired and drove that way to claim the feature victory. With his win, Jarod Gay became the first East Bay winner on Goodyear tires (The track is currently transitioning to the winged foot rubber for 2011). Thomas Pratt slipped past Donnie Reed with five laps remaining and gained the second place he wouldn’t give up. Reed kept third, ahead of Billy Carlbert Jr. and Buck Woodhouse, who had started deep in the pack. Gay and Justan Rodgers were best of class in the preliminaries.

It appeared that Johnnie Alexander would claim his second win of the season after a dominant performance in the motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. The tech man had other ideas, tossing out the win for a flywheel and clutch violation. The DQ gave the win to Patrick Fiore. Jason Burnside moved up to second with the rest of the top five consisting of Thomas Burnside, Don R. Quinn and 22nd starting Darrell Taylor. Roberto Morfin Sr., Fiore and Thomas Burnside were heat winners. Taylor claimed the B main.

ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, March 26, 2011. The program will include Q Auto & Injury Attorney Limited Late Models, Gagel’s Auto Parts Open Wheel Modifieds, Street Stocks, motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers, Old Time Modifieds and Dirt Daubers. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.