May 7, 2011 –A field of 21 Late Models gathered for a final tune-up before next week’s Scott Thompson Memorial event and gave the fans a thrilling event. Keith Nosbisch made his second appearance of the year count with a win in the 25-lap main. (more…)

April 30, 2011 –A familiar face in Victory Lane joined those who have already scored their early season wins in East Bay Raceway Park action. Former champion Forrest Gough claimed the Q Auto & Injury Attorney main for his first triumph of 2011. (more…)

April 23, 2011 – Area Late Model racers are starting to think ahead, knowing the annual Scott Thompson Memorial event is just a few weeks away. The Late Model car count is increasing as just a few opportunities to compete at East Bay before the May 14 event remain.

The Saturday action was one of the last tune-ups and Mark Whitener of Middleburg, Florida, took advantage of the chance. (more…)

From East Bay Raceway Park Media

Phillip Cobb and Travis Varnadore finish 1-2 in the Late Model Feature.

April 16, 2011 – Another great night of racing was on hand here at The Clay By The Bay. Almost 100 cars on hand in 5 divisions.

First feature of the night went to the Street Stocks. Another great battle was held between current points leader Jarod Gay and Billy Carlbert, Jr. for the last several laps. Jarod was running the low line while Carlbert liked the middle where his car seem to work best. (more…)

April 9, 2011 – Three drivers added to their 2011 win totals while two more names were added to the victory list at East Bay

Jesse Brown moved through to victory in the Outlaw 4s, claiming his second career victory but first of the year. Brown inherited the lead when Shirlene Hammond fell by the wayside with a flat tire just a few laps remaining. Brown was pestered by Ray Etheridge, but managed to keep the top spot for the checkered. Jason Russell had his best finish of the year with a third ahead of Megan Rae and Kyle Worden. Hammond and Brown won their heat races. (more…)

April 2, 2011 – With the second month of the 2011 season underway, it was a host of new names in victory lane at East Bay Raceway Park.

First to get a feature win was Jimmy Odell, whose Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bomber feature was his first career main victory. Odell swapped the lead with Roberto Morfin Sr. as the two were the only ones at the head of the field. Odell led the first five laps before yielding to Morfin. Last week’s feature winner kept the top position before Odell bounced back in front. Morfin fell out of the race shortly after that, leaving Odell with new challengers. No one was able to mount a serious threat through the remaining five laps. Darrell Taylor came from his 11th starting spot to gain second with Thomas Burnside using a late race charge from fifth to third. Dalton Epps claimed fourth with Don Quinn rounding out the top five. Michael Lacey won the B main. Morfin Sr., Quinn and Richard Humfeld claimed heats.

2010 Street Stock champion Donnie Reed was able to break through and gain his first win of the young season. Reed led wire to wire, immune from the troubles that confounded his challengers. Early runnerup Jeff Rodgers fell out of contention with a flat right rear tire on the 11th lap. Just before that happened, three drivers in the top five were wiped out when Billy Carlbert, Jarod Gay and Locke Brown were collected in a frontstretch incident on a restart. Andy Lee moved to second on lap 12, despite having to come from the tail due to an early lap spin. Trailing Reed and Lee were Buck Woodhouse, who pitted with a flat tire on lap 9, Curtis Book and Roy Woodhouse. Reed and Buck Woodhouse started the night as heat winners.

The Late Model feature took an interesting twist from the beginning. Polesitter and point leader Bryan Bernhardt took a challenge to move from his pole starting spot to the rear of the 22-car field. Bernhardt, who has been the only winner in the class, slotted in 18th as a few other drivers chose to fall deeper in the pack. At the start, Ryan Mitchell took off and left everyone else to pursue. Bernhardt found himself in a three-car tangle on the first lap, pushing him deeper in the field. At the front, Mitchell was holding his own while Steve Mathis and Dave Schmauss started trading second. Mathis would exit the track on lap 6 with smoke trailing from the car. Behind Schmauss, Roger Crouse and Philip Cobb were battling with Cobb slipping past and challenging Schmauss. Cobb grabbed second on lap 9, but lost it a lap later to Schmauss. Crouse and Travis Varnadore began exchanging fourth place with one in position, then the other. With fewer than five laps remaining, Schmauss found a line and scooted past Mitchell to claim the victory. “That was a lot of fun. I hope y’all enjoyed it. I sure did,” said the happy winner in Victory Lane. Mitchell kept second, ahead of Cobb, Crouse and Varnadore. Heats were taken by Schmauss, Crouse and Varnadore.

The East Bay Sprints were able to run their first event of the season, losing their scheduled start on March 5 to weather. The lidlifter was not without drama as unofficial winner Danny Martin Jr. found his car protested by Greg Leonard. Post-race inspection found Martin’s winning ride to be within the rules and the victory stood. Martin grabbed the lead on the fourth lap. Jimmy Ballew led the first two, then drifted off the track with a broken oil pump. It gave the lead to Billy Boyd Jr. who kept it until Martin swept by. Boyd had to deal with a hard-charging Greg Leonard and lost second only to gain it back. Boyd crossed the finish in second with Leonard, Kurt Taylor and Johnny Gilbertson finishing out the top five. Ballew and Boyd took heat wins.

Russ Bolle took top honors in Dirt Daubers.

ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, April 9, 2011. The program will include Late Models, Gagel’s Auto Parts Open Wheel Modifieds, Street Stocks, motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers and Outlaw 4s. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.

March 26, 2011 – Roger Crouse came close the last time the Gagel’s Auto Parts Open Wheel Modifieds visited East Bay. He watched from second as 2010 division champion Austin Sanders opened the year with a win. On this night, the tables were turned as it was Crouse leading the field home. In picking up the win, Crouse has now scored a feature win at East Bay in every season since 1984, 27 consecutive years.

Crouse praised his crew and pointed out the car was for sale as a new one is being built for him and competitor Mickey Wright. Crouse’s win deadlocks the division points in the early stage since he and Sanders now each possess a first and second.

Kevin Bryant rebounded from an early race spin to claim third in his first 2011 outing. Thomas Pratt, in his first year in the division and Alex Boerner rounded out the top five. Sanders and Bryant claimed heat wins.

The Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Limited Late Models proved to be an interesting race. Three different drivers held the point with Jason Pope first at the helm. Pope lost control of the car while leading, spinning out of the lead and handing it to John Bradley. He kept the top position until a subsequent caution when a fluid leak sent him out of the contest. Tim Gay took over and stretched the lead to more than a straightaway by lap eight. It turned out to be a good thing as Gay’s engine began to give him problems with five laps to go. J.R. Prather Jr. was charging hard but ran out of time as Gay literally coasted across the finish line. By picking up the win, Gay becomes the first driver in 2011 to win features in two divisions. He won the Street stock main on March 12. Prather’s run was good enough for second with Shane Koperda, Waylon Haynes and Forrest Gough (who started last) completing the top five. Pope and Koperda started the night with heat victories.

The Street Stock feature saw heavy attrition as only three cars were running on the lead lap when the checkered flag came out. One of those cars was Jeff Rodgers who had made an earlier visit to the tail after involvement in a spin. Rodgers rallied back and made a pass from third to first on the last restart. James Hook and Billy Carlbert trailed the winner across the line. Last week’s feature winner Jarod Gay spent a lap in the infield and finished fourth, one lap down. Mike Eaton was a lap down, but claimed his first top five of the year. Rodgers and Collin Kruse won their heats.

A field of 36 Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder bombers fought for the 24 starting spots in the A main. Heats were won by Patrick Tabb, Roberto Morfin Sr. and Jacob Vann. Dalton Epps won the B main. In the 15-lap A feature, Morfin Sr. proved to be the class of the field, but he had plenty of company. Patrick Fiore was hounding Morfin to double up his win from last week, but had to settle for second. Don R. Quinn had his best finish of the year with a third. Gene Gross took home fourth with Johnnie Alexander claiming fifth.

Dan Darnell dominated the Old Time Modifieds. Janine Dixon regained the lead on the last lap from husband bill to claim the Dirt Dauber victory.

ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, April 2, 2011. The program will include Late Models, East Bay Sprints, Street Stocks, Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers, Dirt Daubers and Fan Participation races. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.

Tampa, FL – March 12, 2011 – It was not the first night of the season, but it was one filled with lots of action in all five classes tonight at The Clay By The Bay. Over 100 cars were on hand to race on a gorgeous night. Blue skies prevailed and engines filled the pits as fans poured in to watch their favorite driver.

The first feature of the night went to the Street Stocks. Two drivers were behind the wheels of two different cars and father and son raced against each other as well. Eric Moon was behind the wheel of the 07 car of Donnie Reed and Thomas Pratt driving his twin brothers, Clarence’s car. Tim Gay was out in the familiar ride he drove in the Inaugural World Street Stock Championship during the Winternationals. “I had to come out and show my son how it’s done as he was talking some smack earlier in the week” he stated in Victory Lane. Jarod explained his tires went away as the both laughed. I have a lot of fun racing this car, but when it’s time to run the Limited Late Model, I have to put the toy away he also stated. Tim Gay and Thomas Pratt battled most of the race with Tim crossing the line first, with Pratt finishing in second place. Third was Jarod Gay as he joined his father in celebrating the win. Eric Moon finished fourth while Buck Woodhouse rounded out the top five. Winning their heats were Jim Baker and Locke Brown.

Next up was the Gagel’s Open Wheel Modifieds. Roger Crouse grabbed the early lead, but it was last year’s Champion, Austin Sanders picking up where he left off in 2010 as he crossed the finish line first with Crouse finishing second. Jerry Bruce, Jr took home third, while Jeff Rodgers moving up from the Street Stocks finished fourth and Thomas Braswell rounding out the top five. Sanders also won the heat race earlier.

The Late Models followed next and proved not to be denied of a great showing as the fans watched Travis Varnadore grabbed the early lead out of Turn two as he rocketed past two other drivers making it three wide for the lead. Mavrick Varnadore was right behind him running in second. After starting seventh, last year’s champion was making a run at the Varndore brothers. After several restart’s, Bryan jumped past Travis for the lead and the two battled it out to the very end. “Man I love those guys. That’s one of the reason’s I come out here to run is to race with guys like Travis and Mavrick” Bernhardt said in Victory Lance. Travis Varnadore finished second while younger brother Mavrick finished third. David Pollen, Jr had a good run finishing in the fourth spot while Dave Schmauss took home the fifth position. Winning heat races were Jeremy Simpson, Bernhardt and Phillip Cobb.

The Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bomber’s had 33 cars to try and make the A-Main. Three heats were run with the top seven advancing to the Feature. Picking up the B-Main win was Richard Humfield, while Jacob Vann and Bailey Purcell qualified as well. But it was Johnnie Alexander picking up the win in the 15 lap Feature with Darrell Taylor in second. Mathew Odell, Jason Burnside and finishing fifth after making his way into the A-Main was Richard Humfeld.

Then it was the Dirt Daubers for the final race of the night. It look like a throw back night as several of the cars had paint schemes to match Cup cars of the past. Last year’s Champion was in a throw back Tide ride. One was even painted to look like Danica Patrick’s car. But in the end, it was the Ricky Bobby look-a-like car in the winner’s circle driven by Bill Dixon. Brett Phillips finished second while Billy Carlbert, Jr finished third crossing the finishing line doing a 360 for the fan’s. Bill’s wife Janine Dixon finished fourth and Nick O’Lone came home fifth.

ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, March 19, 2011. The program will include Late Models, Q Auto & Injury Limited Late Modesl, Street Stocks, Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers and the Outlaw 4’s. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.