The second week of the 2020 Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park offered up the newly-named Crate Racin’ USA Late Models (formerly known as the Durrence-Layne Chevrolet Late Models), the Top Gun Sprints and the V-8 Warrior/Thunderstocks. The opening night car count was a respectable 87 cars, led by the Late Models with 50 in the pit area.

The format for the Late Models called for two qualifying groups with the top five times in each group automatically qualifying for the A-main. A series of four B-Mains brought another 12 cars to the big race with two provisions to be filled after the B features.

Travis Varnadore posted the fastest qualifying time of the night as he tripped the clock with a 15.883 time to lead the 10 qualified drivers. The times were a little faster in the B features with times getting down to the 15.6 bracket.

Watch the full archive of night #1 of Crate Week at East Bay!

The 25-lap Top Gun Sprint feature had no shortage of excitement as the 22 cars battled through three heat races before lining up for the A Main. Joe Zuczek, Justin Webster and 2019 Top Gun Sprints champion A.J. Maddox captured the heat races, putting themselves in position to qualify for the Lee and Jeff Barfield Memorial Sweep bonus of $300.

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Maddox opened up by powering from the second row into the lead with Brandon Grubaugh in tow. In short order, Shane Butler moved from fourth to second before the first caution waved on lap 3. Danny Sams brought his 1* to third place as the leaders hit lapped traffic. Maddox would have better fortune as he was able to escape the pressure from Butler. Butler did catch and pass Maddox on lap eight, but Maddox returned the favor a lap later. Garrett Green moved into the top five after starting on the outside of the eighth row. On lap 11, Maddox drifted high in turn four and nearly lost the handle, but regained control and kept the lead as the caution came out on lap 14. The restart kept the lapped cars in their spot, which put two cars between Maddox and Butler. The racing picked up and action was all around the race track until a red flag stopped progress on lap 23 when Grubaugh and Tim Fricke collided with Fricke toppling. Both drivers were uninjured, but could not continue the event. On the restart, Green, who had moved to third, stuck the nose of his #82 between the front runners for a three-wide challenge. As the field came down to the checkered flag, it was Green grabbing his first East Bay Raceway Park feature win. The feature marks the start of the 2020 season for the Top Gun Sprints.

Randy Weaver of Crossville, TN was surprised to be in Victory Lane with his B&M Concrete CVR on Thursday night at East Bay Raceway Park after the finish of the 30-lap Newsome Raceway Parts Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series Winter Shootout race. Weaver only led one lap of the race, but it was the one that counted.

Weaver found himself the leader on a last lap restart after early race leader Max Blair of Centerville, PA in the Murphy’s Logging Rocket was penalized for a restart violation. Blair was ticketed for brake checking the field on a restart, and was sent to the tail of the field. That gave Weaver the lead for a one lap dash to the checkered flag.

Hear from Crate Late Model Feature Winner Randy Weaver:

George Handy and Gary Lucas scored heat wins in the V-8 Warrior/Thunderstocks. The 15-lap main saw Collin Kruse going wire-to-wire to capture the victory.

Racing action will resume Friday night with the three divisions back in action for their second night. The final night of the week’s action will be Saturday, Feb. 1