February 7, 2015
Tampa, FL
By: Jean Lynch

Max Blair, out of Centerville, Pennsylvania, has been coming to the races at East Bay Raceway Park since he was a little kid tagging along with his father, but this year it was different. The 25 year old driver brought his Crate Late Model with him and won two of the three races in the 39th Annual Winternationals Anniversary year including Saturday’s 50 lapper, $3,000 to win event.

The fans were treated to a very competitive race with five lead changes with the winner not taking the lead until lap 34 making his move on the front stretch inside in heavy traffic as he made his way masterfully through cars passing them at will and never slowing up to build a three second lead. “I probably went with a harder tire than the rest of the field,” said the happy winner, “but when we got those hot laps for the top six in points, I tried a softer compound and decided to go with the harder ones for the feature.”

“I had a little problem with my steering but everything else performed great, from my Rocket Chassis to my Race 1 Crate engine that was built in Youngstown, Ohio,” said the young Blair who was named for this Grandpa. “I figured I would use his racing number “111” ,also.”

“My Dad has sacrificed a lot to get me started in racing from the time I started in E-Mods at the age of 15, to my Crate racing and my Super Late Model racing. Last year we won 9 races in Supers and 16 in Crates.”

They credit sponsorship from R&J Poultry, Moody and Sons Welding, Genesis Shocks, C&J Dairy and Murphy’s Logging.

The field was set by the top six in points re-drawing on the front stretch and Mavrick Varnadore pulled the number one pill, Josh Peacock lined up second with Shan Smith in third. Jack Nosbisch, Jr. lined up fourth, Blair was fifth and David Schmauss was sixth.

Peacock led the first 15 laps, before Nosbisch, Jr. took over for laps 16 and 17. Smith led the next two laps 18 and 19 then it was Nosbisch, Jr. with an outside move on the front stretch to lead 20 thru 33. From that point it was Blair’s race despite two late yellows on laps 43 and 47 and his win came with a margin of victory of .502 seconds over Arthur Walker, Smith, Nosbisch, Jr. and Matt Henderson in the top five. Rounding out the top 10 it was Tim Dome, Keith Nosbisch, Doug Horton, Phillip Copp and Devin Dixon.

A-Main: 1. Max Blair, 2. Walker Aurther, 3. Shan Smith, 4. Jack Nosbisch, Jr., 5. Matt Henderson, 6. Tim Dohn, 7. Keith Nosbisch, 8. Doug Horton, 9. Phillip Cobb, 10. Devin Dixon, 11. Jamie Slatton, 12. David Schmauss, 13. Bryan Bernhardt, 14. Cale Conley, 15. Dalton Myers, 16. Ken Monahan, 17. Mavrick Varnadore, 18. Brad Cummings, 19. Ralph Morgan, Jr., 20. Kolby Vanderbergh, 21. Steven Mathis, Jr. 22. Josh Peacock, 23. Adam Bowman, 24. Joe Janowski

Crate Late Models 2/7/2015
B-Main 1:1. Devin Dixon (Apollo Beach, FL), 2. Joe Janowski (Carmel, IN), 3. Kolby Vanderbergh (Ashland, IL), 4. Megan Rae (Tampa, FL), 5. Chris Frank (Hyde Park, PA), 6. Kyle Musselman (Lutz, FL), 7. Travis Varnadore (Dover, FL)

B-Main 2:1. Ken Monahan (Lakeland, FL), 2. Dalton Myers (Riverview, FL), 3. Adam Bowman (Seymour, IN), 4. James Ohara (Covington, PA), 5. Adam Boyd (Riverview, FL), 6. Mark Tatalovie (Guys Mills, PA), 7. Hudson ONeal (Martinsville, IN), 8. Bill Lewis (Warren, IN)

Heat Race 1:1. Phillip Cobb (Dover, FL), 2. Bryan Bernhardt (Clearwater, FL), 3. Brad Cummings (Bedford, IN), 4. Kolby Vanderbergh (Ashland, IL), 5. Kyle Musselman (Lutz, FL), 6. Megan Rae (Tampa, FL), 7. Chris Frank (Hyde Park, PA)

Heat Race 2:1. Matt Henderson (Loudon, TN), 2. Cale Conley (Vienna, WV), 3. Ralph Morgan Jr (Mt Union, PA), 4. Mark Tatalovie (Guys Mills, PA), 5. Hudson ONeal (Martinsville, IN), 6. Bill Lewis (Warren, IN)

Heat Race 3:1. Walker Arthur (Forest, VA), 2. Doug Horton (Wimuma, FL), 3. Keith Nosbisch (Valrico, FL), 4. Devin Dixon (Apollo Beach, FL), 5. Travis Varnadore (Dover, FL), 6. Joe Janowski (Carmel, IN), 7. Adam Bowman (Seymour, IN)

Heat Race 4:1. Tim Dohm (Crosslanes, WV), 2. Jamie Slatton (Thonoatasso, FL), 3. Steven Mathis Jr (Plant City, FL), 4. Ken Monahan (Lakeland, FL), 5. Adam Boyd (Riverview, FL), 6. James Ohara (Covington, PA), 7. Dalton Myers (Riverview, FL)