When the 26-event program was complete Max Blair had scored two wins, in the Mill Run Collision Super Late Models and the Nic Dit Trucking RUSH Crate Late Model finales. Joel Watson had added yet another Waterford Hotel Outlaw Modifieds win, Nate Young prevailed in the Johnson Car Care and Collision Economod feature, John Boardman opened his defense of the Curtze Food Service Street Stock Championship with a win and Zack Eller took home the win in the L&D Tree Service Challenger feature.

The first feature race of the 2020 season was for the Curtze Food Service Street Stocks with Michael Reed and Wesley McCray on the front row. Reed and McCray led lap one side by side with caution falling when Doug Eck spun on the back straight. McCray looped his mount, but after the caution had flown, so was restored to his position. After green again flew Boardman, the two-time defending class champion, spun a complete 360 degrees in turns one and two, but never stopped and got away unscathed. However, Shane Applebee, Bill Applebee, McCray, Steve Keith and Kyle Couchenour piled up behind him. At lap four, Reed and Boardman were side by side at the stripe, but a lap later Boardman was solidly leading. At the halfway point it was Boardman leading Reed, former champion Chris McGuire, Gary Fisher and Steve Yokum. At lap eight Boardman was pulling away but McGuire took over second at lap nine and set sail to track down the leader. With four laps remaining Eric McCray and Eck got together on the back straight culminating with a spin by Eck. At the finish it was Boardman picking up the win over McGuire, Reed, Fisher and Yokum.

Young, winner of the final point-paying event in 2019, and Tyler Davis brought the Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods to green with Young leading the way over Mike Harmon, Steve Simon, Matt Alexander and Jarrit Young when lap one was in the books. Caution was needed in lap three when Brad Boyd spun in turns three and four. By this point Alexander had displaced Simon for third, then got by Harmon at lap five. At the halfway point of the fifteen lapper it was Nate Young still leading over Alexander with Garrett Calvert up to third with Simon fourth and Jarrit Young fifth. Kyle Adkins was the next caution when he spun in turn four. Todd Miller, driving the car his son, Kyle, used to secure the 2019 championship, spun in turn four with four laps remaining. Young went on to the win over Alexander, Calvert, Simon and Jason Brightman. Coming to the checkers Brad Boyd spun on the main straight, collecting Adkins, then Tim Stronghart and Miller slid to a halt with wheels locked together.

Mike McGee, a two-time winner last season, and Ken Zimmer brought the Waterford Hotel Outlaw E-Mods to green with McGee leading Zimmer, Watson, Randy Hall, and Jarrod Silvis after one lap. At two complete Dave Lamphere, Geoff Conn, Tim Rockwell and Mark Titus got together in turn four. Silvis spun in turn four at four laps. Hall took over at the front on lap five but Joel Watson, a many-time champion, came to second at lap six then edged ahead of Hall at lap seven as David Warrior got into the wall in turn three. At halfway of the 20-lap event it was Watson, Hall, McGee, Nate Hartzell and John Boyd leading the way. Hall and McGee were side by side at lap 12 for second but Hall held the spot. At two to go Watson had a quarter-lap advantage, breezing to the win over Hall and McGee, with Boyd getting by Hartzell at the finish for fourth.

Times Observer File Photo Max Blair, pictured above, won the Mill Run Collision Super Late Models and Nic Dit Trucking RUSH Crate Late Models on Sunday at Eriez Speedway.

Chris Withers and Darrell Bossard brought the Nic Dit Trucking RUSH Late Models to green with Bossard sliding high in turn two and coming to a halt. On resumption of the race Chub Frank took the lead in turn one with Withers, Joe Long, 2018 track champion Jason Genco, and Blair, the 2019 champion, following. Eric Hamilton and Jacob Gunn brought out caution when they spun in turn two of lap two. When green again was shown Genco spun in turn two. Blair advanced to third by lap three and was second a lap later. Withers then spun on the main straight putting Blair right on the leader’s rear bumper for the restart. On laps eight and nine Frank and Blair ran nearly side by side with Blair the sole leader at the halfway point. At 12 laps the leaders encountered lapped traffic, each expertly weaving through the backmarkers. At 18 laps Josh Ferry spun in turn four, setting up a two lap showdown for the win. Blair held on for the win over Frank, former champion Kyle Zimmerman, Kyle Murray and Withers.

The Mill Run Collision Super Late Models were brought to green by Steve Kania and Chub Frank. Frank, a son of Jerry Frank, who built the track in 1961, led lap one over Kania, Bump Hedman, John Lobb and Max Blair. Blair was fourth at nine laps with Mike Knight fifth. At 10 laps Blair was third and was next to Kania for second at 11 laps. Blair chased Frank over the remaining laps and finally made his move heading into turn three on the final lap, moving up to the high side and driving around Frank on the outside to the win. On the final lap Alex Ferree experienced what appeared to be catastrophic engine failure, erupting in a heavy cloud of smoke just as the checkers flew and slowing to a halt.

The final event of opening night was for the L&D Tree Service Challengers. Nicholas Reed and Corey Mason were the front row for the 10-lap night-capper. The first lap was run with Reed and Mason side by side. Coming to the end of lap one Brandon Huffman and Lane Reinwald got together with the result being Huffman sitting against the inside wall and Reinwald into the infield. The red flag was shown but both drivers were OK and the race was restarted. When lap two was in the book, Eller and Mason were side by side for the lead with Eller holding it at the end of three with Chris Horton now second and Mason third. Eller wound up with the win over Horton with Mark Lawrence third, Nick Robbie fourth, and Casey Burch fifth.

Mill Run Collision Super Late Models

Heat 1: Max Blair, Chub Frank, Andy Boozel, Greg Oakes, Alex Feree, Dennis Dellinger, Damon Haight

Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr, Mike Knight, Steve Kania, Ryan Scott, Doug Eck, Khole Wanzer, Chris Peterson

Heat 3: Dave Lyon, John Lobb, Bump Hedman, Chris Hackett, Easton Hedman, Anthony Marotto

Feature: Max Blair, Chub Frank, Dave Hess Jr, Mike Knight, Steve Kania, Bump Hedman, Andy Boozel, Alex Ferree, Greg Oakes, Ryan Scott, Doug Eck, John Lobb, Chris Hackett, Dave Lyon, Khole Wanzer, Dennis Dellinger, Chris Peterson, Anthony Marotto, Eastman Hedman, Damon Haight

Nic Dit Trucking RUSH Crate Late Models

Heat 1: Max Blair, Matt Latta, Kyle Zimmerman, Josh Ferry, J J Mazur, Matt Sipes, Brian Larson, Steve Houser

Heat 2: Chub Frank, Joe Long, Chris Withers, Breyton Santee, Brandon Porter, Eric Hamilton, Scott Dellahoy, Joshua John

Heat 3: Kyle Murray, Darrell Bossard, Billy Henry, Colby Beighby, Nathan Smith, David Parker, Chad Clement, Jacob Gunn

Heat 4: Logan Zarin, Jason Genco, Christian Schneider, Jacob Gunn, Bud Watson, Jacob Peterson, Paul Norman, Zach Wiech

B-Main: Matt Sipes, Paul Norman, Scott Dellahoy, Eric Hamilton, Jacob Peterson, Joshua John, Brandon Porter

Feature: Max Blair, Chub Frank, Kyle Zimmerman, Kyle Murray, Matt Latta, Breyton Santee, Josh Ferry, J J Mazur, Logan Zarin, Darrell Bossard, Matt Sipes, Joe Long, David Parker, Nathan Smith, Colby Beighby, Paul Norman, Jason Genco, Jacob Gunn, Scott Dellahoy, Chris Withers, Eric Hamilton, Billy Henry, Bud Watson, Logan Zarin

Waterford Hotel Outlaw Modifieds

Heat 1: Mike McGee, Randy Hall, Gary Eicher, John Boyd, Steve Rex, Dave Lamphere

Heat 2: Zach Johnson, Ken Zimmer, Tim Rockwell, Nate Hartzell, David Warrior, Mike Eschrich

Heat 3: Joel Watson, Geoff Conn, Jarred Silvis, Mark Titus, C J Ramsey, Steve Simon

Feature: Joel Watson, Randy Hall, Mike McGee, John Boyd, Nate Hartzell, Steve Simon, Ken Zimmer, Dave Lamphere, Mark Titus, C J Ramsey, Jarrod Silvis, Mike Eschrich, Geoff Conn, Davis Warrior, Zach Johnson, Steve Rex, Tim Rockwell, Gary Eicher (DNS)

Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods

Heat 1: Matt Alexander, Garrett Calvert, Jarrit Young, Brian Toto, Tim Stronghart, Bobby Vogt, Brad Boyd

Heat 2: Mike Harmon, Kyle Adkins, Tyler Davis, Mike Johnstone, Kyle Layton, Zack Lenart

Heat 3: Nate Young, Steve Simon, Jason Brightman, Dominic DePonceau, Todd Miller, Donald May

Feature: Nate Young, Matt Alexander, Garrett Calvert, Steve Simon, Jason Brightman, Jarrit Young, Mike Harmon, Dominic DePonceau, Mike Johnstone, Todd Miller, Tim Stronghart, Don May, Brad Boyd, Kyle Adkins, Brian Toto, Tyler Davis, Bobby Vogt, Zack Lenart, Kyle Layton (DNS)

Curtze Food Service Street Stocks

Heat 1: Chris McGuire, Bill Applebee, Wesley McCray, Shane Applebee, Kyle Couchenour, Doug Eck, Steve Keith, Pat Fielding

Heat 2: Gary Fisher, John Boardman, Michael Reed, Justin Pratt, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Steve Yokum, Jason Covey

Feature: John Boardman, Chris McGuire, Michael Reed, Gary Fisher, Steve Yokum, Steve Keith, Shane Applebee, Doug Eck, Justin Pratt, Pat Fielding, Kyle Couchenour, Wesley McCray, Bill Applebee, Jason Covey (DNS), Jimmy Kennerknecht (DNS)

L&D Tree Service Challengers

Heat 1: Chris Horton, Nick Robie, Joe Mason, Jordan Melice, Dale McDonald, Joe Richter, Everett Bennett,Tyler Walters, Jarrod Michael, Jasmine Markham (DNS)

Heat 2: Jessica Harvey, Casey Burch, Jack Warrior, Nicholas Reed, Wes Stull, Lane Reinwald, Mark Winans, Jack Warrior, John Burbules, Kevin Covell (DNS)

Heat 3: Brandon Hall, John Mease, Zack Eller, Brandon Huffman, Mark Lawrence, Jeff Nunemaker, Trisha Jacklett, Jasmine Markham, 86, Corey Mason

B-Main: Kevin Covell, Andrew Carter, Jasmine Markham, Jack Warrior, John Burbules, Corey Mason, Jarrod Michael, 86, Tyler Walters

Feature: Zack Eller, Chris Horton, Mark Lawrence, Nick Robie, Casey Burch, Jordan Melice, Wesley Stull, Jessica Harvey, Jeff Nunemaker, Trisha Jacklett, Mark Winans, Joe Mason, Kevin Covell, Andrew Carter, Jasmine Markham, Mark Winans, John Mease, Nicholas Reed, Brandon Huffman, Lane Reinwald, Everett Bennett (DNS), Joe Richter (DNS), Dale McDonald (DNS), Brandon Hall (DNS)