Kay Dominates Liberty 100

 For the second straight season, three time IMCA national late model point champion Justin Kay swept both of the 50 lap features that make up the Liberty 100 at the West Liberty Raceway. Fred, Darryl, and I made our way north for the second night of the annual two day show that closes out the season at the fairgrounds half mile. The event was moved up a full month this season, but the heat and humidity had no affect on the driver of the # 15K.
 95 entrants returned for the second night of racing, with position consolation races run for the IMCA sport Mods and IMCA modifieds, as well as two 12 laps last chance races for the returning non qualified IMCA late models. All but two of the 35 cars from the opening round returned, and with only the eight heat winners from Friday locked into the first feature, 12 spots were up for grabs, plus four provisional starters for the first 50 lapper, which would be a points race in the Deery Brothers Summer Series. The first last chance race was a flag to flag win for the soon to be retired Brian Harris in the Richard Racing # 15R, followed by national dirt hall of famer Ray Guss Jr. Andy Eckrich took the final qualifier ahead of Chad Holladay, as weekly West Liberty cars dominated the last chance events.
 The 17 sport compacts then battled for 20 laps in the first of the six feature races. Tim Plummer led the early laps, with Curtis Vanderwal in hot pursuit. Following a lap four caution, Aric Becker blasted to second, but then slipped back several spots. The yellow waved again two times on lap 12, and now it was Austin Kaplin in the runner up spot following the restart. But it was Plummer remaining out front to the checkers, with Kaplin taking second. Vanderwal raced home third ahead of Logan Anderson and Becker.
 With David Brandies and Johnny Spaw dominating the Friday night IMCA stock car action, $200.00 in feature winner bonus money was posted by outside sources if those two front row starters would agree to start in the back row for the 20 lap main event. With only 12 entrants, both accepted the challenge. A lap one caution saw two cars drop out  before one lap was scored. Back to racing, Greg Gill jumped to the lead, but by lap four, Brandies was up ti third, and Spaw to fifth. A lap five caution closed the field up, and by lap seven, Gill and Brandies were locked in a duel for the top spot. As the two battled, Spaw sneaked past both on the low side, but a caution flag negated the pass. On the restart, Brandies grabbed the lead, and after a final yellow two laps later, Spaw grabbed the second spot. From there, it was a two car battle for the final 11 laps, but Brandies found the low line to his liking, and although Spaw pulled alongside several times, he could not make the pass. At the flag, it was Brandies, Spaw, Gill,  and Brandon Jay.
 The Deery Brothers late model 50 lapper for llate models ran next, with Tyler Bruening in a new car, and Kay on the front row, with Kay there thanks to the Casey Pizza box trade by Denny Eckrich, who made the unfortunate swap with Justin. Kay pulled to an early lead, and had stretched out a big advantage by lap two, when Kevin Kile moved around Bruening for second. Tyler regained the second spot on lap three, with Kay finding slower traffic by lap eight. The first caution waved on lap 15, and back to racing, seventh starting Jeff Aikey moved to the runnerup spot. Kay again pulled away, again finding the back of the pack at the halfway mark. The only other yellow came on lap 38, but a clear track enabled Kay to pull away by a large margin once again. Aikey held on to second, with ninth starting Harris moving to third on lap 44. Tyler Droste started fourth and finished there, with Bruening completing the top five. The second late model feature would be lined up with the last car on the lead lap of feature number one on the pole, ans so on, and even though the lapped cars were put back on the lead lap after each caution, Kay still lapped enough cars on the final green flag run to give him a row eight start for the finale. Also, any car not finishing the first 50 laps - there were four - would be replaced by a non qualifier for the second feature. Got it?
 The sport compacts ran 15 laps next, with a disappointing field of nine cars on hand. It was never the less a hotly contested race, with Ryan Havel leading until a lap two restart saw Shaun Slaughter grab the lead. Cody VanDusen made it a three car battle, and although Slaughter survived a lap five yellow, Van Dusen pulled even on lap seven. Slaughter led lap ten, Cody lap 11. At the flag it was Van Dusen over Slaughter, Havel, and Ryan Walker.
  25 laps of modified racing was next with 24 cars taking the green. Front row starter Kelly Shryock led from flag to flag, although fellow front row starter Jeff Larson stayed close early. Two cautions came on lap three, and on the sixth trip past the flag stands, Chris Zogg was second. Meanwhile, Brad Diercks, who had come from the tail of a postion race to the win and a row seven start, was charging through the pack, taking fourth on lap ten., third on lap 12, and the runnerup spot on lap 20 in heavy traffic. At the checkers, it was Shryock, Diercks, Zogg, Larson, and Bruce Hanford. However, reports are the morning that the top two may have been DQ'd, this information being unofficial at this point.
 The night wrapped up with the second 50 lapper for the late models. Jay Johnson jumped to the early lead from the pole position, leading the first 26 circuits in a pull away with Scott Fitpatrick as the race went caution free on the smooth, slick track. Then disaster struck, as the veteran smacked the backstretch wall as he was being challenged by Fitzpatrick. Johnson left on the hook, while Fitzpatrick dunked to the pits, putting him at the back on the restart. Kay, meanwhile had advance two spots by lap two, and entered the top ten on lap ten. He was up to sixth when the caution waved, and with the leaders out, the two by two start had him in row two. Harris meanwhile, had moved from row seven to third at the time of the caution, and was now on the front row for the restart alongside Joe Zrotlik. Back to green flag action, Harris took the lead, with Kay now third, and he moved to second on lap 31, now closing on the leader. Denny Eckrich again gave Kay an unintended assit, rolling to astop on lap 35, bringing out the final yellow flag of the night. Joel Callahan briefly wrestled the runner up spot from Kay on the top side as the green waved, but one lap later, Kay retook the spot, as he and Harris pulled away from the field. Guss was now on the move, coming from row sixth to take third on lap 41, but it was a two car battle for the lead. JKay had been working the low side of the big 1/2 mile, but he took a high line to clear Harris on lap 43, then cruising to the sweep. Harris finished a solid night with a second to go with his earlier third, Guss ran third, and Droste made it a pair of fourths. Holliday had a strong run to round out the top five.
 The skies are clear as I type this early Sunday afternoon, so get out and take in some racing on this final summer holiday weekend!