Anderson and Birck First Time Winners at LCS

 Logan Anderson ( IMCA modifieds ), and Adam Birck ( IMCA sport mods ) picked up their first wins of 2018 at the Donnellson, Iowa fairgrounds speedway, while Sam Halstead made it two in a row in the crate late model division. Abe Huls returned from various racing road trips to top the IMCA stock cars, while Josh Barnes avoided his season long mechanical bugs to claim the IMCA sport compact main event.
  The Friday night program began with ten heat races starting at 7:30 as advertised and completed in just over 50 minutes! After a not too long intermission where several bikes were given away, as well as a watermelon smash event followed by free watermelon samples, it was feature time.
  The 14 lap sport compact feature was up first. Only Mike Reu was absent as the ten cars came to starter Kevin Egglestons green flag. Josh Barnes shot from row two to run side by side with outside polesitter Jake Dietrich before claiming the lead on lap three. By now point leader Barry Taft had come from row five to the third position, and one lap later he charged to second, bringing along Kimberly Abbott as Dietrich retired to the infield. Taft then moved in to battle Barnes for the lead, with Abbott and Brandon Reu hovering close behind. As the laps clicked off in the non stop event on the  hammer down 3/8 mile, Barnes stretched his lead. Probably holding his breath a bit, Barnes had none of his all too frequent  mechanical gremlins arise, and he took the checkers ahead of Taft. Abbott held off Brandon Reu for third, and Kenny Smith bested David Prim for fifth.
  It was sport modifieds up next, 13 cars for 18 laps. Austin Howes, with a sharp new wrap on his #17A, powered to the lap one lead from outside row two, edging polesitter Jeff Walker at the line. Daniel Fellows started seventh, but moved to third on lap three, then took over the runner up spot on the next circuit. Howes had about a five car length lead, while Fellows was well in front of third running Austen Becerra. One lap from the halfway mark, Becerra spun in turn two, bringing out what I think was the first caution of the night. Howes continued to lead on the restart, trailed by Fellows, Adam Birck, and Brandyn Ryan. As the scoreboard moved to seven laps to go, Bob Cowman brought out the yellow, spinning his machine. Back under green, Becerra had recovered to sixth, and he entered the top five the next time by the flagstand, even as Howes pulled out to a sizable advantage. As the two laps to go flag was displayed, we went yellow again as the recently out of
" retirement " Jim Powell contacted the turn three guard rail. Still it was Howes out front but the yellow waved again with one lap left setting up a green, white, checkers finish. Becerra had by now moved to second, but the leaders jammed up in turn two, with Howes spinning and being hit in the front end by Powell, who had nowhere to go. Howes run now ended on the hook, and after some deliberation, Fellows was sent to the back for his part in the melee. After circling the oval, Fellows then headed to the pits. Another green white checkers saw Becerra complete his charge back through the pack, as he lined up out front in the Delaware restart. But as the green flag waved, Adam Birck got the jump on the leader, flying by on the inside followed by Brandon Dale. A jubilant Birck led the final two laps to pick up his first win of 2018 at LCS. Dale, the class points leader settled for second, while Becerras eventful night saw him come home third. Ryan and Cowman completed the first five.
  All eleven IMCA stock cars came next to the oval for 20 laps. Row two starter Darin Thye, another out of " retirement " veteran battled alongside row one starter Dean Kratzer before claiming the lead on lap two. Meanwhile eighth starting Abe Huls crossed the line side by side with Kratzer before taking over the lead on lap three. From there, attention shifted behind the #30C , as row three starter Jeremy Pundt grabbed second on lap six before the only caution of the race for a Cody McClure spin. Huls continued to dominate following the restart, while John Oliver Jr. slipped past Pundt on lap nine. An entertaining battle for fifth developed between Thye, Kratzer, Kevin Koontz, and Brandon Savage.  Savage has recently sold his late model and returned to the stock car class. Fourth running Beau Taylor had been steadily closing in on Pundt, and as the " two to go " signal was given, he moved to third. The final order was Huls with the win followed by Oliver Jr., Taylor, Pundt, and Savage.
  The late models were moved up in the order, most likely because Oliver Jr. was also set to compete in the modified feature in the Bill Baker #03B normally driven by Craig Spegal.
  So it was Cliff Powell and rookie late model pilot Darin Weisinger Jr. leading the field to green for 20 laps of action. Powell paced the opening circuit, with fifth starting Jeff Guengerich in second. Jeff had retired early in his heat race after suffering front end damage, but he was out front as lap two was scored. Meanwhile, contact between Brandon Queen and 2017 regular Derek Liles, out for the
first time this season after moving to Cedar Rapids, ended the night for both cars. Last weeks winner, " Superman " Sam Halstead was on the move, charging from inside row four to first on lap five. As Sam stretched his lead, ninth starting Chuck Hanna brought his IMCA spec engine #65 to third on lap eight, then second two laps later. Todd Frank and point leader Tommy Elston entered the top four one circuit later, and it was Elston third the twelfth time by the flag stand. The front four began to get strung out, though Hanna began to close the gap between himself and Halstead as the laps wound down. With zero cautions, Halstead was able to notch his second win in a row.  Hanna had scored the win when the Lee County cars competed at 34 Raceway on March 31, but settled for second on Friday. Elston had looked to be on the move at the drop of the green, but may have had contact that slowed his run to the front, and he came home third. Frank and Ron Boyse rounded out the top five followed by Guengerich, Weisinger, and Powell. Queen was scored ninth and Liles tenth.
 Ten modifieds racing 20 laps completed the card. Logan Anderson advanced five positions to top the first circuit with polesitter Levi Smith in tow. Point leader Jeff Waterman lined up seventh and rolled to the runner up spot on lap two, soon shadowed by Bill Roberts Jr. and Dennis Laveine. Anderson, the former sport mod hot shoe, ran the inside line to open a five car length lead while the front four became a bit strung out by the time the crossed flags signaled the halfway mark of the race. With seven laps left, the only caution of the race came for Kelly Buckalew. It proved to be only a momentary distraction for Anderson, who resumed his charge to victory. Waterman tried to put together a run in the closing laps, following Anderson through the low line in turns one and two, the motoring up top in three and four. He could not make the pass, and a happy Anderson scored his first LCS win of 2018. Waterman, Roberts, and Laveine came next, while Oliver used a late race charge to finish fifth after starting ninth.
 Aided by, according to my count, seven yellow flags ( five for the sport mods ), the final checkers waved about 9:52! Fifteen total races in less than 2 1/2 hours with an intermission thrown in. That definitely added to the $5.00 Fan Appreciation Night program. While the car counts at Lee County are not the best, they almost always offer up a well prepared racing surface, and an efficiently run show. The track will be silent next week, with the 360 cubic inch Sprint Invaders joining the card in two weeks on August 17.
Season championships are set for the following week. Then on August 31, the open engine MLRA late models will be in town to make up their rained out show from earlier this season.
  You should be able to find me at Quincy Raceways on Sunday. Outside additions to the UMP crate late model purse have the winners share up to $850.00 to win. ( Yes, I did ask, and yes, the folks donating the extra money wanted it all added to the winners share. ) Even so, it sounds as though there will be a few extra late models on hand. UMP modifieds, IMCA stock cars, IMCA sport mods, IMCA sport compacts, and two person cruisers will fill out the card, with hot laps at 6:30.
  Thanks for reading.