Martin, Woodworth, Oliver Jr., Birck, and Barnes Take LCS Checkers

 Friday night it was back to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. On this night, the Sprint Invaders would join the IMCA late models atop the card. For the late models, it would be the fifth and final qualifying night in the Drive For Five mini series. IMCA stock cars and IMCA sport mods would also be in action. Completing the lineup, the IMCA sport compacts would be vying for extra money thanks to some generous sponsors, with $200 to the winner, and a hard charger bonus of $100. The IMCA modifieds would not be racing this night. The late model feature would pay $1,000 to win, and drivers competing in at least four of the qualifiers would be racing for a $5,000 top prize in the September 12 series finale. If the winner on that night had not raced in enough of the previous events, he would still collect a $2,000 check.                                                                                            Sprint Invaders led the way with twenty five entries, but it was the sport compacts coming to the track for the first feature. All but one of the nineteen cars made the call for fifteen laps of action. Following a false start, outside pole sitter Josh Barnes grabbed the lead in front of Kaycee McGregor. Jared Heule took up the chase on lap three, but Barnes was soon pulling away. Heule managed to close the gap a bit as Barnes seemed to develop a push coming off the corners. As Brandon Reu began to run down the front duo, the caution came out with twelve laps scored for a spin by Alyssa Dietrich. Reu moved to second on the Delaware restart, but Barnes was not to be denied, posting a flag to flag win. As icing on the cake, Barnes' fourteen year old son, Chevy, in only his second race, passed several cars in the closing laps, advancing from the eighteenth starting spot to ninth to pick up the hard charger bonus.                  Kevin Koontz was unable to join the other dozen stock cars that lined up for eighteen laps of feature racing. Jerry Jansen put his Ford powered machine out front, with Chad Krogmeier slipping around him on lap four. John Oliver Jr. and Jeremy Pundt made it a three wide battle for the lead one lap later. By the time lap six was in the books, Krogmeier and Oliver were neck and neck. With Krogmeier dropping back a bit, Pundt now had his hands full of visiting Jason See in the battle for second.The first yellow came at lap eleven as Neal Kohlmorgan and Dean Kratzer got together in turn two. Back to racing, Oliver began to put distance on the pack as Abe Huls jumped from seventh to the runner spot by lap fourteen, even as See began to fade. A final caution for debris came with three laps to go, and as Oliver cruised to the win, Huls and Pundt staged a duel for second. At the checkers, it was Oliver Jr., Huls, Pundt, Jim Redmann, and Jason Cook.                                                                                      The large contingent of sprint car fans on hand were now eager for twenty five laps of action. Four early scratches had resulted in the B main being scrapped, and twenty one cars came to the track. Things got off to a slow start, with a 360 degree spin by Paul Neinhauser bringing out the caution on the start sending him from a row four start to the tail. Then John Schulz went for a tumble in turn three, bringing out the red flag. Kaley Gharst and Josh Higday paced the field ahead of another caution on lap three. Following another single file restart the laps began to click off, with the leaders running a quickly narrowing cushion, especially in turns thre and four. Slower traffic came into play on lap ten, and Higday used it to his advantage as he grabbed the lead. Chris Martin now joined the leaders, and he powered to second as the crossed flags signaled thirteen laps down. Martin then pulled a textbook slider to take the top spot as the leaders exited turn four. He was building his advantage when a final caution came just five laps from the checkers as Austin Miller drilled the guardrail entering the front stretch.  During the down time it was discovered that fifth running Gharst had lost his wheel nuts, and he was pushed to the infield, ending his run. With a clear track in front, Chris Martin pulled away to victory. Higday settled for second, followed by Riley Goodno, row ten starter Lynton Jeffrey, and Dustin Selvage. Nienhauser also worked his way back to sixth from the tail.                                                                                               Thirteen late models would now attempt to negotiate the black slick racing surface for twenty five laps. Denny Woodworth drew the outside pole start, and he would waste no time building a lead. Sam Halstead came from row two to take up the chase, but he had his hands full with a persistant Tommy Elston. With zero cautions to bring the pack back to the leaders, Woodworth encountered slower traffic just before the half way mark. He was able to move around the track to put several cars a lap down, maintaining a healthy lead. The leaders stayed in the low to middle grooves throughout, with the best battle being for fourth position. Andy Nezworski was reluctant to give up his inside line, and when he had trouble with a lapped car, Mark Burgtorf took advantage, grabbing the spot on the final circuit. Woodworth claimed the win with Halstead in a season best second and Elston, Burgtorf and Nezworski following. Nick Marolf led the second five, ahead of Dustin Griffin, Ron Boyse, Matt Strassheim, and Darin Weisinger Jr. Visiting Jill George and Ray Raker completed the field, with Jay Johnson the only car to not finish. Sport mods were twenty one strong , and they closed out the action racing for eighteen laps. With Nick Profeta giving up his pole start, Austen Becerra was moved up to row four, and he came all the way to the front to lead lap one in front of Jim Gillenwater. Adam Birck started directly behind Becerra and grabbed the runner up spot on lap two ahead of a caution for a spinning Brian Berghager. Back to green, Becerra was pounding the cushion as well as the guardrail while Birck catfished around the very bottom of the track in what swiftly became a two car scrum between the two good friends. Birck was on top as lap five was scored. Following a lap seven caution Sean Wyett used the Delaware restart to take over second place following in Bircks tracks. Becerra reclaimed the spot on lap eight, and pulled even with the leader one lap later. Anothe caution came at lap eleven, and again Wyett moved to second, moving to the high line to try and get a run on Birck. One last caution came with five circuits remaining, and when a three car battle for second developed, Birck was able to pull away for the win. Wyett was strong in second, while Bobby Six, who had trouble in his heat race and started in row nine, charged all the way to third. Becerra and his crumpled fender faded to fourth, with Brandon Dale rounding out the top five.                                                                                                  The final checkers waved about 11:00, putting a cap on a full night of multi groove racing. It was announced that next week, season championship night at the speedway will also be Fan Appreciation night, with $3.00 adult admissions!                                               Tonight we will be heading to the West Liberty Raceway as Drt Trak Promotions will host the SLMR late models in a $3,000 to win show supported by modifieds, sport nods, compacts, and the A.I.R.S/ Midwest Jalopies. Meanwhile the Sprint Invaders will lead the card at 34 Raceways in West Burlington.