Foster, Hastings, Greiner among winners at Lee County Speedway

Josh Foster worked beneath Rich Smith in the final laps to take the win in the IMCA Modified division on the second night of weekly points racing at Lee County Speedway on Friday night. For the defending track champion, it was Foster's first win of the 2012 season.

Pole-sitter Smith held the advantage at the drop of the green while Foster quickly made his way to the front after starting inside the fourth row. Foster settled into second just a few laps into the 20-lapper, then ducked beneath Smith in turns one and two on the 14th circuit. He emerged from the corner with the advantage, then led the remaining six laps to take the win. Smith ran second ahead of Todd Hansen. Tyler Cale, the opening night winner who will be celebrating his 25th birthday on Monday, crossed the line fourth ahead of Jeff Waterman.

Victor Hastings made his way past Dane Fenton late in the Hobby Stock feature to score the win in that 15-lapper. Hastings, who started outside of row three, ran in the top three for much of the event, trying to reel in Fenton while at the same time trying to fend off Dan Wenig.

Wenig, who started in row five, burst through the field running the low groove and made his way into the second spot until he spun in turn two with only a handful of laps remaining. This allowed Hastings to start on Fenton's rear bumper, quickly making his way to the lead shortly following the restart. Luke McLaughlin ran second ahead of Wenig, who made a nice run back through traffic to finish third. Brian Hoener and Jeff DeLonjay completed the top five.

Defending IMCA Stock Car track champion Matt Greiner scored the win in that 15-lap feature. From his pole position start, Greiner worked to hold off Cale Samberg and Jeff Mueller throughout the event to take his first win of the season.

Mueller, who started in the second row, challenged Greiner for the lead in the middle stages of the race, but a flat left rear tire put an end to his run. Following the restart for Mueller's stop, Greiner held serve and led the remainder of the event to take the win ahead of Jason Cook and Jim Redmann. Mueller made a nice run late to cross the line in fourth, however he was disqualified (more on that later), which moved Jim Lynch into that position. Derek St. Clair completed the top five.

In possibly the most entertaining event of the evening, Austen Becerra won a close battle in the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact main event. Becerra held off the race-long challenges of Darin Smith and Brandon Lambert to take the exciting win.

That trio of drivers ran side-by-side, swapping positions at the front of the pack throughout the event, with Becerra beating everyone to the line to take the checkers. Smith ran second by a nose ahead of Lambert. Seth Woodruff and Scott Smith rounded out the top five.

Jim Gillenwater used a late restart to his advantage as he drove to an impressive win in the 15-lap IMCA SportMod feature. Gillenwater, who started in the fourth row, made his way into the top three by the time a few late race cautions bunched the field.

With only three laps remaining, Gillenwater blasted by Brandon Ruffcorn on the final restart to take the win in convincing fashion. Ruffcorn ran second ahead of Scott VanBuskirk. Bobby Anders and opening night winner Tony Dunker chased the leaders to the checkers.

To shed light on Mueller's DQ in the Stock Car feature, he was deemed guilty of unsportsmanlike behavior in the tech area following the event. Track officials reported that he went after the father of one of his competitiors following the event. As a result, Mueller forfeited his points and earnings for the night.

The track was heavy to start the night and frequent packing was necessary between many of the events to get the surface ironed in. While it was less than ideal, the track improved greatly throughout the night. Still, first-year promoter Dewain Hulett felt bad for the track conditions, and was grateful for the help from the drivers to pack in the surface. He was also thankful for the patience of drivers and fans.

In a unique move, Hulett posted an apology to drivers and fans on the track web site, leecountyspeedway.com. Although many promoters would prefer to silently put such a situation behind them without mentioning it, Hulett and his crew acknowledged the mistake and are determined to improve in that area. He indicated such in his post on the web site.

Tonight, I'll be back in Independence for the second night of weekly racing. Hope to see you there!