Highlands and Kilgore, TX — Rick Eckert found the smoothest path to Victory Lane on Friday night at Battleground Speedway. And with that came a coveted post-race visit with Hondo. Eckert, 44, of York, Pa., turned back all challengers to score a flag-to-flag triumph in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series 'Lone Star 50,' earning himself a photo opportunity atop a 1,300-pound Texas Longhorn. Eckert was virtually flawless in the second annual WoO LMS event at the four-tenths-mile oval outside Houston, leading the 50-lap A-Main from start-to-finish after taking the green flag from the outside pole. But he was threatened several times by Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and had to survive seven caution flags in the hardscrabble race, adding a hefty degree of difficulty to his performance in the York Excavating/J&K Salvage Team Zero by Bloomquist car. With a little help from a friend, Steve Francis busted out of an early-season funk in Saturday night's 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at Lone Star Speedway. Some helpful hints from fellow former series champion Darrell Lanigan put Francis back on track and propelled him to his first victory of 2010 on the national tour.Mired in eighth in the WoO LMS points standings with just one top-five finish through the tour's first five events of '10, Francis, 42, of Ashland, Ky., needed a pick-me-up for his self-owned team and got it. He survived one hairy moment in lapped traffic and turned back challenges from defending champion and current points leader Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., and Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., to register his 27th career win on the tour – more than any other driver since 2004. Photos courtesy Ron Skinner and Tim Aylwin