HAMPTON, VA – Nineteen NWAAS Late Models came out to Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway for twin 66 lap races. Jeff Shiflett and C.E. Falk both made their first trips of the season to the 4/10th-mile track and late model rookie Cody Carlton made his debut after grabbing a legends win last weekend.
A handful of drivers showed some quick times during practice through the afternoon, but four-time champion Falk was the only one to dip down into the fifteen-second bracket once qualifying rolled around running a 15.958. Points leader Greg Edwards was less than a tenth off his pace to sit on the outside.
Falk jumped out to the lead early but it didn’t take long for Edwards to get to his bumper and slide by on the inside and Nick Smith followed along. Falk continued falling back as Connor Hall got around him and started applying pressure to Smith getting around him on lap-23. Halfway through it was still Edwards out front then Hall, Smith, Falk, and Matt Waltz. A few laps later Waltz was able to get by Falk after being blocked earlier by a slower car. Without a caution in the first race Waltz could only get up to second place and Greg cruised to another win early on in the season. Further on back his brother Danny finished eighth which put him on the pole for the second race with NASCAR’s new mandatory eight car minimum invert.
Danny led the first five laps until a caution came out for Maddy Ryan spinning out, Terry Carroll had some cosmetic damage from the incident. On the restart, Falk took the outside and made it work after going side by side for a lap before taking the lead. A lap after taking the lead a big wreck happened in turn four with Thomas Marks receiving the most damage and ending his night early. Just three laps later another caution for a wreck involving Greg Edwards, Nick Smith, and Casey Wyatt. Edwards radiator busted open and his night would end and Nick Smith was able to continue with heavy damage on his right side.
A few laps were run at full speed with Falk stretching his lead a little until Carlton went around. On the ensuing restart, Justin T Carroll made it three wide and made contact with Hall putting them both to the rear of the field. After that restart Waltz was able to put some pressure on Falk while Hall quickly moved through the field getting up to sixth place. When the leaders got into lapped traffic Falk was able to get through clean while Waltz was slowed down by Maddy, eventually nudging the rear bumper to hard and making another caution on the track.
Getting towards the end of the race things were getting a bit crazy, with second through fourth going three-wide a couple times all for one position. But this was slowed down by a caution brought out by Casey Wyatt. After having a rough start to the year Mark Wertz worked his way into second after the restart but Falk was able to jump out to a decent lead. But the cautions were not done yet as Dean Shiflett lost control of his car after some contact with the 10 car setting up a late race restart. Wertz took the outside and was able to lead a lap but Falk was able to clear him and get his 50th career win at Langley Speedway.
C.E. Falk in Dale Lemonds Victory Lane
After the race, there was some confusion by the 10 team and heavy contact was made with the driver of the 03, destroying the body of the left side of his car. Thankfully both drivers were not injured as it was a pretty hard hit.
Late Model Results – Race 1
- Greg Edwards
- Matt Waltz
- Connor Hall
- Nick Smith
- Justin T Carroll
- C.E. Falk
- Mark Wertz
- Danny Edwards Jr
- Justin S Carroll
- Terry Carroll
- Brenden Queen
- Dean Shiflett
- Casey Wyatt
- Craig Eastep
- Cameron Bowen
- Jeff Shiflett -1
- Maddy Ryan -2
- Cody Carlton -14
- Thomas Marks -38
Late Model Results – Race 2
- C.E. Falk
- Mark Wertz
- Danny Edwards Jr
- Connor Hall
- Matthew Waltz
- Justin T Carroll
- Casey Wyatt
- Terry Carroll
- Brenden Queen
- Justin S Carroll
- Maddy Ryan
- Dean Shiflett
- Jeff Shiflett
- Nick Smith -11
- Cody Carlton -29
- Craig Eastep -51
- Greg Edwards -56
- Cameron Bowen -59
- Thomas Marks -59
