Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com
Photos by: Bruce Albin/PicYerPhoto

Hampton, VA(July 12, 2010) -- After coming up short in the first two editions of the Hampton Heat 200, including a close second place finish to Woody Howard in the 2009 edition of the race, C.E. Falk was able to lead 188 laps en route to winning the race. The win makes Falk two for three in big races this season with a win in the Denny Hamlin Showdown and a seventh place finish in last week's 200 lap race at South Boston Speedway also on his record.

The day started cloudy as 23 teams rolled into Langley Speedway ready to get the day started and chase down the $10,000 pay check that was on the line for the winner. Unfortunately, only 22 would be able to start the race as Nick Smith would break his distributor in qualifying while driving the car that Tony Stewart drove to a second place finish at the Hamlin Showdown.

After a few rain showers got the overall program behind schedule qualifying got underway and it appeared Falk was on his way to another pole until the very last car out, the 34 of Paul DeBolt, went out and laid down a time of 16.140 besting Falk by only 0.011 seconds to claim the top spot. Greg Edwards, SoBo regular Stacy Puryear and defending champion Woody Howard would round out the top five for the start.

As the race got underway DeBolt took the early lead with Falk settling into second place. Falk wouldn't wait long to make his move as he had in past years taking the lead on lap 13 from DeBolt with Greg Edwards following him to the inside of Debolt to take over second place. The first half of the race went fairly uneventful until contact was made off turn 4 between Puryear and Mark Wertz for the fifth spot, nearly spinning both towards the inside wall on lap 78.

After 100 laps were placed in the books caution free C.E. Falk continued to show the way with Greg Edwards second, Paul DeBolt third, Woody Howard fourth and Stacy Puryear rounding out the top five. As the teams filed down pit road for tires and adjustments some drivers were happy with the way the first 100 laps had gone while others had some questions. "Is Mark Wertz always that rough?" asked Stacy Puryear referring to the two's on track scuffle off turn 4.

As the race went to get back underway it appeared the patience had run out as some contact in turns 1 and 2 between Wes Falk and Dean Shiflett would result in the first wreck of the evening causing damage to the rear of Shiflett's car as well as severe damage to seemingly the entire car of Duane Shreeves sidelining him from the event. Then after the green came back out a stack up in turns 3 and 4 would result in a bunch of contact which resulted in Mark Wertz going for a spin.

As the field got back to a longer green flag run, things really seemed to settle down but the race wasn't done with it's shocking moments. After the race had been back green for nearly 30 laps bad luck struck the Edwards brothers at the same time on lap 143 as Greg Edwards would have debris bounce around his engine compartment before shooting through the radiator before causing the motor to expire followed shortly by ignition troubles would sideline Danny Edwards whom has been having a streak of bad luck for the past couple of weeks.

The mechanical issues for the Edwards brothers would leave C.E. Falk with a healthy advantage over Paul DeBolt who regained second place on the track. Woody Howard, Stacy Puryear and Casey Wyatt made up the remodeled top five.

The race continued on caution free with the top five unchanged until lap 189 when Rick Gdovic went for a spin down the back stretch before coming to a stop in the infield grass in turn 3. The field lined up for one last restart on lap 195 with 5 to go and the field all over the rear bumper of Falk. As they went back green, Falk was quick to get on the throttle and leave DeBolt to deal with the hard charging Howard.
 

As Falk motored on the racing behind him heated up as bumpers were being laid all over the track. Howard would work his way by DeBolt to take over second on the track while Brandon Gdovic would lean heavy on Puryear's rear bumper, moving him aside to take over the fourth spot. Soon after Casey Wyatt and Wes Falk began to challenge hard to get past Puryear but would be unsuccessful.

At the line C.E. Falk would take home the win and the $10,000 check after leading 188 laps. Woody Howard took home a $3,000 check for second with DeBolt cashing in for $2,000 for his third place performance. Brandon Gdovic, Stacy Puryear, Casey Wyatt, Wes Falk, Mark Wertz, Terry Carroll and Eddie Johnson would complete the top ten at the completion of 200 laps.

"This is definitely the Moby Dick of my racing career," said Falk of his past inability to take home the win in the 200 lap event. "It's that fish that always got away, but this 40 car is a bullet."

The race would also cause a bit of a shake up in the points with the Edwards brothers mechanical malfunctions. C.E. Falk continues to lead the way chasing his second track championship with Woody Howard moving into second place ahead of Greg Edwards. Wes Falk made up a lot of ground on Danny Edwards in the battle for fourth place in points.

Langley Speedway also recently announced that the next two weeks the Late Model Stock division will compete in twin 50 lap races in lieu of the scheduled 100 lap events. This is to make up for a rained out race and to go one race up in anticipation of a future rain out as the track has seen in the past.

Race Results
1. #40 C.E. Falk
2. #82 Woody Howard
3. #34 Paul DeBolt
4. #46 Brandon Gdovic
5. #17 Stacy Puryear
6. #29 Casey Wyatt
7. #41 Wes Falk
8. #55 Mark Wertz
9. #90 Terry Carroll
10. #57 Eddie Johnson
11. #99 Stephen Berry
12. #1 Kyle Waltz
13. #06 Dean Shiflett
14. #01 Jeff Shiflett
15. #64 Rick Gdovic
16. #07 Richard Storm
17. #88 Mitch Sarvis
18. #26 Danny Edwards Jr.
19. #21 Greg Edwards
20. #7 Dude Gibbs
21. #38 Duane Shreeves
22. #48 Shawn Balluzzo