Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com

Hampton, VA(September 22, 2009) -- With three races left on the 2009 Langley Speedway schedule for the Late Model Stock Cars, Danny Edwards Jr. entered Saturday night's race with a 26 point deficit to current leader C.E. Falk. Edwards last win came back on May 16, a 12-race drought the 2008 track champion has not had in a long time. With the NASCAR point season being over there was a noticeable decrease in the number of cars that made the trip out to the speedway as only 15 cars would make up the starting line up for the McDonalds 100. Of the notables that were absent are two-time race winner Woody Howard, Shawn Balluzzo and Mitch Sarvis.

John Staton claimed his first pole of the season turning a lap at 86.654 mph and would share the front row with Danny Edwards followed by the two drivers fighting for third in points, Mark Wertz and Greg Edwards in row number two. At the drop of the green flag Staton would take advantage of his inside row starting position to jump to the lead and would stay in front until the first caution flag appeared on lap 2 as Jeff Shiflett would experience a right front spindle break sending him sliding into Wes Falk sending them spinning collecting Casey Wyatt in the melee. Both Shiflett and Falk would be sidelined for the night but Wyatt was able to continue. Doug Warren was also sidelined after having rear end issues during the pace laps.

Back green the front two began to separate themselves from the rest of the field and ran single file for a few laps before Danny Edwards made his move underneath the 17 of Staton off of turn two and won the drag race down the backstretch for the lone lead change of the night. Staton would be unable to close the door until after losing spots to Wertz, CE Falk and Greg Edwards dropping the 17 back into fifth in the rundown. The field stayed single file until lap 13 when Greg Edwards began to mount his challenge on points leader Falk starting a two-wide battle which would last until lap 19 when Edwards would take over the third position on the exit of turn four.

On the rebound was the 10 of Casey Wyatt who after having been caught up in the lap 2 mishap had moved his machine back into the top five on lap 38 when he bypassed Staton as the 17 continued to backtrack on the scoreboard. The second and last caution of the evening appeared a few laps later as debris was spotted by officials in turn two.

As the race went back green Danny Edwards wasted no time getting back up on his horse getting a quick one-length edge over second place Wertz. Falk began to make a challenge for third but it wouldn't last long as Wyatt would come knocking looking for the fourth spot. Wyatt would be able to make the pass on Falk on lap 50, clearing Falk on the exit of turn four. Falk would look to return the favor five laps later and would battle with Wyatt until lap 63 when Wyatt was able to pull back ahead and turn his sights to the rear bumper of Greg Edwards for third.

While all this was going on Danny Edwards had strecthed his lead out to half a straightaway over Wertz and a full straight over third place Greg Edwards. The field remained single file and stretched out until lap 76 when Dean Shiflett was able to catch the Ford of Falk and launch a bid for fifth place. Falk would clear Shiflett seven laps later and would continue to run the high line in the turns which the car seemed to handle a bit better.

Going into the final 10 laps it was Danny Edwards race to lose as he had a fairly secure lead over second place Wertz on the track. The main battles in the closing laps were between Greg Edwards and Casey Wyatt for third and CE Falk and Dean Shiflett for fifth as both pairs were side-by-
 

side. Wyatt was able to clear Edwards for third on lap 97 as Falk and Shiflett were still battling hard for fifth.

At the line Danny Edwards Jr. claimed his third win of the season by an impressive 1.768 seconds over Mark Wertz. Casey Wyatt, Greg Edwards and CE Falk would complete the top five. The rest of the lead lap cars were Dean Shiflett, Paul DeBolt, John Staton and Matt Waltz while Kyle Waltz rounded out the top ten one lap off the pace.

In Victory Lane Edwards was already thinking about improving on his car for the next race as he said, "You know, we might have to be a little bit better for the next time, but it was good enough tonight to get it done."

When asked if the cooler temperatures played a factor in his car's performance, Edwards replied, "I don't really know if that's what it is. We're running a different setup than we did in the beginning of the season, so we've just been trying to search around and find something that the car likes. The tires are a little different than last year and it's kinda caught us off guard. But, hey, it's late in the season, we made up a few points tonight, we're still in it, so we're gonna keep digging as hard as we can."

The win would shave eight points off the 26 point lead that CE Falk brought into the night's race and places Edwards only 18 points back with two races remaining on the schedule for the Crossroads Fuel Late Models before the 2009 champion is officially crowned on October 10th.

As we all know the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series points cutoff was last week and Phillip Morris was crowned the national and Virginia state champion. Several Langley drivers placed in the top 20 in the state led by CE Falk(second), Danny Edwards Jr.(13th), Woody Howard(14th), Mark Wertz(19th) and Greg Edwards(20th). In the national points Langley had a bigger representation in the top 500 with CE Falk(seventh), Danny Edwards Jr.(84th), Woody Howard(113th), Mark Wertz(134th), Greg Edwards(146th), Wes Falk(275th), Dean Shiflett(303rd), Jeff Shiflett(341st), Matt Waltz(411th), Shawn Balluzzo(426th), and Kyle Waltz(447th)

Results:
1) (26) Danny Edwards Jr.; 100
2) (55) Mark Wertz; 100
3) (10) Casey Wyatt; 100
4) (27) Greg Edwards; 100
5) (40) CE Falk; 100
6) (06) Dean Shiflett; 100
7) (34) Paul DeBolt; 100
8) (17) John Staton; 100
9) (4) Matt Waltz; 100
10) (1) Kyle Waltz; 99
11) (90) Terry Carroll; 47
12) (38) Duane Shreeves; 39
13) (41) Wes Falk; 1
14) (01) Jeff Shiflett; 1
15) (15) Doug Warren; 1

Points After Round #17 of 19:
1) (40) CE Falk, 788
2) (26) Danny Edwards Jr., 770 (-18)
3) (55) Mark Wertz, 720 (-68)
4) (27) Greg Edwards, 702 (-86)
5) (21) Woody Howard, 604 (-184)
6) (41) Wes Falk, 568 (-220)
7) (06) Dean Shiflett, 566 (-222)
8) (01) Jeff Shiflett, 532 (-256)
9) (4) Matt Waltz, 506 (-282)
10) (1) Kyle Waltz, 482 (-306)
Race Winners; CE Falk(10), Danny Edwards Jr.(3), Woody Howard(2), Greg Edwards(1), Paul DeBolt(1)