Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com
Photos Courtesy Of: Bruce Albin/Pic Yer Photos

Hampton, VA(August 25, 2010) -- On the final night of Late Model Stock competition at Langley Speedway for the 2010 season all C.E. Falk had to do to take home a second straight track championship was finish 13th or better in each race, but Falk proved that just the bare minimum wasn't enough for him.

As they lined up for the first 75 lap feature of the evening a returning face was on the front row as Nick Smith took the pole with a lap time of 15.823 seconds in qualifying besting points leader C.E. Falk by a mere 0.023 seconds for the top spot. Paul DeBolt, Danny Edwards Jr., and Greg Edwards would round out the top five. The field was a fast one as the top nine qualifiers ran lap times of 16.0 seconds or below.

Under green Nick Smith used his spot on the inside to secure the early lead as Falk got hung out to dry for a bit on the outside before finding a hole on the inside in the fourth position. Falk wouldn't stay still for long as he would take third spot from Danny Edwards Jr., on lap 5 and look to lock up the championship at the end of the race.

As they have tended to do recently the field got running clean and green and began to put incident-free laps on the board as Smith continued to lead by himself with the battle for second beginning to heat up between DeBolt and Falk. Between laps 44 and 47 DeBolt and Falk would swap the second spot between themselves a few times before Falk would lay claim to the spot on lap 47 and began his attempt to chase down Smith.

The race continued on caution free with only a few spots changing hands mainly the third spot as Greg Edwards caught and had a multi-lap battle with DeBolt before prevailing on lap 72. At the finish it was Smith getting his first win at Langley since 2008 by five seconds over Falk who clinched the championship with the runner-up performance.

Race two would look a lot like race one at the start as Smith and Falk once again lined up on the front row, but this time it was Greg Edwards on the inside of row two with DeBolt to his outside. At the start it became real apparent how hard Smith had pushed his car in race one as Falk took the lead on the outside and began to pull away.

As a complete opposite of race one which went caution free, race two was full of cautions with the first coming on lap 11 as Old Dominion Speedway regular Brandon Brown went for a spin in turn four. The green wouldn't stay out for long as on the restart heading into turn three, Paul DeBolt and Brandon Gdovic tangled triggering a multi-car wreck to bring out the second yellow flag.

On the ensuing restart it became increasingly obvious that Smith had used up his equipment in the first race as he began to drop position after position before eventually retiring to the pits and a 20th place finish. The field would stay under green swapping positions until a spin by Eddie Johnson at the start/finish line on lap 43 spurred the third caution of the day.

On the restart the battle for the lead got real heated as both Greg Edwards and Woody Howard made looks for the lead eventually resulting in a three-wide battle down the back stretch before resulting in contact between Edwards and Howard going into turn one resulted in a multi-car wreck. Greg Edwards was relegated to the rear of the field after the wreck while Woody Howard remained in the runner-up position. The following restart was once again cut short as Rick Gdovic went for a spin in turn two.

Back under green C.E. Falk lead a train underneath of Howard as both Wes Falk and Matt Waltz drove underneath Howard dropping him back into fourth on the track. The race's theme of yellow's continued as on lap 51 Terry Carroll spun to bring out the sixth caution of the day. As they got back going under green Falk continued to lead as the rest of the spots in the top five changed hands multiple times.

The seventh caution of the day came out for a spin on lap 68 setting up the first single-file restart of the day. Under green Wes Falk began to stalk his big brother looking to take away the victory even pulling a bump-and-run on lap 69 almost taking the lead before another caution behind them as Danny Edwards Jr., and Brandon Gdovic got together triggering the eighth and final caution of the day.

Finally after the final green flag run of the day which lasted three laps it was the Falk brothers taking the top two spots with elder C.E. closing out his championship season with a win followed by his brother Wes. Matt Waltz, Greg Edwards and Brandon Brown rounded out the top five in the final race of the season.

"Man that was a blast, tonight was all about wrapping up the championship and getting as many NASCAR points as we could. Guess its about time to take this show back on the road to Motor Mile next week," said C.E. Falk in victory lane. "You mentioned Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch and
 

all of them. None of those guys gave me as much hell as my little brother, so I'm glad he's finally learned something."

"I could of got past C.E.(Falk) if we didn't have them late cautions, they killed every run I had," said Wes Falk in the post-race tech line. "Car was great on the short runs there at the end but after a few laps it just dropped off," said third-place Matt Waltz. "Had there been a caution with three to go or so, who knows maybe we could of got up to the front."

"Woody(Howard) took me and C.E.(Falk) three wide down the back stretch and finally wrecked me going into one and two," said Greg Edwards after the race. "I was completely focused on C.E(Falk)., never thought Woody(Howard) would do anything like that." Woody Howard had another view on the incident as he said, "I try to race him clean every time but it's hard no to hit somebody when they keep pinching you down like that."

"We had a car that could of won that second race and Paul(DeBolt) came down on me in three and bent a bunch of stuff up in the right front," said Brandon Gdovic after a disappointing sixth place finish. "Then we were coming back and had another good shot at the win before getting dumped by Danny(Edwards) in turns three and four. Just not my night that second race I guess."

"I don't know what the deal was there," said Danny Edwards Jr., after choosing to park his car after the incident with Gdovic. "I got into Gdovic, I'll admit that, but there needs to be some consistency in the tower. Putting me to that back for that after not putting Woody(Howard) to the back after his deal with Greg(Edwards) is just ridiculous, so I chose to just go ahead and park it then."

At the end of the season the championship goes to C.E. Falk by 58 points over second place Greg Edwards(982-924). Woody Howard, Danny Edwards Jr., and Wes Falk rounded out the top five in the points after the final race of the season.

Top Ten In Points (Final)
1. #40 C.E. Falk 982
2. #21 Greg Edwards 924
3. #82 Woody Howard 908
4. #26 Danny Edwards Jr. 858
5. #41 Wes Falk 824
6. #55 Mark Wertz 770
7. #46 Brandon Gdovic 756
8. #29 Casey Wyatt 692
9. #06 Dean Shiflett 596
10. #7 Dude Gibbs 554

Race #1 Results
1. #12 Nick Smith
2. #40 C.E. Falk
3. #21 Greg Edwards
4. #34 Paul DeBolt
5. #82 Woody Howard
6. #41 Wes Falk
7. #26 Danny Edwards Jr.
8. #29 Casey Wyatt
9. #46 Brandon Gdovic
10. #55 Mark Wertz
11. #06 Dean Shiflett
12. #2 Matt Waltz
13. #57 Eddie Johnson
14. #90 Terry Carroll
15. #1 Kyle Waltz
16. #64 Rick Gdovic
17. #01 Jeff Shiflett
18. #56 Adam Florian
19. #7 Dude Gibbs
20. #68 Brandon Brown
21. #48 Shawn Balluzzo
22. #44 Robbie Babb

Race #2 Results
1. #40 C.E. Falk
2. #41 Wes Falk
3. #2 Matt Waltz
4. #21 Greg Edwards
5. #68 Brandon Brown
6. #46 Brandon Gdovic
7. #01 Jeff Shiflett
8. #82 Woody Howard
9. #90 Terry Carroll
10. #64 Rick Gdovic
11. #48 Shawn Balluzzo
12. #26 Danny Edwards Jr.
13. #06 Dean Shiflett
14. #29 Casey Wyatt
15. #1 Kyle Waltz
16. #57 Eddie Johnson
17. #7 Dude Gibbs
18. #56 Adam Florian
19. #55 Mark Wertz
20. #12 Nick Smith
21. #34 Paul DeBolt
22. #44 Robbie Babb