Story by: Mason Dunn ~ mason@RACE22.com
Photos by: Bill Carr & Bruce Albin

Hampton, VA(January 19, 2010) -- One year after returning to his family's home track and going winless in a full season in the Crossroads Fuel Late Model Stock division at Langley Speedway CE Falk returned in 2009 on a mission to take home his first ever track championship. He did so in dominating fashion winning 11 of the 19 points races winning the championship by 22 points over Langley veteran and 2008 track champion Danny Edwards Jr.

CE Falk's season did not start at Langley as he made appearances on two weekends at South Boston Speedway in an effort to gain valuable state and national points for the NASCAR season. Three races were run over those two weekends with Falk finishing in the top five in each race with two second place finishes and a fourth place finish. All three of those races had full NASCAR fields which was good news for Falk.

The 2009 Langley Speedway season seemingly picked up where 2008 left off with reigning champ Danny Edwards Jr. returning to victory lane picking up the opening night victory over Falk by just about a second. Falk however, would strike back over the following two races winning both and taking over the points lead for the first time.

Falk's bid for a third straight win was put on hold for a week as rain would wash out the race scheduled for May 9th. The rest of May however would be very fruitful for Falk as he would finish second and first in consecutive weeks at Langley on the 16th and 23rd before making a trip into Carolina for his first appearance at Caraway Speedway finishing second to Alex Yontz in the 200 lap feature.

June was another fruitful two-track month for Falk as he would earn another pair of victories and a second place finish strengthening his overall points lead over Edwards Jr. as well as his first ever appearance at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va on June 13th earning his 11th top five in a row with a fifth place finish.

Going into July and the second half of the season Falk was carrying a record of 13 starts with five wins, 12 top fives and 13 top tens but his hot streak would hit a cold snag on July 4th weekend as handling issues would relegate Falk to a 12th place finish at Caraway in the Rusty Harpe Memorial 200 and a flat right rear tire would cause another 12th place finish two days later at South Boston in the Bailey's 200.

But the Hampton Heat 200 would revive Falk's drive as he went into the race more determined to bring home the win and even though he came up one spot short finishing second to race winner Woody Howard, Falk would ride the momentum winning the next two races at Langley and a stunning photo finish over veteran Eddie Johnson at South Boston. The July 18th race at Langley was the probably the toughest and most impressive victory of the season for Falk as he had to overcome two engine changes over a span of 24 hours including one that was finished just in time to make the call for qualifying.

Falk's championship campaign would take a slight hit in August when while leading the race on August 16th with less than 20 laps left an oil line broke causing smoke and flames to appear under the hood of Falk's machine sidelining him from the event and handing the win over to Woody Howard. The issue would drop Falk from leading to finishing 16th in the final rundown and slashing his points lead from 32 down to only six over Edwards Jr. But Falk was not down for long as the next two Late Model dates at Langley had been changed to twin 75 lap events to make up for the rained out events and Falk would charge to three victories and a fourth place finish over those two weekends. The wins would extend his points lead back to 26 points with only three races left on the Langley schedule.

Edwards Jr. would take a shot back at Falk winning the September 19th feature event and gaining eight points back on the points leader but Falk continued to show championship caliber consistency finishing fifth and second in the final two races of September. The week before the points finale at Langley, CE Falk and numerous of his fellow competitors from Langley would make the trip to Martinsville for the Bailey's 300 where Falk would take home his first piece of hardware winning the first heat race before getting caught up in a few of the mishaps but soldiering onto a 12th place finish in the 200 lap feature event.

But the following week it was back to business for Falk as he had one race standing between him and the 2009 track championship and although he went into the race with a 20 point lead only needing to finish 11th or better to beat Edwards Jr. for the title, all Falk had on his mind was ending the season with a win. Fortunately for Falk he did just that winning both the pole and the race to clinch his first Late Model Stock track championship by 22 points.

But the season wasn't quite over for Falk there as he still had one race circled on his calendar, that being the Mason Dixon 500 at South Boston Speedway. Falk showed early that he would be a contender for the race win as he was giving South Boston regular Nick Smith a hard challenge
 

for the second position before having the engine go dead due to a loose coil wire. Fortunately for Falk a caution came out at the same time allowing him to visit pit road to fix the issue. But unfortunately, much like Martinsville, Falk would get caught up in a few other on track incidents would relegate him to a disappointing 21st place finish.

No matter which way you look at it you cannot help but be impressed with the season that Falk put together in 2009 racking up 12 total wins and 24 top tens in 29 starts along with the Langley Speedway track championship and finishing second in the Virginia State standings(behind National champ Philip Morris) and seventh in the National standings in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series standings.

CE Falk's 2009 LMSC Season at a Glance ...

Date / Track / Start / Finish
March 21st - South Boston - 3rd / 2nd
April 4th - South Boston - 15th / 4th
April 4th - South Boston - 1st / 2nd
April 11th - Langley - 2nd / 2nd
April 18th - Langley - 1st / 1st
April 25th - Langley - 1st / 1st
May 9th - Langley - Rained Out
May 16th - Langley - 3rd / 2nd
May 23rd - Langley - 2nd / 1st
May 30th - Caraway - 9th / 2nd
June 6th - Langley - 2nd / 1st
June 13th - Motor Mile - 7th / 5th
June 20th - Langley - 2nd / 7th
June 27th - Langley - 3rd / 1st
July 1st - Caraway(Rusty Harpe Memorial 200) - 19th / 12th
July 3rd - South Boston(Bailey's 200) - 6th / 12th
July 11th - Langley(Hampton Heat 200) - 2nd / 2nd
July 18th - Langley - 3rd / 1st
July 25th - Langley - 2nd / 1st
August 1st - South Boston - 3rd / 1st
August 8th - Langley - Rained Out
August 15th - Langley - 4th / 16th
August 29th - Langley - 1st / 1st
August 29th - Langley - 2nd / 1st
September 5th - Langley - 1st / 1st
September 5th - Langley - 2nd / 4th
September 19th - Langley - 6th / 5th
September 26th - Langley - 5th / 2nd
October 4th - Martinsville Heat Race #1 - 2nd / 1st
October 4th - Martinsville(Bailey's 300) - 23rd / 12th
October 10th - Langley - 1st / 1st
October 17th - South Boston(Mason Dixon 500) - 4th / 21st

Langley Statistics - Total Statistics
Starts - 19 Starts - 29
Wins - 11 Wins - 12
Poles - 5 Poles - 6
Top 5s - 17 Top 5s - 23
Top 10s - 18 Top 10s - 24
Avg. Start - 2.4 Avg. Start - 4.7
Avg. Finish - 2.7 Avg. Finish - 2.5