THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090209
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Phil Warren grabbed his second straight win Saturday night thanks to a disappearing act by Greg Edwards near the end of the 100-lap Late Model Stock feature at Langley Speedway.
Pole-sitter Warren lost the lead to Edwards, who started on the outside of row 1, on lap 21 and finally reclaimed it on lap 86 after a lengthy battle.
After Warren completed the pass, Buddy Malish, who had worked his way back from an earlier scuffle with Danny Edwards Jr. to third place, tried to take advantage of Greg Edwards' high position on the track and move into second.
Malish tagged Greg Edwards' door and sent him spinning going into turn 2. Both cars ended up sideways to bring out the eighth and final caution of the night and leave Warren clear to run away with a half-a-track-length triumph.
``I don't really know what happened,'' said Warren, the track's defending late model stock car champion. ``I just know he disappeared.
``I don't know if I could have beat him if I hadn't made the move when I did.''
Ashton Lewis Jr. avoided trouble to record a career-best second-place finish. Buddy Dozier was third, followed by Charlie Bryant Jr. and Jimmy Humbolt.
While Warren and Greg Edwards ran their own race well ahead of the pack, several wars were waged for the third spot.
On lap 19, Mike Buffkin and Malish raced door-to-door into turn 1, with Danny Edwards Jr. right behind them. Buffkin had the low line heading into turn 2. Malish ran out of the groove and went spinning. Buffkin edged onto the backstretch clean, but Danny Edwards Jr. and Malish drove over each other's wheels and into the grass.
Both cars pitted, and Danny Edwards Jr. finally retired several laps later, but Malish returned after a couple of pit stops under the caution and worked his way back through the field.
Buffkin survived another near disaster on lap 52.
Running in fourth, Barry Strathmann was gunning to take the third spot away from Terry Harris heading into turn 3 but lost control of the car with fifth-place Buffkin right on his rear bumper. Buffkin again escaped unscathed and took over the third spot four laps later only to fall way back with a cut tire on lap 72.
In other events:
Roger Bress made the pass of the night to claim his second straight win in the 40-lap Grand Stock race.
After losing the lead on lap 5, Bress stayed in third - behind Jim Kenney and John Hicks - until lap 35, when he reeled leader Kenney in.
Bress hugged Kenney's bumper and looked to be having trouble with lapped traffic, but he solved the problem coming out of turn 4 on lap 38 by splitting the lapped cars and Kenney. The cars exited the turn three-wide with Bress coming out on top.
Pole-sitter Vince Pope took the green flag and never looked back as he coasted to victory in the Pure Stock 25-lap feature.
Kevin Adams took the lead on lap 24 of the Limited Stock 25-lap race and edged last week's winner Tod Carson, who caught got behind lapped traffic on the last lap.
Defending Mini-Stock track champion Kevin Harrison cruised to his first win of the season in the 25-lap event. Last week's winner, Jim Adkins, swapped places with third-place finisher Chris Weatherford twice in the final two laps, but hung on for second. by CNB