THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408140174
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: THEY CALL IT THE ``ACTION TRACK OF THE SOUTH.''LENGTH: Medium: 57
Warren came out the victor after the duo fought door-to-door for the last quarter of the race.
Buddy Malish, who started on the pole, lost his bid to retake the points lead from Warren with a third-place finish. Danny Edwards Jr. was fourth, and his brother, Greg, rounded out the top five.
Sawyer enjoyed Saturday's side-by-side racing almost as much as last week's duel with Eddie Johnson, except for the outcome. Sawyer earned his fifth victory of the season last week.
``This was just as much fun, but not as sweet,'' Sawyer said.
``It seemed the harder Phil ran his car, the better it got, whereas the harder we ran, the looser we got. I think if we had been out front, he might have had a hard time catching us.''
Warren dominated the race after taking the lead from Malish on lap 30. But when Johnson spun out between turns 1 and 2 to bring out the fourth and final caution on lap 75, things changed.
Sawyer clung to Warren's bumper on the restart and dove low in turn 4 on lap 76 to bid for the lead. Warren wouldn't budge, and by lap 83 Sawyer was loosening up a bit in the corners.
Sawyer backed off just a bit and set up for another try. He made his final attempt on lap 93, moving down to the apron in turn 4. The two touched just slightly.
``After that I had heated up the right rear tire so much I had to back off,'' Sawyer said. ``Then we just didn't have time to catch him.''
Warren, who maintains a 12-point lead over Malish (390-378), said he didn't think the car ran all that well during practice.
``All day I had complained about the car,'' Warren said. ``Once the race started, it was running great. We just hoped we could get out there and lead the race if we could and hold on.
``(Sawyer) raced me a real clean race out there.''
In Saturday's other races:
Cathy Mosier gained her second victory of the season as she held off Jim Adkins in the 25-lap Mini-Stock race.
Charlie Bryant Jr. outdueled Kevin Adams to win his seventh victory in the Limited Stock extra-distance (50-laps) feature.
Roger Bress extended his points lead over John Hicks as he edged Robert Dozier in the 40-lap Grand Stock race. The triumph was Bress' fourth of the season.
Chris Mull led from pole to flag for his seventh win of the season in the 20-lap Pure Stock event.
The second and final round of the pit-crew competition was held Saturday. Balluzzo's crew entered the second round with nearly a seven-second lead on Craig Eastep's crew. Balluzzo's crew put in another speedy performance with a 24.84-second stop to win the competition. by CNB