THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 14, 1995 TAG: 9505140165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Phil Warren keeps insisting that his run of victories at Langley Speedway can't go on forever.
But for right now, he keeps proving himself wrong.
Saturday night, Warren locked up in another tight battle with Mike Buffkin, then found the strength in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to drive away to his seventh victory in as many weeks at the track. Warren's only defeat came in the the second of two 75-lap co-features on April 22 - a race won by Buffkin.
Buffkin was Warren's only serious challenger again in Saturday's 150-lap feature, but he quickly admitted afterward that he has more work to do to get his car fast enough to beat Warren.
``I don't know if we can get the car much better, though,'' Buffkin said. ``Maybe it is going to take getting a break to beat him, but that's not how I want to do it.''
Buffkin led twice Saturday, but neither time was he very confident of keeping Warren in his rear-view mirror.
At the start, he jumped ahead of Warren, the pole-sitter, to lead the first 10 laps.
``Just wanted to see if I could do it,'' Buffkin said. ``Then I decided to drop back and save my tires for a run at the end.''
That run began on about the 100th lap as Buffkin sliced through heavy traffic to grab the lead on lap 133.
He stayed in front only three laps, though. When the traffic cleared, Warren drove back to the lead and held firm.
``Nah,'' Buffkin said, ``even when I lead those few laps, I didn't think I could do it.''
Buffkin said it seemed the lapped cars were trying to help him get the win, too, and he still couldn't do it.
``Maybe they are getting tired of Phil winning so much,'' he said, ``because they weren't giving him much of a break.''
Warren also noticed that some lapped cars raced him hard and seemed to give up more easily to Buffkin. But he added that he was never really worried.
``When Mike got the lead there late, he was pinched down in the lapped traffic and had to back off,'' he said.
In the end, Warren said the lapped cars ``probably saved me'' because Buffkin didn't have a chance to root under him.
Buddy Dozier, who set up his car for a strong finish, worked his strategy to finish third, but he didn't have enough to challenge the two leaders. Barry Strathmann also had a strong run to finish fourth.
In other divisions:
Roger Bress of Norfolk extended his domination in the Grand Stock division with his sixth victory in a 40-lap feature. Bress led all the way in the caution-free race.
Points leader Tod Carson of Chesapeake led all 25 laps to win the Limited Stock feature, which also was completed without a caution. It was Carson's fifth win of the season.
Kevin Harrison became the first Mini-Stock driver to win two consecutive races by leading all 25 laps in his feature. It was his third win of the season. Cathy Mosier provided most of the excitement in a duel with Trevor Falls for second. Mosier spun on the backstretch on the final lap while trying to take the position but still salvaged a fourth-place finish.
Pure Stock driver Vince Pope won his third race of the season in a 25-lap feature. by CNB