THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607210232
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 53 lines
The used-car business is booming at Langley Speedway.
For the second straight week, a Late Model Stock driver swapped his regular car for an older one and drove it to victory Saturday night.
This time it was Greg Edwards, who had not won since the second week of the season, dusting off an older model and parking it in Victory Lane, just as Mike Buffkin did a week earlier.
``It's been more than a year since I drove this car here,'' Edwards said.
Edwards jumped ahead of pole-sitter Buffkin on the first lap and then battled his brother Danny the rest of the evening in a 150-lap feature, the longest this year.
Danny Edwards, who has devoted most of this year to his Grand National team, emerged from a tight duel with Buffkin in the final laps to finish second.
Greg Edwards said he decided after a practice session to go with his older car, which generally is used during personal appearances.
``I just was not pleased with the car I had been driving, and the other one was sitting there. We just had to clean out the hot-dog wrappers,'' he quipped.
The Edward brothers were content to run 1-2 most of the race.
``We were just riding because we knew we had to save our tires,'' Danny Edwards said. ``I waited until there was about 25 laps remaining before I tried to push it. But when I picked up the pace, do did Greg.''
Greg Edwards said he didn't worry about his brother doing something foolish to try to make a pass for the lead.
``I knew he wasn't going to wreck me, but I also knew he would race me as hard as he could,'' Greg said Edwards said. ``In fact, I thought early in the race he was pushing me too hard since we still had a long way to go.''
Although Buffkin finished third, he was a big winner in his points battle with defending champion Phil Warren. Warren, who entered the race trailing Buffkin by only eight points, experienced serious handling problems and dropped from the race with 13 laps remaining. He finished 24th.
In other races:
Rhett Bussler rolled to his fourth straight Grand Stock victory in a 40-lap feature. Bussler led the final 26 laps after taking the lead from pole-sitter Trevor Falls, who finished second. Rick Hester, who suffered a heart attack following last Saturday's race, watched from the grandstands.
Limited Stock driver Jerry Scott won his eighth feature of the season and closed within four points of division leader Paul Lubno, who finished second. Scott led all 25 laps.
Mini Stock driver Glenn Smith II won his first feature of the season by leading all 25 laps. Mark Wertz was second. Points leader Joe Lupton, who started at the rear of the field, finished third. Rookie Jeff Falk, who had won the previous two events, did not compete.
Gary Ferber led all 25 lap to win his third Pure Stock feature.
Sean Hess won both halves of a 20-lap Super-Mini Trucks feature. by CNB