DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707180831

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BRIAN J. FRENCH

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

AUTO RACING ROUNDUP

As the Langley season nears the halfway mark, the track's last two champions are the leading candidates for this year's crown. 1996 champion Mike Buffkin - despite failing to win a pole this year - moved back into first place after last week's third-place finish. Phil Warren - who ran away with the title in 1995 - started last week's event on the pole but fell to sixth, dropping him four points behind Buffkin. Danny Edwards Jr. had taken over the top spot after the July 5 race, but didn't race at Langley last week. Instead, he raced in the Busch Grand National race at Myrtle Beach, S.C., one of three Grand Nationals he'll run this season. Edwards finished 30th after qualifying eighth. He will likely race in Saturday night's feature. Warren, while trailing Buffkin at Langley, is in first place at Southampton Motor Speedway, putting Warren in position to have a chance to win titles at two tracks in the same season. Warren has 336 points at Southampton Motor Speedway, 134 points ahead of Shawn Balluzzo, who is in 13th place at Langley. SOUTHAMPTON Allison Legacy Series will make area debut tonight

Tonight's program at the Capron track is highlighted by the area debut of the Allison Legacy Racing Series.

The ALRS - a national touring division in its second full season - uses 3/4-scale Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Ford Thunderbird replicas. The cars, built by Allison Brothers Race Cars in Salisbury, N.C., are powered by 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engines made by Mazda.

NASCAR vice president Jim France and Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell are participants in the series.They are expected to take part in tonight's race. DIXIELAND Budweiser All-Stars posting biggest 1st-place prize

The Budweiser All-Stars division is posting its biggest first-place prize of the year tonight at Dixieland Speedway. The winner of the 75-lap feature will receive $1,200.

David Pierce leads the division with 248 points, 20 ahead of area racing legend James Bray. Steve Steeley, who holds a series-best five wins, is third. The closest race? The B-Bombers division, where Gary Kelley holds a two-point lead on Danny Powell. BRIEFLY Locals do well in Dinwiddie

Area drivers accounted for three wins and four runner-up finishes last weekend at the Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie. Chesapeake's Brian Craddock won the Street A series race July 11 with an elapsed time of 12.14 seconds. Ernie Hacker of Virginia Beach won the July 12 Super Pro series feature with a time of 8.65, and Eddie Cherry posted an 12-second time in the Sportsman race. . . . New Langley leader Mike Buffkin is fourth in the Winston Racing Series Atlantic Seaboard standings. Summerville (S.C.) Speedway's Allen Chinners Jr. - winner of all 12 of the track's Late Model races - remains comfortably in first. . . . The two-week suspensions of Mike Shearin and Speck Edwards likely will have little effect on the Late Model points race at Southampton. Neither driver is in the top 10. . . . Owners of radio stations WGH AM and FMgot a good return on their investment at Langley last week. Greg Edwards' car, sponsored by Eagle 97, won the Late Model race.

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