DATE: Monday, August 25, 1997               TAG: 9708250165

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, Staff Writer 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   56 lines

EDWARDS WINS AFTER ROOKIE MISCUE CAUSES BIG TROUBLE

One rookie mistake led to a big-league mess Saturday at Langley Speedway.

A six-car crash at the front of the pack with three laps to go helped Greg Edwards, the only driver among the leaders to escape the wreck, to win the race.

In the 97th lap, Ashton Lewis Jr. had taken the lead from Williams when rookie David Boyd - the points leader among Late Model rookies - pulled back onto the track in front of the leaders after spinning into the infield.

Lewis was sent airborne. He slammed into the wall on turn three and suffered extensive damage.

Phil Warren, closely following the pack, also sustained major damage, though he stayed in the race. Craig Eastep, John Staton and Jason Rudd were also involved in the wreck.Eastep's car sustained the most damage.

Of the front-runners, only Edwards avoided the developing chaos. He led an abbreviated field (only 10 out of the 22 car field was on the track at the end) to an anti-climatic checkered flag.

Clearly, however, the fans' focus was on the crash just three laps before.

``The five car (Boyd) pulled up on the track, I tried to go low to avoid him, and he went low,'' Lewis said. ``We had the race won, no doubt about it. Just like that, we went from a win to a destroyed car.''

``He (Boyd) shouldn't have pulled in front of the leaders like that,'' said Warren, who dropped from third to ninth in the wake of the accident. ``I don't see how he could've thought it was safe to do that. But it's auto racing, and that kind of thing happens.''

Boyd thought track officials had called for a caution.

``Maybe they didn't see me in the grass or something,'' Boyd said. ``When I came back on the track, I saw people driving hard still, and it didn't make any sense to me until it was too late.''

It was a fitting end to a race that had 10 cautions and a spinout that resulted in heavy damage to challenger Mike Buffkin's car, which was hit on the passenger side by Jody McCormick.

Buffkin then clipped the car of Charlie Bryant Jr., who tapped him into the spinout, after coming out of the pits during the caution.

As a result, the points standings are in disarray. Warren actually extended his lead over Buffkin (who finished 15th) to 16 points. Edwards closed the gap on Warren to 74 points.

In Saturday's other races Trevor Falls won his first Grand Stock race of the season in the 40-lap feature.

Division leader Jimmy Adkins won his second straight Pure Stock event, leading from the pole.

Part-time driver Craig Gunn won for the first time this season, leading all 25 laps of the Mini Stock race.

Dale Lemonds won the first 20-lap Legends race of the night, with Roger Sawyer winning the second. A 10-lap shootout was canceled due to lack of interest. MEMO: Results, C7

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