Greg Edwards continued his winning ways this past Saturday night, picking up his second and third wins on the young race season at Langley Speedway.
The wins probably carried a little extra meaning for Edwards as a strong cast of regulars, which included two-time NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Lee Pulliam, were on hand to knock off the 2014 track champion. Pulliam’s first visit to Langley Speedway quickly got off on the wrong foot during a Friday afternoon practice session when after posting some really fast laps. Pulliam’s engine expired sending his race team packing and making a 10 hour round trip back to engine builder Don Kowalski’s engine shop located in Rustberg, Virginia. Committed to compete as they were with a repaired power plant, Lee Pulliam proved determined that he was there to win at Langley Speedway.
Coming into the nights racing was the performance of Greg Edwards where just two weeks ago, he led wire to wire to kick of the season opener. This season for the first time since the track was repaved, the track went back to the Hoosier F-45s on the right side of the cars where the tire was virtually untested in competition. Many teams struggled and were eager to get back at it, with Lee Pulliam competing, beating him would certainly be special for the Langley regulars. Action got underway with the afternoon time trials featuring fifteen hot rods taking time. Continuing his assault of the .395 mile oval was Greg Edwards claiming his second pole of the year. His lap at 15.901 seconds or 89.428 mph was slightly better than Lee Pulliam’s 15.977 lap making up a very impressive front row to start the twin 65’s. Tyler Hughes who finished second to Edwards in the season opener earned the three spot on the grid followed by the runs of Nick Smith and Connor Hall to complete the five best.
The green flag waved for the first of two 65 lap features which honors the sixty five years of racing at Langley Speedway. Pole sitter Greg Edwards wasted no time reminding the field who was boss by securing the point. Lee Pulliam also wasted no time showing why he was there and who he was going after the leader before giving way and getting back in line. The brief battle allowed Tyler Hughes to sneak underneath Pulliam and gain position along with the upper hand forcing Pulliam to the third spot. Several laps into the race, Hughes and Pulliam collapsed Edwards’ lead before Pulliam made another run at Hughes. But then, misfortunes for Tyler Hughes as he and Pulliam got together to bring out the first caution of the race. Hughes would not be able to continue ending his race far too early. Back to green and Edwards cleared to secure the point with Pulliam in tow. Making moves on back was Brenden Queen along with Mark Wertz in the top five.
After a quick look underneath of the leader, it would be as close as Pulliam would get to Edwards before the leader hit the afterburners and mounted a sizable lead. On back, Wertz picked up a couple of spots before the checkers waved as did Connor Hall. But when it was all settled, Greg Edwards crossed the stripe first followed in by Lee Pulliam in a second place effort. Mark Wertz, Brenden Queen and Connor Hall rounded out the five best. Other notables were efforts by Nick Smith in sixth and Danny Edwards Jr in seventh.
The starting grid was made up in how they finished the first feature giving Greg Edwards the pole once again. Edwards in Victory Lane believed he may have run over something earlier and expressed concerns at a possible vibration. Pulliam’s team made adjustments and felt good going into the second race. In an act of understanding and support of point racing, Dean Shiflett loaned his ride to Tyler Hughes to start and park as Hughes is committed to the points race. Tyler Hughes was involved in a wreck in race one as it’s always great to see and hear race teams supporting each other in Late Model racing when they can.
The green flag waved and like a shot from a canon, Greg Edwards took off with Pulliam chasing from behind. No sooner thing get settled in, the race experienced its first caution with a big wreck including the likes of Duane Shreeves, Macy Causey and Cameron Bowen. Both Bowen and Causey were in a tight battle for Rookie of the year points but unfortunately, both would have to retire from competition.
It was a lap five restart and once again, Pulliam chose the outside to test Edwards and his strength on race restarts. Edwards, like before, made quick work of Pulliam who now had his hands full of Brenden Queen. As Queen lost the battle for second, he would soon be involved in the race’s second caution with Danny Edwards Jr ending the night for Danny who was beginning his march toward the front. Queen survived the wreck and was able to motor on with need for a correction of the front toe on his ride. Green waved again and the leader, Greg Edwards, quickly established the lead with Pulliam once again starring at the rear bumper of the leader. On back, Michael Hardin joined the action of the top five as things settle in single file.
Several laps went by as the leader at this point is in control and unchallenged. Pulliam would try to maintain pace but even in lap traffic, couldn’t slow down Greg Edwards but the race’s last caution would. This time Terry Carroll came to a stop setting up a lap 49 restart and possibly the last chance to knock off Edwards from the point. Green flag once again and this time Pulliam chose the inside of Edwards giving way to Mark Wertz taking the outside of Edwards. In the best action of the night, Wertz and Edwards battled door to door for the lead. After Edwards gained the upper hand, Wertz took one last shot at the leader giving him a shove out of turn four but Greg Edwards held on and escaped with the lead. While Edwards drove off, Pulliam would eventually overtake Wertz for second and then soon after the checkered flag waved with Greg Edwards crossing the stripe first. Lee Pulliam, Connor Hall, Mark Wertz and Brenden Queen rallied from being a lap down to finish fifth.
Greg Edwards certainly has the upper hand right now around Langley Speedway. Winning three straight clearly defines him and his race team as the ones to beat. For Lee Pulliam, it will have to be another time to add Langley Speedway to his resume of winning race tracks. Give him his due, he’ll go almost anywhere to race in the Mid-Atlantic region and to his credit, add Langley Speedway to the list of tracks he has performed well at. No doubt, Pulliam will be back. For the Langley regulars it was another weekend and for some, made a few gains. Langley Speedway’s Late Model program will be off for several weeks before taking the track on May 9th when twin 65’s highlight the evening.
