Story by: Mark Rogers, Jr. ~ [email protected]

Hampton, VA(May 21, 2012)If you thought that CE Falk was on a roll and possible considered being unstoppable at Langley Speedway, well it sure looked that way until just last Saturday night.

Falk, before the nights racing began sported an 8 point lead in the standings over Greg Edwards. No it doesn’t hand a 4th straight track championship to the young Va Beach, Va native but in case of a mechanical failure, the impact wouldn’t be as bad. If CE Falk could win the scheduled Twin 50s for that night, that lead would expand to who knows what, barring any misfortunes for Greg Edwards. But on this night, all fortunes would change for CE Falk in his drive for 4 consecutive track championships.

To the delight of over 4000+ fans and military personnel on hand beard witness to arguably the hottest rivalry in Late Models going today. Door to door, beating and banging short track action at its absolute best. The way that fans expect determined race car drivers to be on every lap whose ultimate goal is to win. CE Falk and Greg Edwards did just that. But it’s what took place in the tech garage at Langley Speedway that overshadowed a great night of racing. Now, im going to tell you that I am no race mechanic, not going to even pretend but maybe you are. I don’t have a full understanding of the rules and how it’s perceived and interpreted either but, maybe you are. What is definite here is CE Falk was stripped and disqualified after winning both features.

According to track officials, the truck arm bushings on the car of CE Falk failed post race inspection. Rules say that both right and left truck arms must be the same. Supposedly the bushings that CE was using were made from rubber while others use monoballs. Fortunately I was able to speak with CE Falk in hopes of an explanation. Falk says the bushings on his truck arms are ones that anyone could have bought at there local Napa auto parts store. What was more interesting to me was his comment that those same bushings were used at South Boston Speedway for The Danville Toyota 300. When in fact, according to Falk at that race, those same bushings sat on a work bench for nearly 3 hours in front of tech officials from Motormile, South Boston and…Langley Speedway.

Falk also said that the bushings in question were used for the first time at Langley Speedway. I then asked the 3 time track champion could we expect an appeal of some sorts at which he said there was no interest at the time. However, CE expressed concerns of rule interpretations and that there needs to be a clear cut definitive definition. Here’s another argument that gets interesting and deserves some clarification. Mind you now, im no rule book scholar here but how do you strip a win away from a race that was declared official earlier on in the night. For CE Falk that’s just what happened and as a result, being DQ’d from both features all but eliminate Falk from being the first 4 time consecutive champion.

Now if your left wondering about his National title chances, well, its not totally lost but those two wins would have been very useful in that quest. The point’s series requires your 18 best finishes in winning the point’s race or the first to accumulate 810 points. So with that being said, yes he can still win it but giving away a week of racing at some capacity will hurt CE Falk’s chances. In further discussions with CE, the one question that I was afraid to ask but asked anyway, will you (CE Falk) and EF Motorsports return to Langley Speedway? After a brief pause, CE responded…”Mark, I just don’t know, I guess there’s a chance”.

Now this is just my opinion and maybe you’ll agree. With no chance to win a 4th title and low car counts at Langley Speedway for a national title. Does it make sense for CE Falk to travel to, say like Motor Mile where car counts are typically higher? Especially if brother Wesley Falk goes with him, not to mention to do weekly battles with standout Late Model driver Lee Pulliam. You think rival Greg Edwards is a tough foe we’ll you ought to have seen Sobo May 12th’s event between Falk and Pulliam. While I must concede that the conversation with Falk exposed some more light on the situation with his DQ, it sure made me feel that Falk is looking into doing what is best for his race team and his career. Hopefully for Langley Speedway race fans, will all get to see more of that classic Falk vs Greg Edwards racing for the lead.