After a disappointing engine failure the week before and losing ground to current points leader Greg Edwards. Matt Waltz regrouped in this week’s effort, beating a 17 car field in a 125 lap event giving Waltz his fifth victory of 2014 and gaining back much of the points he lost the week before.
Returning were some of Langley Speedways Late Model heavyweights in 5 time track champion Danny Edwards Jr and 2009 Hampton Heat winner Woody Howard. Also making his debut at Langley was Brandon Atkinson who has had success at Hickory Motor Speedway and with a strong field of Langley Speedway regulars, the stage was set for local short track racing at its finest.
Action began in time trials and claiming another pole was Greg Edwards sporting a lap of 15.921 seconds or 89.316 mph, just one hundredths of a second quicker than Matt Waltz’s fast lap. Also making a statement in their laps was Nick Smith, Brenden Queen and Woody Howard who if not for a spin on his second qualifying lap may have fared better but good enough to start fifth. Other notables were Casey Wyatt, Mark Wertz and failing to mention earlier was Michael Hardin in his return to Langley Speedway. The green flag waved and it wasn’t long for Greg Edwards secured the point leaving 16 other hot rods chasing after him. Door to door racing ensued immediately as Matt Waltz and Nick Smith battle for second was still to be determined as on lap five of the event our first caution waved for a spin in turn three for JT Jackson.
Back under green, once again Edwards set sail as Waltz and Smith battled side by side for second. Suddenly after a wiggle out of turn two, Smith went around the wrong way with a tire going down. Several laps later and a few cautions more, things got real interesting for the leaders. After a lap 34 restart, Edwards and Waltz would battle for the lead. What has been a highly contested question on this fairly new track surface was if there was grip on the outside groove. Waltz may have answered that question as he would take the cone restart to the outside and for the moment have the upper hand on the restart. But suddenly, there was slight contact between Edwards and Waltz on the backstretch sending Edwards into the grass and around he would go. Edwards reported the toe knocked out and was never was a factor after the caution.
Back to green flag racing now and making gains was Woody Howard in second, Brenden Queen third and Casey Wyatt in fourth. Perhaps the best battle came between Queen and Wyatt for third as the two was door to door for several laps before Queen was able to hold off Wyatt’s charge. Back up front and a few more cautions later, Matt Waltz would hold off any attempts at the point and as lap one twenty five went up on the board. Crossing the stripe first with Woody Howard in a stellar performance of his own in second, Matt Waltz easily won his fifth race at Langley Speedway. Brenden Queen, Casey Wyatt and Mark Wertz completed the top five of the event. NWAAS Late Model action at Langley Speedway takes the next weekend off as the K&N East Series comes to town, twin 75s are scheduled for June 28th.
