Staff report

With NASCAR mainstay Geoff Bodine forced to retire to 15th with an overheated engine, Anthony Warren roared to his second consecutive Craftsman Late Model 75 victory Saturday in NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series racing at Hampton’s Langley Speedway.

Just after the race kicked off, half the care got entangled in a pileup just over the starting line, as Casey Wyatt failed to come up to speed at the drop of the green flag. Bobby Spivey, Jimmy Adkins, Jeff Sampson, Nick Smith and Kevin Harrison were knocked out of the race.

After a long cleanup, Mark Wertz took the lead, with Shawn Balluzzo right behind him. Warren, in third, passed Balluzzo on lap 11 and took the lead on 23.

After a caution flag, Wertz roared back into first, only to lose it back to Warren on lap 30. Greg Edwards got past Wertz on lap 35. After one last caution flag waved, Warren took a two-length lead and extended it to three by the time the checkered flag dropped.

&uot;Yeah, the darn engine overheated and we apologize to everyone,&uot; Bodine said, &uot;but those things happen in the business. Hopefully, I’ll get back here and try this again. Short-track racing, there’s nothing like it.&uot;

In Super 8 Grand Stock racing, Dean Shifflet also got his second straight victory, taking the lead from Ryan Nester on the 14th lap and racing all the way to the end. Richard Ellis followed suit, snaring his second-straight victory in U-Car battles.

Smith continued to dominate Legends racing, recovering from his Late Model crash to win his fifth race of the year. Though Cameron Patrick held the lead as late as lap 22, Smith took back the top spot for the last three go-rounds.