By Gary Daughtrey
Special to the News-Herald

HAMPTON — Points leader C.E. Falk picked up his eighth and ninth wins of the season, sweeping the Saint Leo University Twin 75s for the Crossroads Fuel Service Late Model Stock Cars Saturday evening at Langley Speedway.

Danny Edwards Jr. set the pace in afternoon qualifying, circling the track at 88.197 mph.

On lap 2, Falk surged ahead ahead of Danny Edwards Jr. and his brother Greg, going to the bottom of the track as the leaders went three-deep in Turn 4.

On lap 7, Rick Gdovic slipped under Greg Edwards in a bid for second. He nosed ahead at the end of the circuit. The shuffle allowed Falk to pad his lead to half a straightaway. At the halfway mark, Falk was up by three lengths over Gdovic.

The third caution flag waved on lap 43 for Dean Shiflett’s spin in Turn 3. Arriving on the scene, Falk was nicked by Shiflett’s machine, causing an anxious moment. The leader was unscathed, though.

Returning to green, Falk and Philip Morris, the two national title contenders, faced off door-to-door. Falk retained the lead, while Morris settled into second, just ahead of Gdovic.

The complexion of the event took a wild turn on lap 72 when Falk, Morris and Gdovic ran up behind slower traffic. While Falk easily swung to the high side and bypassed the slower cars, Morris plowed into the back of Jeff Shiflett off Turn 4, collecting Gdovic.

One more lap was in the books when the fifth, and final, yellow flag waved.

Under green for the last time, Falk quickly established a bit of breathing room between himself and Greg Edwards. By the finish, the gap had grown to 0.796-second — about four car-lengths.

The lineup for the second 75-lapper was determined by the finishing order of the first race. Falk and Edwards dueled over to Turn 2 with Falk grabbing the upper hand as they motored onto the backstretch for the first time.

The race was interrupted by two late caution flags, at laps 71 and 74.

The event ended with a “green-white-checkered” finish. As the green flag waved, Falk fashioned a two-length edge over Eddie Johnson and held that advantage to the conclusion, winning by 0.379-second.

“What a rocketship the 40 car was. It’s a little battered and bruised, but she drove sweet that second race. That was awesome,” Falk said.

Falk heads into August with a 20-point lead over Greg Edwards in the series standings, 640-620.

In the evening’s other featured events:

The KeesVacations.com Modifieds also ran twin events — a pair of 25-lappers. The Mods produced a new winner as Mark Slye pulled off the twinbill sweep.

Shawn Balluzzo tried to rally on the white-flag circuit, but came up short as Slye held on to win by 0.398-second.

While the opener ran caution-free, the nightcap got off to a rocky start with two yellow flags before the first lap was in the books.

Balluzzo nosed ahead to lead lap 1, only to see Slye rally on lap 2 and take the lead for good.

At the finish, Slye was the winner by 0.476-second — about three lengths — over Balluzzo.

In the 40-lap Pepsi Grand Stock race, Ricky Derrick took the lead for good on the 27th circuit and pulled away for his third victory of the year.

In the 25-lap Cycle City Corp. INEX Legends feature, which was a national qualifying race, Steve Keesee slipped by Brad Hancock off the final corner to bag his second victory of the season.

In a 20-lap national qualifier for the CBX Modular Homes INEX Bandoleros, Trevor Hawkins snagged the lead on lap 19 and rolled to his second win of the year.

Longtime Langley competitor Albert Falk started on the pole and led all 20 laps for his first win in the Rhonnda Claiborne, Realtor HRKC Pro Winged Champ Kart feature.