Falk, Babb win doubles
Published 8:22 pm Wednesday, June 12, 2013
By Gary Daughtrey
Special to the News-Herald
C.E. Falk notched his fifth and sixth wins of the season, sweeping the Twin 63s for the Late Model Stock Cars class, the headline events of Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program at Langley Speedway on Saturday.
Looking to rebound from last week’s last-lap disappointment, Nick Smith nabbed the pole for the opener, at 91.230 mph, and led the first 42 circuits.
Falk took command on lap 43, just after a restart, and quickly pulled away by four lengths. Nearing the finish, though, Smith began to narrow the gap. Falk and Smith dueled nose-to-tail during the final handful of laps, with Falk holding on for the one-length win.
Greg Edwards, Matt Waltz and Terry Carroll were third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the nightcap, Falk led 62 of 63 laps from the pole to nail down his second win of the night.
While Falk showed the way, Waltz moved up to second in the early going, then battled into the lead on lap 15. The pass left Waltz with significant body damage, however, and Falk retook the top spot on lap 16. Waltz was eventually forced to pit for repairs.
With Waltz out of contention, second place passed to Smith. Between laps 28 and 51, the race was interrupted by five caution flags as the pit area began to fill up. On each restart, Falk was able to hold Smith at bay, pulling away near the end to win by three lengths.
Smith was the runner-up, followed by Carroll, Dude Gibbs and Jeff Shiflett.
Robbie Babb led all 60 laps on the way to his fifth and sixth victories of the season in Twin 30s for the Modifieds class. He earned the pole for the first event, qualifying at 89.841 mph.
Last week’s winner, Jimmy Humblet, posed a test for Babb until lap 19, when he dropped off the pace and headed for the pits. At the finish, Babb was the winner by four lengths over Matt Slye.
Shawn Balluzzo came from the back of the pack to take third, followed by Anthony Kincaid and Mike Rudy.
Thanks to his win in the first race, Babb also started the second race from the pole. Balluzzo took over second on the start and slowly reeled in Babb during the first 19 laps, drawing to within a couple of car lengths.
Caution flags on laps 20 and 24 blunted Balluzzo’s charge, however, and he dropped to fourth on the final restart.
At the checkers, Babb won by four lengths over Slye. Scott Lawrence was third, while Balluzzo and Rudy rounded out the top five.