CANEY, Kan. — Five months ago Blake Edwards raced to what he thought was an AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories at Salina Highbanks Speedway, but was disqualified for not making weight in a post-race inspection.
That was not the case Saturday. Edwards became the 13th different winner of 2023 with his victory Caney Valley Speedway
“We won once this year and got DQ’ed for being five pounds light,” recalled Edwards. “We have had some motor issues, but finally to make it work is the best feeling ever.”
“We were a little snug in the heat race, but we knew it would free up in the feature. The track was fast all night.”
Fred Mattox started outside of Edwards for the start and shot into the early lead. On lap 13 Edwards was able to get around Mattox for the lead and pulled away. Sheldon Barksdale passed Mattox for second on lap 24 leaving Mattox with third at the finish.
“I just made consistent laps and ran a good line and waited for the leader to make a mistake,” Edwards said.
Fourth place turned into a battle for the points lead with Johnny Kent and Danny Wood racing for the spot. Wood took the lead away from Kent last week in the AmeriFlex Challenge. Saturday Kent turned back Wood to finish fourth allowing him to tie Wood for the points lead. Wood was fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17E-Blake Edwards[1]; 2. 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[5]; 3. 26M-Fred Mattox[2]; 4. 55-Johnny Kent[4]; 5. 55W-Danny Wood[10]; 6. 31-Casey Wills[6]; 7. 50Z-Zach Chappell[8]; 8. 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 9. 1T-Joshua Tyre[12]; 10. 12M-Mitchell Barros[13]; 11. 9-Emilio Hoover[15]; 12. 22T-Frank Taft[9]; 13. 5-Joe Bob Lee[11]; 14. 1-Sean McClelland[7]; 15. 2L-Brandon Leland[14]