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Slick track, slick racing

Drivers adapt to conditions at Lernerville

BUFFALO TWP — The track was slick. So was the racing.

The Late Model, Modified and Sprint features produced only two caution flags between them Friday night on a chilly evening at Lernerville Speedway. Both yellow lights came on during the Sprint event.

“The (Pittsburgh) Penguins could have played out there tonight, it was so slippery,” Sprint driver Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo said.

“It was too slick,” Late Model driver Alex Ferree of Saxonburg said. “We had the first feature and the track was slicked off like it was the third or fourth feature of the night.”

Lynch and Ferree drove that line effectively, however, winning their respective feature events. Lynch became the first two-time winner of the season at Lernerville, coming from the 10th starting spot to do so.

He took advantage of the second caution of the evening — on the 17th lap — to get around Brandon Matus off Turn 2 to grab the lead. He was unchallenged from there in securing his 110th career Sprint win at the Sarver oval.

Ferree began the Late Model feature from the fourth spot, taking the lead from Sarver’s Ken Schaltenbrand on the third lap. He was never challenged from there.

Only Ferree didn’t know it.

“I was stuck behind two lapped cars with nowhere to go,” he said. “I kept waiting for Kenny to pull up alongside of me.”

Schaltenbrand finished a distant second, barely holding off a hard-charging Jared Miley for the runner-up spot. Miley was a full second faster than any car on the track during the race’s latter stages.

“Last week we didn’t need any cautions and we got a bucket full,” Miley said. “Tonight, we needed one and didn’t get any. That’s the way it goes.”

Schaltenbrand admitted a restart would not have helped him overtake Ferree.

“I had nothing coming out of the corners,” he said. “We were just racing for position.”

After watching sons Rex Jr. and Russell win their respective features last week, Rex King Sr. found victory lane in the Modified feature Friday.

Brian Swartzlander, Lernerville’s all-time Modified feature win leader, started up front and led for the first half of the race before King overtook him. King started from the fourth spot.

“My car was good for the first half of the race,” Swartzlander said. “Then I could feel it get a little loose and Rex got around me.

“Rex was definitely the better car in the second half of the race. We’ll go home with second place and try to get better for next week.”

Corey McPherson won the Sportsman Stock feature, leading from wire to wire. The race had three cautions in the first two laps, none afterward. Butler’s Aaron Easler finished second.

Notes: There were 63 cars in the pits. ... Ferree’s win was his 30th career Late Model feature triumph at Lernerville. ... The All-Star Sprints run at Lernerville next Friday with Fab Four racing returning May 8.

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