BUFFALO TWP - Chuck Kennedy waited too long to settle for third.

"I was gonna go for it," the third-year Late Model driver said. "And it just stuck."

Kennedy jammed his foot to the floor on Turn 4 of the final lap of Friday night's Late Model Feature at Lernerville Speedway, caught the low groove and nipped Bob Wearing, Jr. at the finish line.

It marked the first career dirt Late Model victory for the 45-year-old Mars driver and the 22nd Lernerville feature win of his 25-year racing career.

Kennedy had won 19 Pure Stock features, one E-Mod feature and one Semi-Late Model feature at the Sarver track before adding a Late Model win to the list.

He has also won two Late Model features on asphalt at Motordrome Speedway. Kennedy is in his third year of driving Art Osmer's No. 6A Late Model.

"I'm thrilled for him," Osmer said. "He's the only 250-pound man in this place whose feet aren't touching the ground right now."

Kennedy drew the pole for the race and maintained the lead for 16 laps despite seven re-starts.

"I felt all along it was my race to lose," Kennedy said. "It was mine unless I did something stupid … Then I did something stupid."

Kennedy missed his line on Turn 2 of the 18th lap, allowing Wearing and Zelienople's John Flinner to slip past him.

He appeared headed for a third-place finish entering the final lap. Then all three cars came around Turn 3 together.

"I was thinking, third place is OK," Kennedy said. "But I didn't want to settle for it. I hadn't pushed the car as hard as I could before then, so I decided to take a shot."

The shot worked - by approximately 10 inches. Wearing saw a photo of the finish.

"I thought I had it," Wearing said. "Chuckie got me, though. He was good on the bottom … I followed him there for a while and realized I wasn't gonna get him, so I tried the top.

"You have to hit that top cushion just right to carry the momentum. I missed it by a few inches on that final turn and that was the difference.

"I was hoping to win, but I'll take second. It was a great race and Chuck deserved it," Wearing added.

Flinner started from the 16th spot and charged into second before settling for third.

"I screwed up a couple of times, being too cautious," Flinner said. "I didn't want to tear my car up. I guess I should have tried harder.

"Chuck ran a hard, clean race. He kept his groove. He should have won a few times before this. He's finally getting more aggressive and aggressiveness wins races."

Kennedy's win was the 99th feature triumph of his career overall.

"This feels awesome," Kennedy said. "I mean, Bobby Wearing and I watch our kids race go-karts together on Sunday. We come out here Friday night and race as friends. It's just a blast."

Kennedy finished second to Alex Ferree in the Late Model feature here two weeks ago. He finished third and fourth in features at Latrobe Speedway the past two weeks.

"I could see this coming," Osmer said. "This is an eight-year-old car and it's the fourth feature we've run with the same back tires. Most of these cars change tires after every race.

"We just race with the money we make from racing and the money hasn't been there. This win tonight is a tribute to Chuck Kennedy."

In other features Friday night:

Rod George of Kittanning started sixth, grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Arnie Kent on the fourth lap and cruised to his first Sprint win of the year at Lernerville.

It was George's fourth win overall this year - two at Mercer, one at Tri-City - and his 26th career win at Lernerville.

"There were a lot of cautions and they kept giving me open track," George said. "It feels like three years since I won here."

Jack Sodeman, Jr. of Butler finished second - his best finish this year - and Ralph Spithaler of Evans City finished third after winning his heat race.

"We started third and finished third," Spithaler said. "I feel like I made some mistakes that cost me second, but I'll take this."

Ed Lynch, Jr. broke out a new car Friday, but broke a drive shaft during his heat race. He started the feature from the back and finished fifth.

Jim Weller, Jr., started up front in the Modified feature and won it when he passed Kevin Bolland on the final turn of the final lap.

Bolland led the race from Laps 2-19. Pole-sitter Brian Swartzlander finished third.

Weller has two wins at Lernerville this season and 27 victories in his career there.

Joe Kelley started up front and led the Pure Stock feature from wire-to-wire. It was his third win at the Sarver track this season.

The win was the 20th of Kelley's career at Lernerville and places him alone in fourth place on the track's all-time Pure Stock victory list.

Notes:

There were 101 cars in the pits. … Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township, sitting on 99 career Lernerville feature wins, was scheduled to start in the front row of the Late Model feature. He lost a support bar on the rear end of the car earlier in the evening, however, and could not start the feature. … Wayne Carbo of Mars rolled his new No. 54 Pure Stock during his heat race, bringing out the red flag. Carbo was unhurt.