BUFFALO TWP - Four checkered flags, two drivers - one memorable night.

Jim Weller Jr. and Jim Weller III became the third father-son combination ever to win feature races on the same night Friday at Lernerville Speedway.

The elder Weller claimed the Modified feature for his third win here this season, while his 18-year-old son picked up his first career Sprint feature victory. Both drivers had won their respective heat races earlier in the evening.

"I figured this day would come at some point, but this year? No way," Jim Weller Jr. said. "But Jimmy's been doing a great job.

"The first month and a half of the season he was driving a Sprint car. During the last month and a half, he's been racing a Sprint car. There's a big difference," he added.

Lou and Dale Blaney, Bob Wearing Sr. and Bob Wearing Jr. are the only other father-son combos to win on the same night at Lernerville. The Wearings were the last to do so in 1993.

Jim Weller III raced a Modified during his first two years on the track before switching to his No. 23 Sprint car this season.

"I've dreamed of this day since I was a little kid," Jim Weller III said. "I've always envisioned winning on the same night my father did.

"The way it happened - my first win - I can't believe it," he added.

Father and son earned their victories Friday.

Jim Weller III started sixth in the Sprint feature but jumped into the lead by the second lap. Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo, Lernerville's record-holder in career Sprint feature wins, couldn't avoid an opening-lap accident on the first turn and had to tail the field.

By the time the race restarted on the seventh lap, Lynch was fifth. He passed Rod George for second on the 19th lap, but Weller was way out in front of him.

As Weller rounded the final turn of the final lap, Terry Bowser's No. 59 spun out, forcing a two-lap restart.

Two lapped cars were placed between Weller and Lynch. As Weller headed for the third turn on the final lap this time, Bowser's No. 59 flipped so badly that a front portion of the car was sheered off.

Complaining of neck pain, Bowser was taken from the track on a stretcher and flown to Allegheny General Hospital as a precaution.

Another two-lap restart was ordered - this time with Lynch's No. 2L placed directly behind Weller.

"It was nerve-wracking," Weller said. "I felt like I had to beat him three times."

And he did, easily staying in front of Lynch for the remainder of the race.

"I had nothing for him," Lynch said. "I used up my tires working my way back through the field.

"I had nowhere to go on that first lap. The accident took up the whole track. I don't understand how I can keep passing cars, a yellow comes out and they put those cars back in front of me. I've raced here my whole life and I still don't understand the scoring system.

"I'm upset about that, but I'm really happy for Jim. We've run side by side during heat races at other tracks. He's coming on and he earned this one. That's how you like to see it," Lynch added.

Weller Jr. said that beating out Lynch adds to his son's victory.

"Win a Modified race over the years and everyone asked where Lou Blaney finished," Weller Jr. said. "Win a Sprint race and everyone asks where Ed Lynch finished.

"Ed's the king of the Sprint division around here, that's for sure."

While Weller Jr. doesn't have to contend with Blaney anymore, he did have to contend with Kevin Bolland.

The New Brighton driver of the No. 777 car was bidding for his fourth feature win in as many Fridays at Lernerville. Weller started third and moved into the lead on the second lap.

Bolland started 12th and moved into second place during a ninth-lap restart. Bolland had beaten Weller to the checkered flag last week.

Bolland made a late move on Weller during the final lap, but Weller beat him to the finish line by less than a car length.

In other action:

Dave Spangler of Butler started the Pure Stock feature on the pole and led wire to wire for his first career feature win.

Spangler, 44, is in his third year as a Pure Stock driver. He did not race last year.

"Someone made a nice offer for my car and I sold it," Spangler said. "This past winter, I bought a car from Jeff Walters."

Spangler began the night sixth in the Pure Stock points race.

"We've started coming on in the past month or so," he said. "The car just wasn't me at first. We slowly started changing things - coils, shocks, tires - and we've gotten faster and better."

Ron Davies of Warren, Pa., continued his success in Late Models, starting on the pole and maintaining the lead throughout. Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township started 10th and took over second place on the 11th lap but couldn't run down Davies.

"We were running the same line pretty much," Geisler said. "Ronny knows this track. Let him get away out front and it's over."

Davies, a 1990 Late Model points champion here, has two firsts, two seconds and a third in five appearances at Lernerville this season.

"For the past six weeks, we've been finishing among the top three everywhere we've gone," Davies said. "The first couple of months of the season were my worst start ever.

"We were having motor problems. I wasn't even qualifying for features in some places."

Now he has four feature wins this year - two here, two in McKean County - and is looking forward to the World of Outlaws Late Model race at Lernerville in two weeks.

"We'll be back next week to try out a few more things," Davies said.

Notes:

There were 109 cars in the pits. … Butler's Doug Fleeger hit the wall during his Modified heat race and his No. 8F wound up underneath Carl Murdick's No. 6. Brian Swartzlander and John Durci were caught in the accident as well. No one was hurt, but only Durci returned to the race. … Late Model points leader John Flinner of Zelienople stalled during the second lap of the feature. He took his No. 48 to the pits and did not return.