BUFFALO TWP - Three recent strangers to victory lane wound up there Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

Kevin Schaeffer (Sprints), Del Rougeux (Modifieds) and Butch Lambert (Pure Stocks) won only two features between them at Lernerville all of last year. Rougeux had never won here.

All three got the checkered flag Friday.

Rougeux, a nine-year racing veteran from Frenchville, started alongside pole-sitter Brian Swartzlander in the Modified feature, took the lead from him in the third lap and never gave it up.

In fact, Rougeux disappeared in lap traffic and was never challenged.

"We've tried set-up after set-up after set-up here," Rougeux said of Lernerville. "We could never get it right."

He has gotten it right at other tracks. Rougeux owns a feature win at Sharon Speedway and has eight wins at Tri-City, where he was track champion in 2003.

With the World of Outlaws Late Models at Lernerville last week, Rougeux traveled to Brewerton, N.Y. - just north of Syracuse - to run with the Elite 11 of the Super Dirt Modified Series. That series comes to Lernerville June 14.

Rougeux started 24th in the feature that night and wound up 14th.

"It's all you can do just to keep up with those guys," Rougeux said. "They make you step up your game. I'm glad we made that trip because we learned a lot about our car.

"We made a few changes in it tonight and they worked. Hopefully, I'll be standing here a few more times this year."

Schaeffer, a Kittanning driver, held off a hard-charging Rod George to win his sixth career Sprint feature at Lernerville, but only his second in two years.

Schaeffer's No. 9 car started on the pole and had a comfortable lead throughout until George made a move down low between turns 3 and 4 on the 18th lap.

"I was running good on the low side at that end and good on the high side at the other end," George said. "I had to try something or just keep playing follow the leader."

"I saw him there," Schaeffer said. "He pulled right up next to me."

A lap car sat in front of George, however, and Schaeffer pulled away to complete the wire-to-wire victory - with no brakes.

"I lost them about halfway through the race," Schaeffer said. "I was as worried about keeping the car on the racetrack as much as keeping the lead.

"You don't use your brakes often in a race, but trying to navigate through all that lap traffic without them was a little tricky."

George knew he didn't have much of a shot at catching the No. 9 car.

"Kevin ran a great race," he said. "Unless a lapped car screwed him up, there was no way. I'll settle for second. Keep finishing in the top three or four spots and you get enough money to make the next race."

Lambert, of Mars, grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Bobby Lipinski on the fourth lap of the Pure Stock feature and kept it the rest of the way, surviving a 35-minute race that had eight restarts.

"We were out there a long time," Lambert said. "But I'll take it."

The 2002 Pure Stock points champion struggled with his new car in the first two racing nights here, finishing 13th on the first points night. He won one feature here last year.

"We still have a little more work to do, but we were pretty good tonight," Lambert said.

David Scott of Garland was pretty good in his No. 3D Late Model, too - but wound up with nothing to show for it.

After winning his heat race, Scott grabbed the lead from pole-sitter John Flinner on the second lap of the feature and was cruising to victory on the back straightaway of the final lap.

But a yellow caution came out - and Scott didn't see the caution car.

The No. 66 of Todd Bachman was turned around and Scott couldn't avoid plowing into it.

"I never saw him until it was too late," Scott said. "There were lapped cars all around me and I was paying attention to them, not what was in front of me.

"I cost myself a lot of money tonight. Our whole frame's out of whack … we're gonna have to pull an all-nighter just to get the car ready to race tomorrow."

Flinner, the Zelienople driver and four-time defending Lernerville Late Model points champion, was the beneficiary of Scott's misfortune.

Flinner had the lead for the two-lap restart and easily beat runner-up Nick Jones to the checkered flag. Jones had started ninth in the feature.

"With a lapped car between John and I on the restart, that took away any chance I might have had," Jones said. "I wish that car hadn't have been there. It would have been fun."

It was plenty fun for Flinner, who pocketed his first win of the year.

"It ain't over until it's over," Flinner said of racing. "You never know what's gonna happen out there.

"I once got the lead in the Pittsburgher 100 on the 99th lap - and lost it on the 100th."

Flinner actually passed Scott during the sixth lap, but a caution light negated it. He passed him again on the restart moments later - and a caution light negated it again.

"I was figuring on second," Flinner admitted. "I felt bad for him (Scott)."

Flinner's win was his 34th Late Model triumph at Lernerville, knotting him with Ben Miley for third on the track's all-time list.

Notes:

There were 108 cars in the pits. … Tom Tuite of Boyers won his first Late Model heat race here in a few years. … Bob Wearing Jr. of Renfrew started eighth in his Late Model heat and won it. … John Mollick of Toronto, Ohio, flipped his No. 4J Late Model in the B-Main, but was not hurt. … Dan Shetler of Johnstown flipped his Sprint car in the second lap of the feature and was not injured. All-time Lernerville Sprint feature win leader Ed Lynch Jr. had to swerve off the track to avoid the mishap and was forced to tag the field. Lynch finished fifth.