BUFFALO TWP — Tim McCreadie recognized a bad engine early and took advantage of a bad break late.

The combination sent the Watertown, N.Y., driver to victory lane Friday night in the World of Outlaws Late Model Summer Sizzler at Lernerville Speedway.

McCreadie didn't like the engine in his new No. 39 car during time trials and switched to his backup for the heat race.

"I've been running this new car, but we haven't won with it yet,"McCreadie said. "We tried a new engine in it tonight and it was just bad.

"After time trials, I told the crew we needed to change cars. They trust me that way. They didn't look at me like I have two heads."

McCreadie's car finished only 25th out of 49 cars in time trials. He wound up finishing fourth in his heat race, securing the final transfer spot to the 50-lap feature that eventually gave him the $10,000 first prize.

Starting from the 13th position, he moved up to fifth by the 25th lap. Race leader Chub Frank was widening his lead at that point, but fell victim to a flattened front tire on Lap 32.

Just before the yellow caution came out, McCreadie passed second-place car Steve Francis and received the lead when Frank pitted.

Rick Eckert started 12th in the No. 24 car, but soared into second place by the 39th lap. He and McCreadie traded the lead a couple of times on the back straightaway over the final few laps and were virtually side-by-side entering the fourth turn of the final lap.

Eckert missed his spot on the low groove and hit the berm, allowing McCreadie to take the checkered flag uncontested.

"I didn't even see it happen,"McCreadie said. "I thought Rick was right there with me. That was unfortunate for him because his car was fast enough to win."

Eckert's bobble enabled Francis to finish second and Dale McDowell — who started 23rd — wound up third. Eckert ended up in 19th place.

"Rick was trying to win the race,"Francis said. "It's slick out there. He missed his mark by maybe a foot and that's all it took.

"He's an excellent driver. He just turned his car to the side and took his own beating. You have to respect a guy who does something like that."

McCreadie agreed.

"He could have bounced back off and driven me into the fence, taken us both out,"McCreadie said. "A lot of guys out here might have done that, but not Rick."

McDowell never challenged for the lead, but he was thrilled to get a top-five finish.

"That race track was awesome," he said. "This was a good show."

McDowell never did qualify for the feature. He had to pit during the first lap of his heat race because of an ignition problem. He then failed to finish among the top three in his B-Main.

He started in the back two rows of the feature as an Outlaws provisional. Lernerville provisionals were Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township and Gary Lyle of Hyde Park. Neither was a factor in the race.

Alex Ferree of Saxonburg finished fourth after starting ninth. He entered the night with five top-five finishes at Lernerville this season, but has yet to find victory lane here in 2006.

Randy Hall of Olean, N.Y., started in the first row of the E-Modified feature and kept the lead for the entire race.

Like McCreadie, it was his first career victory at the Sarver track.

Notes:There were 50 Late Models and 33 E-Mods in the pits. ... Josh Richards, 18, of Shinnston, W.Va., won his heat race and was running among the top five in the feature at the halfway point when he flipped his car off Turn 3, bringing out a red light. He was unhurt. ... Eric Jacobsen flipped his No. 5 Late Model off Turn 3 as well during a heat race and was also unhurt. ... Veteran E-Mod driver Herm Myers of Harmony sailed his No. 2Moff Turn 3 during his heat race. Myers was not injured in the mishap.