BUFFALO TWP — Victory lane had eluded Dave Murdick for nearly three years at Lernerville Speedway.

The longtime Slippery Rock driver of the No. 61 Modified nearly got there twice in one night Friday.

Murdick, of Slippery Rock, led the 30-lap BRP Modified feature from start to finish, despite a slight collision with Jeff Miller's No. 75 on the 21st lap. He then started the Late Model feature 21st and wound up third.

"I thought I had a legitimate shot at winning again," Murdick said. "I had a good run with (Late Model winner Chub Frank), but couldn't get alongside him to try to beat him."

While Frank won his second Late Model feature at the track this year — he also claim the April 23 All-Star race — Murdick earned a feature victory at Lernerville for the first time since Aug. 17, 2007.

It was his 16th career Lernerville victory and second on the BRP Modified Tour. He won a BRP race at Tri-City last season.

"I'm running that series again this year, so it's good to get the early jump on everybody," he said. Murdick was the BRP series champion in 2008.

Del Rougeux Jr. was running right behind Murdick when the mishap occurred in Turn 1 of the 21st lap. .

As Murdick swerved to avoid contact, Miller's rear right tire hooked Murdick's bumper.

"That sent him toward the middle of the track and into Del," Murdick said.

It also ended Rougeux's evening.

"I don't know what that No. 75 car was doing there," Rougeux said. "He slid right in front of Davey."

Murdick thought his car sustained damage during that mishap as well.

"I was convinced I'd feel the affects of that later on," he said. "But after the race, we checked the car out and couldn't find anything. It ran fine. We got lucky."

Rex King Jr., who started on the pole next to Murdick in the front row, finished second. Brian Swartzlander was third.

King appeared to pull alongside Murdick on the last lap, but Murdick slid past his lapped father Carl's No. 6 car while King could not.

"I was right there with him," King said. "But Davey's got a million laps on this track and his crew knows the setup. I thought I was faster on straightaways, but I wasn't shooting out on restarts like he was."

Swartzlander was happy to get third, saying his car felt out of kilter all night.

"I wrecked in the heat race and may have damaged the front bar," Swartzlander said. "The car never felt right after that."

In other features:

n Frank, of Bear Lake, started 12th and took the lead from Dave Hess Jr., on the 20th lap to win the Late Model race.

n Dale Blaney started on the pole and never lost the lead in the Sprint feature. The Ohio-based driver and 1991 Lernerville track champion has been running All-Star and World of Outlaws events in recent years.

Friday's feature win was his first at Lernerville since 1996.

"I've been here a number of times since then," Blaney said. "I've finished second or third a few times, and had the fastest car at All-Star shows."

Blaney turned a fast lap of 12.740 seconds before the heat races, just four-tenths of a second off the track record.

Ed Lynch Jr. finished a distant second.

n Joe Kelley of Mount Pleasant took advantage of some bad luck for Butler's Terry Young to win the Sportsman Stock feature.

It was Kelley's third straight win at Lernerville and his fourth in five tries this season, extending his track record career Stock feature win total to 36.

Young started on the pole and led the entire race. Jason Fosnaught was close to tracking him down, but Fosnaught and a lapped car made contact, sending him to the back of the field midway through the race.

Young tried getting around a lapped car himself on Turn 3 of the final lap, but he couldn't avoid contact and spun out.

As Kelley crossed the finish line, Young's No. 28Y car was stuck on the bottom cushion, sitting perpendicular to the track.

"That was a shame. I feel bad for Terry," Kelley said."I didn't have the best car tonight. I just happened to get here."

Notes: There was a season-high 98 cars in the pits. ... John Flinner of Zelienople raced his No. 48 Late Model at Lernerville for the first time this season, won his heat race and finished fifth in the feature. ... ran the No. 777 Modified for the vacationing Kevin Bolland and finished sixth in the feature.