BUFFALO TWP — Dave Hess Jr. has been running at or near the front of the pack all season at Lernerville Speedway.

Ed Lynch Jr. should have been — and made that very clear Friday night at the Sarver oval.

The Apollo driver of the No. 2L — Lernerville's all-time Sprint victory leader — finally reached victory lane here for the first time this year with a dominant performance.

"We've been fast all year. We just haven't been piling up the wins like we usually do," Lynch said. "I've finished second more often than ever before, won more Hard Charger Awards than I ever have.

"We've been good, just not very lucky. You have to make your own luck in this game sometimes. You fight through tough breaks. You can't wait it out."

Lynch waited for no man Friday. He started on the pole and led from wire to wire, lapping all but the other top five cars in the field.

Friday marked Lernerville's Mid-Season Championships. Lynch's 102nd career Sprint win hands him a guaranteed provisional starting spot for the Don Martin Memorial World of Outlaws Sprint feature July 20.

If he needs it.

"It's a nice thing to have," Lynch said. "You never know when you might cut a tire or something else doesn't go right."

Everything has been going right for Hess in the Late Model division this spring. He started Friday's feature seventh, passed race leader Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township on the 11th lap and took off from there.

"My car was good and I hung with him for a while," Geisler said. "But once the track slicked up, he was gone. He's had the set-up locked in here all year."

Hess recorded his fifth career Lernerville feature win — second this year — and posted his ninth top-five finish of the campaign.

"Our pouints lead is big enough that we tried a few things tonight and hit on all of it," Hess said. "We've been trying different shock packages and they've been working, too.

"From day one, we've had the right set-up for this track. I'm excited about next week."

Hess' win Friday handed him a guaranteed provisional starting spot for next Saturday's Firecracker 100, should he need it.

"I'm still gonna run hard, try to qualify well and win heat races Thursday and Friday," Hess said. "I just don't have to do anything risky now because I know I'm in the show."

That's the guarantee Geisler was hoping to secure.

"Finishing second is usually OK. It's not OK tonight," he said.

New Brighton's Kevin Bolland claimed his second Modified feature win of the season and 49th of his career at Lernerville. He came from the eighth starting spot and took the lead from Jeremiah Shingledecker on the 20th lap.

A lapped car slid in front of Bolland in Turn 1 of the final lap, enabling Shingledecker to regain the lead.

"I had to hit my brakes and allow Jeremiah to get by me," Bolland said.

Bolland quickly retook the advantage on Turn 2.

"Kevin was just faster than me coming off 2," Shingleddecker said. "There was a lot of trading paint going on in this race. I didn't need to get involved in that."

Pole-sitter Brian Swartzlander finished third. Del Rougeux Jr., still looking for his first win of the year, had the lead for a few early laps and was running second when a lapped car got in front of him.

Rougeux couldn't avoid contact with the car and wound up having to pit for the night. He declined comment on the incident.

Chris Schneider of Pittsburgh won a bizarre Sportsman Stock feature. He was the fifth driver to lead the race. Only eight cars of the 19 to start the race finished it and there were 12 cautions in 20 laps.

Schneider's win was his first here since August of 2008 and only his second since 2003. Six-time feature winner Joe Kelley finished second.

Notes: There were 77 cars in the pits. ... Danny Holtgraver (Sprint) and Rougeux Jr. (Modified) picked up their fourth heat race wins of the year, tying them with Hess and Bolland for most at Lernerville this season. ...Slippery Rock's Dave Murdick won features at Lernerville and Tri-City last week, marking the first time in his career he's won twice in one weekend.