BUFFALO TWP — Mike Pegher Jr. went a little soft Friday night.

Wise decision.

The Seneca Valley graduate and driver of Cranberry Township resident Lynn Geisler's No. 1C Late Model opted for soft tires for the feature at Lernerville Speedway.

Cautions on the 15th, 21st and 24th laps helped Pegher grab his second career Late Model win at the Sarver oval.

His initial win came last season in Geisler's car.

“Everyone else was running hard tires, so those late cautions really helped me,” Pegher said. “If this race would have gone green to checkered, I was out to lunch.”

Instead, he kept gaining ground.

Pole-sitter John Garvin Jr,. of Sarver kept the lead for the first 20 laps. Pegher started seventh and was sitting in the third spot during the 21st-lap restart, trailing Garvin and Saxonburg's Alex Ferree.

Going into Turn 4, Pegher zipped past both of them and held off Garvin for the victory.

“Alex and I were battling pretty good,” Garvin said. “Going into that fourth turn, I checked up to give him some room and he checked up to gve me some room.

“Here comes Mike and he goes right past us.”

Pegher welcomed the break.

“We've run well here, but I got into a wreck with Garvin three weeks ago, broke a tire rod last week ... This one feels pretty good,” he said.

Garvin tried to regain the lead on the 24th-lap restart with an aggressive move up high.

He got in front of Prgher, but couldn't hold the line and went off the top cushion of Turn 2.

Garvin would have slipped to fourth, but Brian Swartzlander stalled on Turn 1, forcing another restart and giving Garvin his second-place spot back.

“That part worked out,” Garvin said. “It was a fun race with a lot of good cars running up front.

“It would have been funner if I had won.”

In other features:

Defending points champion Mat Williamson of St. Catharines, Ontario, ended a stretch of bad luck by winning the Modified feature.

He started seventh and snatched the lead from pole-sitter Tom Winkle on the 10th lap.

Williamson broke a motor during his last two Lernerville appearances, resulting in a 12th-place finish one week and failure to even start the feature the next.

“We actually broke the same motor twice,” Williamson said. “I thought about not coming down here tonight, but the guys talked me into it.

“We have a backup big block motor we wanted to try. I had no idea how good we would be ... It's good to know we can win with that thing.”

The win was Williamson's sixth career Lernerville feature victory.

The first five occurred lst year.

“Last year was a perfect season,” he said. “The beginning of this year was a nightmare. Maybe this will change things.”

Jeremiah Shingledecker finished second with Butler's Stere Feder finishing a season-best third. Feder has never won a feature at Lernerville. He's finished second twice.

“Tonight was a big step forward,” Feder said. “We made some big changes in the car from he heat race — when I had trouble controlling it — to the feature. It worked out.”

Danny Holtgraver of Pittsburgh claimed his ninth career Sprint feature win at Lernerville and second this season. He started from the seventh position and passed Jack Sodeman Jr. for the lead on the 13th lap.

Holtgraver, a former Lernerville track champion who now runs the All-Star series, passed on a trip to Charlotte for a prestigious World of Outlaws race to try to get his engine working locally.

“We were good. It took me a while to get going ... I didn't hit what I needed to hit,” Holtgraver said. “But it was a fun race track and I was able to get through.”

Chris Schneider, driving Butler's Terry Young's No. 28 car, won the Sportsman Stock feature.

Schneider started up front, lost the lead to Corey McPherson on the seventh lap and got it back on the 14th for keeps.

“Slow down, steer it around, give it some gas ... It works,” Schneider said, laughing. “Sometimes you have to slow down to be fast.”

Schneider's win was his 21st at Lernerville, tying him with Rick Robinson for fifth all-time on the track's Sportsman Stock list.

Notes: There were 79 cars in the pits. ... Corry's Doug Eck went airborne off Turn 4 during his heat race and violently crashed his No. 3 Late Model into the fence. The car flipped and landed on its roof. Eck was taken to the pits by ambulance but was OK, walking with a slight limp. ... Ferree picked up his fourth Late Model heat race win of the year. ... Butler's Garrett Krummert began the Late Model feature last (21st) and finished seventh.

May 23(top 15 finishers)Sprint Feature1. Danny Holtgraver (Pittsburgh), Jack Sodeman Jr. (North Jackson, Ohio), 3. Brandon Matus (Wampum), 4. Eric Williams (Greenville), 5. Carl Bowser (Sarver), 6. Mike Lutz (Wampum), 7. Dan Shetler (Johnstown), 8. Brent Matus (Wampum), 9. AJ Flick (Apollo), 10. Billy Dietrich (Bridgeville), 11. Pete Landrum (Jeannette), 12. Davey Jones (Baden), 13. Francis Sesco (New Bethlehem), DNS-Scott Priester (Rimersburg)Heat winners1st heat: Carl Bowser, 2nd heat: Mike Lutz (Hermitage)Late Model Feature1. Mike Pegher Jr. (Wexford), 2. John Garvin Jr. (Sarver), 3. Alex Ferree (Saxonburg), 4. Russell King (Bristolville, Ohio), 5. Chub Frank (Bear Lake), 6. Colton Flinner (Pittsburgh), 7. Garrett Krummert (Butler), 8. Gary Lyle (Hyde Park), 9. Dave Murdick (Slippery Rock), 10. Chuck Sarver (West Sunbury), 11. Tommy Beck (Murrysville), 12. Chris Rhodes (Westminster), 13. Herman Bertolini (Creighton), 14. Todd Bachman (Natrona Heights), 15. Sam Eichelberger (Level Green)Heat winners1st heat: Alex Ferree, 2nd heat: Brian Swartzlander (Leechburg), 3rd heat: John Garvin Jr.Modified Feature1. Mat Williamson (St. Catharines, Ontario), 2. Jeremiah Shingledecker (Polk), 3. Steve Feder (Butler), 4. Dave Murdick (Slippery Rock), 5. Rex King Jr. (Bristolville, Ohio), 6. Brad Rapp (Shippenville), 7. Rex King Sr. (Bristolville, Ohio), 8. Tom Winkle (Mars), 9. Mike Turner (Herman), 10. Rick Regalski (Slippery Rock), 11. Rodney Beltz (Ellwood City), 12. Bob Warren (Slippery Rock), 13. Carl Murdick (Butler), 14. Jeff Miller (Sarver), 15. Tom Glenn (Barkeyville)Heat winners1st heat: Brad Rapp, 2nd heat: Jeremiah ShingledeckerSportsman Stock Feature1. Chris Schneider (Springdale), 2. Corey McPherson (Tarentum), 3. Jim Fosnaught (Bairdford), 4. Rob Shook (Creighton), 5. Mike Miller (Chicora), 6. Mark Sanders (Lowellville, Ohio), 7. Pat Hanley (Monroeville), 8. Aaron Easler (Butler), 9. Brett McDonald (Saxonburg), 10. Joe Zambotti (Kittanning), 11. Brian Stivenson (Freeport), 12. Neal Tristani (Tarentum), 13. Bob Egley (Kittanning), 14. Scott Byers (Butler), 15. Eric Piotrowski (Cranberry Township)Heat winners1st heat: Terry Young, 2nd heat: Joe Kelley (Mount Pleasant), 3rd heat: Paul Schreckengost (Creighton)