BUFFALO TWP — Drama ruled the night Friday at Lernerville Speedway.

All four features wound up with restarts within the final five laps, each leading to nail-biting finishes. None was happier with the end result than Sprint driver A.J. Flick.

The 22-year-old Apollo resident and third-generation dirt track racer secured his first career Sprint feature win at Lernerville, inheriting the lead when Ed Lynch Jr.’s engine blew on the 21st lap.

Jack Sodeman Jr. led the first seven laps of the race before his steering locked, sending his No. 23 car sailing off Turn 2 and out of the event.

“There is so much luck involved in this sport,” Flick admitted. “If those guys didn’t have issues, I don’t think I catch either one of them.”

Flick earned the victory regardless. He started from the eighth spot and started the 22nd lap in front of runner-up Danny Holtgraver, the All-Star Sprinter from Pittsburgh who started 11th.

Flick held off Holtgraver for the win. He has finished second four times so far this season.

“Once I kept the lead on that restart, I didn’t have to worry about what Danny was doing as much as what I was doing,” Flick said. “If I didn’t make a mistake, the race was mine.

“I can’t tell you how good this feels after coming close so many times. I got some breaks tonight. I finished ahead of some pretty good cars, too.”

Rod George finished third with Sarver’s Carl Bowser taking fifth.

“I’m happy for (Flick), that’s awesome,” Holtgraver said. “He was really fast tonight. He and his crew have been working their butts off and they deserve this.

“I gained some confidence tonight. We had been struggling and this was a good run.”

Holtgraver will compete in the All-Star Sprint race Saturday night at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Michael Norris of Sarver led the Late Model feature from start to finish, but had some anxious moments along the way. Defending points champion and current points leader Alex Ferree was right behind him for the final 20 laps and Norris had to survive a restart with five laps to go.

“Holding off Alex means a lot to me,” Norris said. “He’s one of the best drivers around and one of the cleanest. He ran me clean the whole way.”

Norris, 23, picked up his first Lernerville feature win since the middle of last season and only the fifth of his career here.

His car broke on the final lap and he lost his brakes while crossing the finish line.

Norris’ No. 72 car had to be towed back to the pits.

“Yeah, I really pushed the car for this one,” Norris admitted. “I felt something break in the back of the car coming off Turn 4 of the last lap.

“If this race was 26 laps, I wouldn’t have made it.”

Rex King Jr. took the lead midway through the Modified feature, but couldn’t hold it.

A 22nd-lap restart gave Brian Swartzlander — who was running second — new life.

Lernerville’s all-time Modified victory leader slid past King on Turn 2 of the final lap and picked up career win No. 89 at the Sarver oval.

He tied Lou Gentile for fifth all-time on the speedway’s all-time victory list, all divisions.

“I needed that last restart,” Swartzlander said. “He (King) was pulling away from me.

“That was fun racing. We were both going hard, came within inches of each other and never touched each other. I respect that a lot. Most guys would run you into the wall in those situations.”

King said Swartzlander’s slide underneath to take the lead was “a clean move.”

“He beat me to the bottom and made a nice move,” King said. “He showed me respect and I did the same.

“Our set-up tonight was a little too conservative. When you do that, you get a conservative car and a conservative finish.”

Corey McPherson started 12th and was only in fourth place for a Sportsman Stock restart with four laps remaining.

He wound up shooting into the lead on the 18th lap, however, securing his fourth win of the season and 22nd of his career at Lernerville.

Ferree, driving Wayne Carbo’s No. 54 car, started eighth and finished second.

Notes: There were 73 cars in the pits, including a season-high 21 Sprints with the All-Star race slated the next night at PPMS. ... Ferree finished second in all four of his races Friday — the Late Model and Stock heats and features. ... Renfrew’s Shawn Kozar made his season debut in the Modifieds, but his No. 3K had to be towed from the track after the first lap of his heat race. He did not return. ...Seven drivers — Brandon Matus, Brad Howard and Eric Williams in the Sprints, Russell King in the Modifieds, Ken Schaltendbrand in Late Models, Brett McDonald and Bob Egley in Stocks — picked up their first heat race wins of 2015.