Lernerville Speedway’s championship night proved to be a real barnburner, with all four division titles on the line.

A.J. Flick punctuated his season by winning both the Sprint feature over Brandon Spithaler and his 10th Sprint championship, rewriting the track’s history books.

At the beginning of the evening, Flick had only a one-point lead over Dan Kuriger and four points over Dan Shetler. After the heat races, Flick and Kuriger were tied at 245 points, with Shetler just three points behind Flick, setting up a 25-lap, action-packed main event.

Flick was starting fourth, Kuriger fifth and Shetler sixth. Leyton Wagner was on the outside pole with Flick directly behind him.

“When I saw Brandon Spithaler on the pole, I thought that was who I’d be chasing for the win,” Flick said.

Wagner took off when the green flag waved with Flick shadowing him. Both quickly passed Spithaler.

“I thought, ‘Be patient. Let’s get the win,’” Flick said.

The track was heavy from rain.

“That is my kind of track. I felt good about competing on it,” Flick said.

He ran like a man possessed, hitting all his marks and getting around Wagner for the lead three laps later. Spithaler also passed Wagner but could not reel in Flick.

Title contenders Kuriger and Shetler both finished outside the top five on the reworked track surface.

Flick claimed his 10th Sprint Car championship at Lernerville in just 12 years. No other driver has ever earned 10 titles in a single division at the track, setting a new standard of excellence.

His victory Friday also marked his 46th career Sprint feature win at Lernerville. Flick is fifth on the all-time win list. One more victory will tie him with the late, great Sprint driver Ralph Quarterson for fourth place.

For perspective, the late Lou Blaney won six Sprint championships and three Big Block Modified crowns; Bob Wearing Sr. tallied five Late Model and three Modified titles; and Brian Swartzlander has eight Big Block Modified championships.

Flick now stands alone at the top of more than four decades of Lernerville record books — an accomplishment that certainly should put him in the track’s Hall of Fame someday.

Racing runs deep in the Flick family. His grandfather, Pee Wee Flick, won the 1973 Super Late Model title, while his father, Mark Flick, captured the 1994 Modified crown.

Flick got his start in Pro Stocks before switching to Sprint Cars in 2014. He secured his first Sprint championship the following year.

Off the track, Flick’s résumé is just as impressive. He earned an engineering degree from Penn State while racing full-time, and his statistician mother, Lura, often describes him as a “thrill seeker” with a love for roller coasters.

He keeps ornaments and good-luck charms people have given him in his trailer.

Without a professional opportunity coming Flick’s way to drive, he said: “Racing is expensive, so we will just keep doing what we are doing and have fun running locally.”

The 25-lap Super Late Model feature ran topless for the Ken Schaltenbrand Sr. Memorial, with $4,500 on the line.

Drake Troutman, now driving the Jerry Foster No. 5 car out of Maryland, started seventh and took the lead on a late-race restart. He held off the relentless Brock “Bam Bam” Pinkerous, who chased him all the way to the checkered flag.

Ken Schaltenbrand Jr. may have lost the feature battle, but he won the war.

Despite getting caught up in a mid-race caution, Schaltenbrand salvaged a 10th-place finish. It was enough to edge his 20-year-old nephew, Levi Yetter, by three points and earn his third Lernerville track championship. His other championships came in 2019 and 2020.

The two have also been in contention for championships at Marion Center Raceway, with Kenny winning two titles and Levi one.

Hats off to Ken’s sister, Tammy Schaltenbrand Yetter, who was instrumental in collecting a tremendous amount of funds for this event. It was an emotional roller coaster for Tammy, rooting for both her brother and her son at the same time.

Although Levi, a junior at Slippery Rock University, commutes, he took the time to make his race car a replica of his grandfather’s No. 9 racer. He never met his grandfather but initially wanted to have a memorial race in his honor.

Entering the evening, only four points separated Rex King Jr. and Garrett Krummert in the Big Block Modified title chase.

Both contenders led laps during the feature, but it was the “dark horse” title challenger, Ayden Cipriano, who stole the feature win — his first at Lernerville in a Big Block Modified.

By virtue of a second-place finish, King secured his fourth Lernerville championship, beating fourth-place feature finisher Krummert by eight points. King’s previous Lernerville championships came in 2014, 2018, 2023 and 2025.

In the Pro Stocks, Chris Schneider earned his 43rd feature victory by defeating Rocky Kugel.

It was Jake Dietz, however, who prevailed in the championship chase, earning his first Pro Stocks title for the Jake Dietz/Chuck Neeley team over Logan Koteles. An exuberant Dietz stood on the roof of his car, waving his arms while shouting: “This is so cool.”

“Growing up, I watched my brother (Tyler) win races and championships,” Dietz said. “I thought, I need to put one of these large champion checks on our garage wall. I want to thank my brother for helping me and for always pushing me to be better.”

Jake and Tyler Dietz are the third pair of brothers to win championships at Lernerville. The others are Dale and Dave Blaney and Rex and Russ King.

Kyle Larson performed an unbelievable feat Saturday.

After finishing sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond, Va., which was delayed three hours by rain, Larson flew to Knoxville, Iowa, in time to climb into his Sprint Car and compete in the prestigious Knoxville Nationals.

With no warm-up, Larson proceeded to lead all 50 laps and win the main event, collecting $200,000. It was his fourth Knoxville Nationals victory in six years.

Action shifts to Saturdays at the Sarver oval starting this weekend for the Sprint Car Spectacular, featuring the 410s, 305s and RUSH Sprints, plus fireworks.

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.