Sarver's Oval
BUFFALO TWP — It was a long time coming for Chuck Sarver.
The West Sunbury resident and driver of the No. 88 late model won the first feature in his Lernerville career Friday night.
He led the pack from start to finish to earn the elusive checkered flag.
Sarver began racing 30 years ago and raced at Lernerville for the first time several years after that.
He has had several close calls with victory, including a second-place finish at Lernerville earlier this season.
“I've never been here before,” Sarver said of the Action Track's Victory Lane. “I thought about it before and it's everything I thought it would be.”
Though Sarver paced the field the entire race, there were a few anxious moments near the end. A caution flag on the 20th lap gave the rest of the field new life.
John Garvin Jr. was poised to challenge Sarver down the stretch, but he had trouble on Turn 2 on the 21st lap and ended up placing eighth. Cranberry Township's Lynn Geisler finished runner-up.
“Cautions usually mess me up,” said Sarver. “I didn't want to see that. I just wanted to keep rolling and tried to run the same line.
“We're so used to this track being slick, but it was heavy tonight. We didn't want to make the car too tight, so we went light with the setup.”
• Feature wins are hard to come by, but Dave Murdick made it look easy.It took the resident of Slippery Rock just three laps to take the lead from Kevin Bolland. From there, the only cars encountered by Murdick were those in lap traffic, which he seemed to negotiate with ease.In the process of winning, Murdick broke Lernerville's record for fastest lap turned in by a modified, clearing one rotation in just 16.13 seconds.Ironically, just one night earlier at Expo Speedway in Trumbull County, Ohio, Murdick was not optimistic about his No. 61.“During the heat race Thursday, my oil pressure light kept coming on and it (the car) was too tight on the turns,” said Murdick. “I told my crew, 'Do whatever you want to this car, there's no way it's getting fixed tonight.'”His crew did a good enough job to help him to victory in Ohio before he claimed his 25th career win at Lernerville Friday.“I started racing here as a 16-year-old in 1979,” said Murdick. “There was a time I didn't think I'd get my first win. I couldn't do it without my crew.”• Chicora's Mike Miller came close to making it three Butler County winners in one night.He led the evening's final feature — Sportsman Stock — for four laps late in the race. But Rob Shook took over the top spot on Turn 2 of the 18th lap and had enough to withstand Miller at the end.“I knew the only chance I had was to pinch him off, coming off his line,” said Shook. “It was a good battle. I did cut him off a bit, but sometimes, you do what you have to do to win.”• Rod George won his first sprint feature at Lernerville since 2010, overtaking Jack Sodeman Jr. for the lead on the 17th lap in the 25-lap event.Notes: In the second heat race of the Sprint Division, Brian Steinman was involved in a crash coming out of Turn 4. His No. 24S car slammed against the wall at the start of the front straightaway. Flames were seen coming from the back end of the car. The fire was quickly doused and a rescue crew then extracted a conscious Steinman, taking the wings from the top of the car to do so. Steinman, who resides in Clarion County, was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. An update on his condition was not available. ... A total of 75 cars were present in the pits, with a high of 25 sportsman stocks and a low of 15 late models and modifieds.
