BUFFALO TWP - With seven restarts and a feature that lasted more than 40 minutes, Nick Jones had to play the waiting game Friday night.

He considered himself fortunate to be playing the game at all.

The veteran Pittsburgh driver of the No. 15 Late Model - using the motor from younger brother Jeff's car - took the lead from Mike Blose on the ninth lap and held off a Ken Schaltenbrand to win his fourth feature of the season at Lernerville Speedway.

Only a week ago, Jones figured his season was done. He discovered a cracked block in his engine and he had no backup motor.

"Jeff told me last Saturday I could use his engine and I said no," Jones said. "I don't like to risk breaking somebody else's equipment.

"He kept insisting, but I wasn't gonna do it. My crew got together Wednesday with the full intent of putting everything away on the shelf and calling it a season."

Only his brother, driver of the No. 27J Late Model, wouldn't leave him alone.

"It got to the point where I honestly believed Jeff would feel insulted if I didn't take his motor," Jones said. "He was getting upset.

"We gratefully took it, put the car back together. … I owe this one to him, no question about that."

Jones continues to enjoy his best season ever at Lernerville in terms of wins. He also remained in the points race with John Flinner and Lynn Geisler.

But Friday's win did not come easily.

Starting from the ninth spot, Jones worked his way through the field. Bob Wearing Jr. of Renfrew hung around up front the entire race, but settled for third.

"Nick had the preferred groove for his car," Wearing said. "I wasn't gonna catch him, but I'll take third."

Schaltenbrand started from the 10th position, but he had his new motor back in the car after running with his backup engine for a while. He moved into second by the 15th lap.

On a 15th lap restart, the Sarver resident pulled alongside Jones and appeared primed to take the lead. But John Mollick's No. 4J car spun on Turn 1, forcing another restart.

This time, Jones had enough to beat Schaltenbrand to the checkered.

"My tires were starting to go," Schaltenbrand admitted. "If I was going to get him, that (first restart) had to be the time."

In other features:

Mike Pegher of Wexford came from the eighth starting spot to claim a Pure Stock race that saw four drivers jockeying for the lead over the final eight laps.

Wayne Carbo of Mars, bidding for his second career Pure Stock win, led for the first 10 laps and laps 13 and 14. A 14th-lap restart cost him as Pegher nudged in front of him on the back straightaway.

Sparks flew as the cars came into contact, with Pegher winning out.

"I think I had the race if that late caution doesn't happen," Carbo said. "I couldn't tell where I stood most of the race. There were cars all around me."

One of them was Butler's Terry Young in the No. 28Y. Bidding for his first career feature win, he had the lead on laps 11 and 12. Paul Schreckengost was in the hunt as well.

"I couldn't get any bite off the top of Turn 2 and that hurt me," Young said. "Cars were firing off the bottom groove pretty well, but I wasn't running there."

Pegher was and scored the victory.

"Nobody really knew how that was gonna turn out," Pegher said. "Competition has gotten so stiff here in all the divisions."

Veteran drivers Rod George and Jim Weller Jr. rebounded from mishaps last week to win the Sprint and Modified features, respectively.

George's car suffered a bent frame last week, but he took the lead from Brent Matus on the eighth lap of the Sprint race and kept it the rest of the way.

"We broke the motor and crashed the car last weekend, so I'm happy with this," George said of the win.

The victory was George's third of the year at Lernerville and 29th of his career at the Sarver track, tying him with Jimmy Hawley for fifth on the all-time list here.

Weller started third in the Modified feature, got the lead from pole-sitter Kevin Bolland on the 11th lap and cruised to victory.

"We put this car together in a day and a half," Weller said. "We had a bad wreck at Sharon last week and ruined the frame."

The win was Weller's second of the season here, his first came on April 15, and the 30th of his Lernerville career.

J.R. McGinley started ninth and finished second. Dave Murdick of Slippery Rock started 20th and finished third.

Notes:

There were 102 cars in the pits. … Feature runner-ups Schaltenbrand (Late Models), McGinley (Modifieds) and Young (Pure Stocks) had season-best finishes. … Ralph Spithaler of Evans City drove Troy Preston's No. 1P car to a heat race victory. … Fab Four racing continues next Friday. The DIRT Modifieds SuperDIRT series race, rained out in June, will be held Aug. 3. … DIRT Motorsports has announced its World of Outlaw Late Model feature Aug. 12 will pay $20,000 to win.