BUFFALOTWP — Darren Hagen cruised to victory Friday night at Lernerville Speedway. Kevin Bolland thought he had done the same.

But while Hagen was soaking up the glory of his first United States Auto Club (USAC)Wingless Sprint feature win this season, Bolland was fuming over a final-lap yellow flag that came out a mere second before he would have taken the checkered flag in the BRPModified Tour feature.

"That race was over,"Bolland said. "I've already seen the film. That (flagged)car was out of harm's way.

"There's no way that restart should have happened."

It was the first of three 29th-lap restarts in the 30-lap feature. Rex King of Bristolville, Ohio — last year's BRPModified Tour points champion — took advantage of the third one and passed Bolland on Turn 4, beating him to the checkered flag.

The victory was King's first-ever at the Sarver track. He denied Bolland what would have been his 11th career BRPModified win and his fifth feature triumph in six tries at Lernerville, dating back to last year.

"This is Kevin's home track and he knows how to run here," King said. "I didn't want to show him anything. He wasn't gonna give up the bottom, so I knew what I had to do."

Bolland took the lead from pole-sitter Tom Winkle of Mars on the 10th lap and held it the rest of the way. King charged through the field from the 11th starting position, but appeared to have little chance of catching Bolland.

Just as Bolland reached the finish line, a couple of car lengths in front of King, the yellow flag came out for Jeremy Paup, who had spun coming around Turn 4.

"It's disappointing because I know I had the fastest car,"Bolland said. "In that situation ... I mean, the race is over."

Instead, the mandatory two-lap restart took place. Bolland got the jump and stayed out front, but a three-car mishap on Turn 1 forced another caution flag.

On the second restart, King challenged Bolland down the front straightaway to begin the final lap, but a red flag came out as Jimmy Weller III's car got together with Dean Pearson's No. 8Jand flipped in front of Turn 3.

Weller IIIwas unhurt, but the delay cost Bolland just before the final lap of the third two-lap restart.

"We lost a little heat in the tires during that delay,"Bolland said. "The track glazed up a little bit and it cost us."

Nothing was going to cost Hagen in the USACSprint feature. The 2005 USACSprint Rookie of the Year — with only one career feature win coming into the night — started alongside pole-sitter Mat Neely in the 30-lap feature and took the lead from him on the back straightaway of the 12th lap.

The 19-year-old widened the gap from there and easily outdistanced runnerup Jerry Coons Jr. to the checkered flag.

"I can usually hear noise behind me when somebody's close,"Hagen, of Riverside, Calif., said. "I wasn't hearing anything tonight.

"It didn't matter, really. I was going to keep digging anyway, just do what I do, put everybody a lap down if I could."

That didn't happen, but neither did any suspense at the finish line.

"These races are usually closer than this,"Coons admitted.

Derek O'Dell finished in third place after netting just one other top-10 finish in the series so far this year.

"I'm making strides and I'm happy,"O'Dell said. "I've heard a lot about this race track and it was fun racing here."

Hagen was impressed that the track stayed slick throughout the feature, which had only three restarts, none past the 12th lap.

"You could run well anywhere, top to bottom, the entire time,"Hagen said. "USACracing is the best racing there is. You can pass anybody at any time, so on a track like this, I was taking nothing for granted."

Hagen saw open track for most of the race, not hitting any lapped traffic until the 21st lap.

He was happy the final 18 laps ran without interruption.

"Oh yeah, no doubt,"he said. "Yellows give the leader open track, but you have to get back in rhythm, too. I'd rather stay in rhythm and navigate the lapped traffic."

Fastest time during qualifying went to USACpoints leader Josh Wise at 15.337 seconds. Comparable record lap times at Lernerville include Darrell Lanigan of the World of Outlaws Late Models (15.072 on April 29 of 2005) and Joey Saldana of the WoOSprint cars (12.334 in May of 2002).

Notes:There were 57 cars in the pits, 32 Modifieds and 25 Sprints. ... Fastest local finisher in the USACrace was Gary Rankin of Butler, who was 17th. ... Local driver Charlie Holben of Cabot flipped his No. 42Garound Turn 3 during time trials. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but returned to the track. ... Fab Four racing returns to Lernerville next Friday.