BUFFALO TWP — Fab Four racing at Lernerville Speedway Friday night featured one of the track’s legends returning to victory lane.

Cranberry Township resident Lynn Geisler survived a wild 25-lap late model feature to claim his 109th checkered flag in the division at the Sarver oval.

Geisler, who has been racing at Lernerville since the 1960s, is now eight wins shy of Bob Wearing Sr.’s track record of late model victories (117).

“I didn’t want to disappoint my granddaughter,” Geisler said, referring to one of the many fans in the stands rooting for him to win his first feature at Lernerville since July 2009. “We’ve been close (to winning) over the last few years, but let a few slip away. It definitely feels good to win again.”

But there were some anxious moments before he climbed triumphantly from his car.

After winning his heat race, Geisler led the pack in the feature event for the first 17 laps before a caution flag bunched the field.

Then, on the back straightaway following the restart, Doug Eck and Geisler bumped each other, with Eck emerging with the lead.

Just two laps later and at the same spot on the track, Geisler returned the favor, moving ahead of Eck.

By the last lap, Eck had fallen to sixth and Geisler outraced points leader Jared Miley to the checkered flag.

“I know there was some bumping between Doug and I, but we raced hard,” said Geisler. “To me, that’s just good racing.

“You have to keep your head on straight,” he added. “Being patient is key. When people get close to you, you tend to get on the gas, but that’s not always the smartest thing. It’s easy to over-drive in a race like that.”

• Brian Swartzlander’s path to his 75th modified win at Lernerville wasn’t a straight one, but it got the job done.

Swartzlander and his crew detected a problem with his No. 83 car shortly after he used it to win his heat race.

He went with a backup car, but was forced to start dead last in the feature, which was dominated by Slippery Rock’s Dave Murdick for the first 14 laps.

Swartzlander, who had weaved his way to third place on the ninth lap, took over the top spot when Murdick went to the pits with car trouble on lap 15. The former never gave up the lead spot and beat out a hard-charging Jeremiah Shingledecker over the last few laps.

“I knew it was a long road ahead,” Swartzlander said of going worst to first, “but I told the guys that we’ve done it before. It’s nice to have a good backup car.”

• At one point in the sprint feature, Jack Sodeman Jr.’s lead was literally half the track. But in the end, he had to deal with a dreaded restart.

With just one lap to go in the 25-lap event, a caution flag was waved. By rule, two laps needed to be completed before a winner could be recognized. Fortunately for Sodeman, he was still leading the way at the checkered flag.

“You know everybody is behind you, but you’re not sure exactly where,” he said, admitting he was unaware of just how big a lead he had before the late caution. “I was watching the lap traffic and just didn’t want to make a mistake.”

• Jim Fosnaught picked up his first feature win at Lernerville, leading the 20-lap sportsman stock event from start to finish. He finished ahead of A.J. Flick and Corey McPherson, respectively.

Notes: There were 89 cars in the pits, including a high of 30 sportsman stocks and a low of 17 sprints.