Butch Lambert of Mars has had a big season in the Pure Stocks division at Lernerville Speedway, including three feature wins and nine heat race victories

BUFFALO TWP — Looking for Butch Lambert on the race track?

Just wait for the checkered flag to wave. He won't be far behind it.

Lambert, 33, of Mars has won a dozen events at Lernerville Speedway this season: three features and nine heat races, the most of any driver in any division at the Sarver track.

The driver of the No. 27 Pure Stock has failed to finish first in only two of his heat races all season. In 11 Lernerville Pure Stock feature races thus far in 2006, he has 10 top-five finishes, including three firsts, three seconds and three thirds.

"Things are going good for us right now, but that can change in a heartbeat,"Lambert said. "Luck plays a big part in this game."

Lambert's string of heat race wins aside, he's struggled to get strong pill draws for features.

"That's what we need more than anything," he said, laughing. "We've had no luck there."

Lambert has been racing in the Pure Stock division for 11 years. It took him seven years before he won his first feature here.

"Chuck Kennedy helped me build a car, and it made a big difference for me," he said. "My wife Robin, my uncle Bill Lambert, my crew — I've had the same people working with me over the years."

Lambert won his first points championship at Lernerville in 2002. He won a second points crown last year and is well on his way to his third in five seasons.

"This is the point we wanted to get to,"Bill Lambert said. "I just tell him to stay consistent, pick a line and go for it."

Nobody knows how consistent Lambert is more than Chicora's Greg Beach. The driver of the No. 33Xwon three consecutive features recently and followed it up with a heat race triumph last week.

Yet Beach enters this Friday's action 52 points behind Lambert in Lernerville's standings.

"He's just very good all of the time,"Beach said. "There were a couple of nights earlier in the season where we just didn't have it. The set-up was off or I'd make a mistake.

"Butch doesn't leave you that kind of margin for error. I've been good for a few weeks. He's been good every week."

Besides running his Pure Stock, Lambert races an E-Mod for car owner Chuck Neely at Tri-City Speedway. He has hopes of running a Late Model at Lernerville sometime down the road.

"That's every Pure Stock driver's dream, to eventually move up in division,"Lambert said. "But our division is as competitive as anybody's."