Lucky number 83
BUFFALO TWP — Consider Brian Swartzlander an old stand-by at Lernerville Speedway.
The longtime driver of the No. 83 car posted his 83rd career Lernerville Modified feature win on opening night Friday at the Sarver oval.
“83 ... That's a pretty good number, isn't it?,” Swartzlander quipped.
It's a significant one in that it's 14 more Modified wins than any other driver has ever attained here — the late Lou Blaney has 69 — and it's nearly six times as many career victories at Lernerville than Friday night's other three winners have combined.
Danny Holtgraver won his sixth career Lernerville Sprint feature while Russ King claimed his third Late Model triumph and Butler's Terry Young his fifth checkered flag in the Sportsman Stocks.
Swartzlander started in the front row, took the lead from pole-sitter Rex King on the fourth lap and never gave it up. The 25-lap feature had no caution flags.
“I'm glad the race went wire-to-wire,” Swartzlander said. “That's what you want when you're running up front and you get the lead.
“I had no idea where anyone else was on the track. I was just concentrating on running my race.”
Defending track points champion Mat Williamson started sixth and finished second. He approached Swartzlander's bumper with three laps to go before the No. 83 car got away.
“Whenever I'm running first, there seems to be all kinds of yellow flags,” Williamson said. “When Brian's leading, I can't buy one.
“He was good, but this might have been a different story if I had gotten a chance at a restart alongside him, or the race was 35 laps ... even another couple of laps.”
Swartzlander said three lapped cars “were trying to race with me ... I slowed up a bit, just trying to keep my car clean. I did that and got the win, so it went well.”
Swartzlander, his sponsor and race crew have been together since 1993.
“That's a big part of it,” he said. “I've got the best crew in the business. Something doesn't feel right with the car, those guys know what to do.”
In other features:Holtgraver, 24, took the lead from Sarver's Carl Bowser on the 12th lap and held it from there to win the Sprint feature.The 2010 track champion in Sprints here, Holtgraver runs the All-Star series now and has only made occasional appearances at Lernerville in recent years.“It always feels good to race here. It's like coming home for me,” he said. “I know this place. I've turned a million laps ... I know what works here.“The all-stars were off tonight, so it worked out that I could be here for opening night.”Holtgraver started from the eighth spot while Bowser started third.“This is only my second night out this season,” said Bowser, who finished third at Mercer last week. “I'm not hanging my head because I finished second. We're off to an encouraging start.“Five or six years ago, I would have wrecked the car trying to pass (Holtgraver) for the win. I've gotten smarter. I'm running to win, but you have to pay the bills.”Pole-sitter Russ King nearly led the Late Model race from start to finish, giving up the lead on Lap 17 to Seneca Valley graduate Mike Pegher Jr., only to get it back seconds later.Pegher snuck around Jared Miley to claim second place in the feature.“We've had a tough winter here,” King said. “A lot of important people in our lives passed away recently. It just feels good to come here and win.”Young won a Sportsman Stock feature at Lernerville for the first time in nearly two years. He passed Saxonburg's Brett McDonald on the eighth lap and held off a hard-charging Corey McPherson for the win.McPherson is two-time defending Stocks points champion.“When you see Corey out your window, you get nervous,” Young said. “But I wasn't gonna give up that low groove.“I've got a great car. It handles well. It runs well.”Notes: There were 83 cars in the pits. ... A.J. Flick of Apollo, a Sportsman Stock driver last year, made his debut in the Sprint division, but it was a quick one. He got tangled up with the No. 27 car of Skip Dougherty on the first lap of his heat race and flipped off Turn 2. Flick was unhurt, but his car was towed off and suffered significant damage. ... Carl Murdick, 76, of Butler, returned to action this season and is the only driver to race during every season of Lernerville's existence.
