BUFFALO TWP — Two unexpected drivers wound up in victory lane Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

An old favorite and a young gun.

Kittanning's Rod George, track champion here in 1986 and 2002, made his first appearance at the Sarver oval this season.

He drew the pole for the Sprint feature and led the race from wire to wire, holding off a stiff challenge from Evans City's Brandon Spithaler.

Sarver's Michael Norris, 22, started sixth in the Late Model feature. He moved to the front of the field early and held off division powers Alex Ferree and Jared Miley for his first feature win of the season.

The win was only the third of Norris' career at Lernerville.

George's victory was his 44th in the Sprint division at the Sarver oval. He last won here in July of 2012.

Spithaler, the defending track champion, was looking for career win No. 2 at the track.

“These young guys are making it tough on me,” George said. “That was fun racing with (Spithaler). He runs very clean for a young driver.

“He does everything he can to win, but he doesn't do anything stupid.”

George made an appearance at Lernerville because Mercer Raceway Park — his usual Friday night track — did not run Sprints on this night.

George was not at Lernerville to prepare for Tuesday night's Don Martin Memorial World of Outlaws event.

“I'm not even sure if I'll be here for that,” he admitted. “I work 100 miles from here. It'd be tough to come all that way, then not qualify for the show.”

Spithaler has struggled at Lernerville for much of this season, but liked his car's performance Friday night.

“This is the best the car's been all season, probably our best run anywhere this year,” Spithaler said. “We made some big changes with the car two weeks ago at Pittsburgh and they worked well down there.

“We tried those same changes here tonight and we were fast all night.”

George completed the 23rd lap just six one-thousandth of a second ahead of Spithaler when a caution flag came out.

George was then able to hold the lead for the final two laps.

“I didn't need that caution,” Spithaler said. “I was coming. I thought I was faster toward the end of the race, but needed a few continuous laps to build the momentum.”

George wasn't so sure he would have coughed up the lead.

“He was fast down there (turn 2), I was fast up here (turn 4),” George said. “It's hard to say what would have happened, but I don't think that restart mattered.”

Victory mattered plenty to Norris.

He was driving this particular No. 2 Late Model for only the third time this season after totaling his other car in a violent flip at Lernerville three weeks ago.

Before winning Friday, Norris' previous best finish at Lernerville this year was fifth.

“We've had some bad luck with wrecks and bad driving at times,” Norris said. “That car was always fast. This one was fast tonight. Maybe we got some good luck tonight, or no luck, meaning no bad luck.”

Saxonburg's Ferree, sporting a huge lead in the points race while finishing no worse than fourth in a feature all season, started 10th and shot into second place on the 14th lap.

“I tried everything that I'm willing to try and couldn't get around him,” Ferree said. “I showed him my nose a few times, tried to get him to move off his spot a little bit and he never flinched.

“He (Norris) drove a great race. Unless he made a mistake, I wasn't getting around him if we had stayed out there all night.”

Brian Swartzlander started the Modified feature seventh, raced side by side with Rex King Sr. for a while after an early restart, then pulled away for his second feature win at Lernerville this year.

The win was the 84th career triumph for Swartzlander at Lernerville.

He is the track's all-time Modified wins leader.

“This one feels good because it's been a while,” Swartzlander said of the win. “You take the bad with the good in dirt track racing.”

A seven-time track champion here, Swartzlander is only sixth in the points hunt in 2014.

“We had two DNF's and that's the difference,” he said. “You can't afford one DNF and stay in the points race. It's tough to make up 28 or 30 points here.”

Jim Fosnaught of Bairdford continued his career year by winning his third Sportsman Stock feature of the campaign.

He began 2014 with only one career win at Lernerville.

Fosnaught started from the ninth position and took the lead on lap 13.

Notes: There were 71 cars in the pits. ... Butler's Aaron Easler finished second in the Sportsman Stock feature, the highest finish of his career. ... Ferree and Corey McPherson (Stocks) both picked up their sixth heat wins of the season. Jared Zimbardi of Bradford earned his first Sprint heat win of the year.