BUFFALOTWP — Once he learned he drew the pole position, veteran Sprint car driver Brian Ellenberger kept his eyes fixed in front of him.

It was a good thing he did, because everything behind him was a mess Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

The second lap of the feature needed five restarts and the overall race had eight restarts, including three red lights for overturned cars.

The feature took 45 minutes to complete, but the Butler resident led from wire to wire for his first-ever feature win at Lernerville.

His first race here was in 1996.

"Definitely a long time coming,"Ellenberger said with a smile. "I've had so many close calls here. I've run well on this track. I've just had a lot of bad luck."

Misfortune nearly struck again Friday. Ellenberger had open track the entire race before hitting lapped traffic with two laps remaining.

"Here I felt like I had a comfortable lead and I see the No. 9 (Kevin Schaeffer) pulling up beside me. I had to give it the gas," Ellenberger said.

Primarily a World of Outlaws and All-Star driver, Ellenberger hasn't run at Lernerville often over the years.

He almost didn't run here Friday.

"We didn't decide to come until Thursday night,"Ellenberger said. "With the Outlaws running here (May 19), I wanted to get at least one race in beforehand."

Schaefer ran second nearly the entire race. Rod George started 16th and finished third.

"I couldn't get any push off the inside on those restarts,"Schaefer said. "That's something we're gonna have to fix."

George came hard toward the end and briefly passed Schaefer for second, only to give that position right back.

"I was in favor of a fuel stop that never came,"George said. "I was running out of gas."

Drivers who saw their cars flipped over during the feature were Sheila Rankin in a three-car crash on the second lap, Ed Lynch Jr. after hitting the wall in Turn 2 of the fourth lap and Arnie Kent after going too high off Turn 2 on the fifth lap.

A broken front axle ended Lynch's night early. No drivers were injured.

Late Models

Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who turned 18 last month, picked up his first career feature win in Western Pennsylvania in bizarre fashion.

Starting from the ninth position, Richards weaved through the field and found himself in a three-way battle with Cranberry Township's Lynn Geisler and Saxonburg's Alex Ferree for the lead entering the 25th and final lap.

With Geisler and Richards nose to nose, Ferree tried going high on Turn 1 to pass them both — and spun out.

Restarts on the final lap at Lernerville require a two-lap finish. Richards jumped in front of Geisler on the restart and was rounding Turn 4 of the final lap for a certain victory — until Chris Schneider spun out to force a second two-lap restart.

Richards jumped in front again and held off Geisler and his 104 career Lernerville wins for the checkered.

"I knew I had to get up on the wheel," Richards said. "To go from ninth to first ... everything has to go your way."

Modifieds

Tom Winkle of Mars darted past a surprised Brian Swartzlander on the 24th lap to notch his seventh career feature win at the Sarver track.

Swartzlander, who is driving new Lernerville track manager Gary Risch's No. 3Ghere this season, took the lead from pole-sitter Jim Weller Jr. on the 18th lap.

Winkle started from the second position, slipped back to fourth and recovered for the victory.

"On the (19th lap)restart, I decided to run the bottom, where nobody else was going," Winkle said.

Pure Stocks

Seneca Valley graduate Mike Pegher Jr. started fourth, grabbed the lead on Turn 1 of Lap 1 and never surrendered it.

Pegher held off defending points champion Butch Lambert of Mars for the victory, his fourth Lernerville feature triumph while beginning only his third season at the track.

Notes: There were 97 cars in the pits, including 32 Late Models. ... Five-time Late Model points champion John Flinner of Zelienople did not compete Friday night. ... Justin Fosnaught won the Hard Charger Award in the Pure Stock feature, starting 13th and finishing third. ... A red light came out in the second lap of the Pure Stock feature for Butler's Nick Reges, whose car tipped over during a three-car collision. He was unhurt. ... The USACWingless Sprints make their first appearance at Lernerville since 1992 next Friday night. The BRPModified Tour will also compete. Late Models and Pure Stocks will not appear.