BUFFALO TWP — Brian Ellenberger was trying to go 2-for-2 this season at Lernerville Speedway.

The Butler driver of the No. 22 Sprint car got some of the help he needed Friday night, but he didn't get all of it.

Rod George saw to that.

The veteran driver from Kittanning started seventh, took the lead on Lap 16 and kept Ellenberger in second place the rest of the way.

"We were riding the same line up top and there was nowhere to go on the bottom," Ellenberger said. "There were too many lapped cars down there.

"All I could do is stay with Rod and wait for him to make a mistake."

He never did.

Ellenberger began the race from the 10th spot after winning here on opening night. George and Ed Lynch Jr. quickly moved into second and third behind race leader Jack Sodeman Jr., who started in the front row.

Lynch, Lernerville's all-time Sprint victory leader, couldn't avoid a spinout by Sheila Rankin on the 11th lap and had to go to the back of the field. He finished seventh.

Sodeman, a former Butler resident who now lives in North Jackson, Ohio, maintained the lead for the first 15 laps before the rear end of his car broke on a 16th-lap restart.

"I really thought we had this one," Sodeman said. "We were a full second faster than everybody. That's fast enough to win anywhere.

"Coming around Turn 2 (on the restart), I felt the thing give way."

George never pulled away from Ellenberger. He never had to.

"All I had to do was hold that line," George said. "There was nothing else there for him. I really felt like I had the best car tonight.

"From hot laps through the heat race through the feature — it was good all night."

George's win was the 41st of his career at Lernerville.

Ellenberger was uncertain he would race Friday until two hours before the start of the Fab Four program. The World of Outlaws — of which he's a regular — runs in the state of Indiana Saturday night.

"My car was sitting in the shop at 5:15 p.m.," Ellenberger said. "The Outlaws gave me permission to run here tonight, so we came out.

"Even on our off nights, we love to race. We have a 9Z\x -hour drive to Indiana and we're heading there right now."

Ellenberger said the Outlaws schedule won't allow him to race here again until the series comes to Lernerville July 20.

In other features:

• Chub Frank of Bear Lake took the lead from Cranberry Township's Lynn Geisler on the 10th lap and held it to win the Late Model Feature.

Frank won his 12th career feature at the Sarver oval and his first since Aug. 31, 2007. He started from the fourth position.

Frank and some other top Late Model drivers from the tri-state region raced here Friday to test the track for next weekend's O'Reilly Late Model All-Star Series event at Lernerville, which pays $5,000 to win.

Jared Miley pushed Frank on the final turn of the final lap, but could not catch him.

"They're really good here," Frank said of the local drivers. "We're trying to figure out what tires to run here, for the (June) Firecracker 100 more than anything else."

• Kevin Bolland of New Brighton started up front and led the Modified feature from wire to wire.

He picked up his 48th career Lernerville win in that division and sits fifth on the track's all-time Modified list. Del Rougeux finished second.

"I had to stay on the bottom because Del always runs good down there," Bolland said. "We're working hard. We have a lot of wins we want to stack up this year."

Bolland was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame last weekend.

• Bob Egley of Kittanning started eighth, took the lead on the fifth lap and kept it to win the Sportsman Stock Feature.

The win was Egley's ninth at Lernerville and first since Aug. 7, 2009

"I got my butt kicked at Sharon (Speedway) last weekend, came home, tore the car down and changed everything," Egley said. "I had no idea how it was going to do tonight.

"I completely changed the car from last year. I had to do something. Everybody is getting faster."

Notes: There were 81 cars in the pits. ... Friday's Sprint Feature paid $2,000 to win and was the first of 10 Sprint Challenge races this season. Lernerville and Tri-City host three each, Mercer and Sharon two each. ... Sarver's Carl Bowser apparently had nipped Lynch in a tight Sprint heat race, but a Sheila Rankin spinout on the final turn forced a final-lap restart. Lynch passed Bowser with the second opportunity.