BUFFALO TWP — Brandon Matus has quite a family history when it comes to racing — no sense in waiting to add his name to the list.

Matus, who will turn 17 on Monday, held off a furious charge by Brian Ellenberger, Carl Bowser and Scott Priester to capture his first Sprint Feature race Friday at Lernerville Speedway.

Brandon’s great-grandfather, John, owned and raced cars while grandfather Jerry and father Brent were very successful Sprint car drivers.

The win also gave Matus, of Wampum, his sixth top-five finish at the track this year.

“I didn’t think I’d get my first win this early,” said Matus, who took the lead from Rod George on the second lap and maintained the lead except for one lap the rest of the 25-lap race.

“I didn’t know what was going on behind me,” said Matus. “Every night this year, the cautions have hurt me. I don’t know if it helped, but it worked out.”

Ellenberger and Priester were right behind Matus on the final laps, but with one final caution with three laps remaining, Matus used the experience he had to hold off the charge.

“I felt pretty good with two laps to go,” said Ellenberger. “I felt I had a chance to pull it off, but Brandon ran a great race. I’m excited for him.

“I would have liked another lap. We were good. I put myself in a bad spot in the heat race (seventh in the first heat). I waited too long to get up there and ran out of laps,” Ellenberger added.

On the final turn, Ellenberger shot to the top of the track in one last chance to catch Matus, who certainly has the respect of his fellow drivers.

“Last year, I was behind him and him, but now I’m just as good as them,” Matus said.

• Speaking of cautions, Jared Miley came up on the short side as he saw a nice lead with five laps remaining in the late Model feature disappear as Rob Blair of Centerville took the lead and held on for the win.

Miley took the lead after eight laps from Mike Pegher Jr., who blew a tire and left the track.

“The only chance I had was getting a little traction on the second turn,” said Blair, who almost didn’t come to Lernerville because of the chance of rain. “I knew if I hit it, I could be side by side with (Miley). If not I was going to fall back.

“I might have caught him without the yellow flag ... but he ran a good line on top. My one shot was at the restart on the bottom.

“If I hit it right, I had one foot of traction. If I got it, I had a chance,” Blair added.

Miley, of South Park, was hopeful a caution flag would not come out, which he sensed would hurt his chances.

“With all the trouble we had, I was happy, but the caution just caught us ... I didn’t realize how close he was to me. In that traffic, I was excited. I thought I’d get some room.”

• Jeremiah Shingledecker of Polk led wire-to-wire to win his third Modified feature of the year.

He was locked in with Brian Swartzlander for the first 11 laps and laps 14 to 22 before Swartzlander would finish second on the final lap.

Shingledecker dedicated the race to his grandfather, who had passed away last Saturday.

• Despite six cautions, Corey McPherson of Tarentum also led from start to finish to pick up the Sportsman Pure Stocks feature.

Chicora’s Mike Miller, the overall points leader entering the race, had been behind McPherson, but had a mechanical issue after the 13th lap and headed for the pits.

Tarentum’s Chris Schneider, who was driving Brian Lochhart’s car, finished second just ahead of Scott Bochek of Cheswick and Joe Kelley of Mt. Pleasant.

Notes: There were 87 cars in the pits ... Racing returns next Friday for a Fab Four show.