BUFFALO TWP — Defending Sprint points champion Carl Bowser didn't feel like much of one lately.

Until Friday night.

The Sarver driver of the No. 10 Sprint car started the feature alongside A.J. Flick in the front row, exploded into the lead on the first turn and cruised to victory lane at Lernerville Speedway.

In the first two Sprint features of the season at Lernerville, Bowser's best finish was eighth place. He missed last week's All-Star Sprint show because of a wedding.

“We worked on revamping some things over the winter and thought we were ready to go this year,” Bowser said. “But things didn't go the way we had hoped.

“We came out here Thursday, went out on the track and did some testing. That really helped us. Everything totally clicked tonight — at last.”

Despite restarts on the second, sixth and 20th laps of the feature, Flick was unable to mount enough of a challenge against Bowser.

“I didn't need that last restart,” Flick said. “I thought I was gaining some ground on him before that. But the last five laps of this race were not the best laps I've driven here.”

Flick has finished second twice in Lernerville's young season — once to Ed Lynch Jr., this time to Bowser.

“They are two drivers who have won a lot of races here for a reason,” Flick said. “There's no shame in finishing behind those guys.”

Flick passed up attending his graduation ceremony at Penn State University Friday night to race at Lernerville.

“My parents invested a lot of money for me to attend college and I'm sure they would have liked to have seen that,” Flick said of the graduation ceremony. “But at the same time, they know we're a racing family and this is where we wanted to be.

“It would have been nice to have won this, but give Carl Bowser the lead and that high groove ... He's not giving it up. He was gone.”

Bowser's win was his 15th career Sprint triumph at Lernerville.

“Get out of lapped traffic and give one of these (Sprint) cars clean air, it just floats the car around the track,” Bowser said.

The Modified race featured two of the division's best — 2013 track champion Mat Williamson and all-time wins leader Brian Swartzlander — duking it out in open air at the front of the field for nearly 14 laps.

Williamson won the duel, the No. 6 car from St. Catharines, Ontario, taking the checkered flag over Swartzlander.

“I got him in lapped traffic (20th lap), he got me back the same way (22nd lap),” Swartzlander said. “This was two guys racing as hard as we can, yet it was clean. We never touched each other.

“Mat was the better guy tonight. He just got me.”

Williamson won for the seventh time in less than three seasons at Lernerville. It was his first win since May 23 of last year.

“It's about time. I was in quite a slump there,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Brian. We really went after it and I'm glad we were able to put on a show like that for the fans.”

Veteran driver Dave Murdick of Meridian started on the pole and settled for third. He blew an engine last weekend at Sharon Speedway.

“We've had some bad luck early in this season. It felt good just being able to finish a race,” Murdick said.

Russ King of Bristolville, Ohio started fourth, took the lead on the seventh lap and never lost it in beating Saxonburg's Alex Ferree to the finish line in the Late Model feature.

It was King's second feature win of the season and his seventh overall at the Sarver oval.

Corey McPherson of Leechburg won a thrilling Sportsman Stock feature, the lead changing hands eight times between he and Jim Fosnaught during the 20-lap race.

McPherson finally pulled away in the final three laps to record his 20th career Lernerville win and second of the young season.

“That might have been the funnest race I've ever run here,” McPherson said.

Notes: There were 71 cars in the pits. ... Ed Lynch Jr. grazed the wall five laps into the Sprint feature, got a flat tire and did not return. ... South Park's Jared Miley finished third in the Late Model feature for the third straight time. ... Ed Ferree of Valencia, Late Model points champion here in 1985 and 1986, competed in the feature Friday and finished 10th. ... Alex Ferree has finished no worst than second so far this year. ... Bowser won his first heat race of the year along with his first feature.