BUFFALO TWP — The track is rather flat, but Evans City's Brandon Spithaler must have felt like he was riding a roller coaster Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

Spithaler began the night third in points in the Buckeye Ohio Sprint Series (BOSS), which made a rare appearance at the Sarver oval. The series runs wingless Sprint cars.

Driving car owner Tom Burkey's No. 57 B, Spithaler flipped the car during hot laps. His crew got the car back in shape in time for the heat races, in which Spithaler finished second.

“The track was much slicker than I thought and I just fired off Turn 1 right over Turn 2,” Spithaler said of the flip. “Fortunately, the car landed squarely on top of the roll cage, so the damage wasn't too bad.

“This crew did great work in getting the car back out for the heat race.”

Qualifying for the pill draw with his runner-up effort, Spithaler drew the third starting spot for the 25-lap feature and was running a solid second behind Logan Hupp. But the right rear tire of the No. 57B went flat with six laps to go.

The crew frantically changed the tire and got Spithaler back on the track on the lead lap, but he had to tail the field and finished last. Hupp, who took the lead on Lap 3, lost it to Dustin Smith off Turn 4 on Lap 24.

Smith took the lead with a slide move going into Turn 4. Hupp grabbed the lead back with the same move on the same turn on the final lap.

“That move was there,” Hupp said. “I knew I could find it.”

All Spithaler could find was frustration.

“I felt like I had a shot if that tire holds,” he said. “I was gaining on (Hupp) those last couple of laps.”

Spithaler has yet to win a BOSS race this season, getting nipped in a photo finish at Mercer Raceway Park three weeks ago.

“But we've been consistent,” he said. “Other than a couple of races, we've been a top-five car all year. And the season is only half-over.

“These standings can radically change. I found that out first-hand last year.”

Spithaler said he held an 80-point lead with two weeks left in the BOSS standings, but couldn't hang on.

Hupp, from Columbus, Ind., won a feature at Lernerville on his first-ever visit to the track. It was also his first career BOSS feature win.

“I only knew this track through a video game,” Hupp said. “I used to play the World of Outlaws Sprint video game and Lernerville was the track I used.

“To finally come here and win the race on top of it is pretty cool.”

In other features Friday at Lernerville, Chad McClellan of Stoystown won the CRATE Late Model event by starting on the pole and leading wire to wire while Dave Ponant of Pendelton, N.Y., won the CRATE Sportsman Modified feature.

“I've been at this track many times and have raced in pretty much every division that runs here,” McClellan said. “It's nice to finally get a win here.”

Like Hupp, Ponant won in his Lernerville debut. He won the heat race as well as there were only 10 cars in the Sportsman Modified field.

Notes: There were 26 BOSS wingless Sprints and 30 CRATE Late Models in the pits. ... Johnny Beaber, 61, second to Ed Lynch Jr. in career Sprint wins at Lernerville, competed in the BOSS event Friday. The former Zelienople resident won the B-Main and finished ninth in the feature. After a two-week hiatus, Fab Four racing returns this Friday.

July 4BOSS Wingless Sprint Feature(top 15 finishers)1. Logan Hupp (Columbus, Ind.), 2. Dustin Smith (Russiaville, Ind.), 3. Mike Miller (Wapakoneta, Ohio), 4. Jack Sodeman Jr, (North Jackson, Ohio), 5. Tony Beaber (Gibsonburg, Ohio), 6. Michael Fischesser (Cincinnati, Ohio), 7. Derek Hastings (Forest, Ohio), 8. Aaron Middaugh (Polk, Ohio), 9. Johnny Beaber (Gibsonburg, Ohio), 10. Andy Feil (New Castle), 11. Arnie Kent (New Castle), 12. Adam Miller (McDonald), 13. Bob McMillan (Wampum), 14. Joe Ligouri (Tampa, Fla.), 15. Chuck Wilson (Perrysburg, Ohio)RUSH Crate Late Model Feature(top 10 finishers)1. Chad McClellan (Stoystown), 2. Ryan Montgomery (Fairmont, W.Va.), 3. Rick Singleton (Front Royal, Va.), 4. Alan Dellinger (Hermitage), 5. Dennis Lunger (Albion), 6. John Waters (Whitesville, NY), 7. Josh Double (Bristolville, Ohio), 8. Bobby Rohrer (Waterford), 9. Josh Holtgraver (Pittsburgh), 10. Joe Martin (Mayport)RUSH Modified Feature(top 5 finishers)1. Dave Ponant (Pendleton, NY), 2. Adam Hilton (Buffalo, NY), 3. Rocky Kugel (East Liverpool, Ohio), 4. Jeremy Paup (Polk), 5. Jamie Duncan (Brookfield, Ohio)