BUFFALO TWP — Opening night was all about defending one's turf Friday at Lernerville Speedway.

Defending points champions Dave Hess Jr. (Late Models) and Kevin Bolland (Modifieds) rallied from improbable positions to win their respective features.

Hess had to qualify for the Late Model feature through the B-Main after an aggressive move in his heat race failed to pay off.

“It was a bonehead move by me,” Hess said. “I had a transfer spot sewn up, running second to John Flinner, but I went heavy on the gas trying to catch him.

“I wound up going over the top edge and finished seventh in that heat.”

Hess finished third in the B-Main — the top five advanced to the feature — but had to start the main event from the 18th position.

Hess got up to fourth by the 10th lap, second by the 13th, and took the lead from Gregg Satterlee on a 14th-lap restart. Satterlee took the lead back on a 17th-lap restart.

But on Turn 2 of the final lap, Hess dove down low, jumped in front of Satterlee and took the checkered flag.

“That was a dive bomb that I wasn't expecting,” Satterlee said. “But he dove in there and made it stick. It was an aggressive, clean move.

“Dave had to pass a lot of guys to get into that position. He probably could have tried that a couple of laps earlier. He had figured out everything I was doing.”

Bolland started the Modified feature from the eighth spot and was in fourth place for a 24th-lap restart.

The New Brighton driver of the No. 777 shot off the top groove and passed the three cars in front of him — including race leader Dave Murdick of Slippery Rock — to grab the victory.

“That was a good race ... I didn't know if I had enough steam to get there,” Bolland said of the winning move. “I was struggling to get off the corner and everyone else was, too.

“Davey showed me something on that top groove. He went down low to try protecting his lead because everyone else was running down there. He left it open for me.”

Bolland's win was his 52nd at Lernerville. He is one of only 10 drivers in the 43-year history of the track to accumulate more than 50 wins there.

Cole Duncan of Lockbourne, Ohio, won the Sprint feature, taking the lead from Sarver's Carl Bowser on the ninth lap and holding off Dale Blaney in the final two laps.

Duncan had won at the Sarver track only once before — at the Steel City Stampede in 2009.

“I was good on top in (turns) 1 and 2 and on the bottom in 3 and 4,” Duncan said. “The track was slick, but there were some patches where you could do some things.”

Blaney said he might have been able to get by Duncan in a 30-lap race, “but my job was to get by him in 25 and I didn't do it.”

Butler's Brian Ellenberger finished fifth after starting 12th. Ellenberger is not running the World of Outlaws circuit this season.

“I'll be doing a mixedbag,” he said of Outlaw, All-Star and local events. “I'm sure we'll be here quite a bit.”

Mike Miller of Chicora claimed his third career Lernerville win in the Sportsman Stocks. He won the final points race of 2010 and the first one this year.

Miller led the feature for the first 16 laps before Corey McPherson ducked underneath on Turn 4 of the 17th lap to overtake him.

“I thought I was done at that point,” Miller admitted. “I figured he was gone.”

But Miller took the lead back on Turn 2 of the 19th lap and held on for the victory.

Notes: There were 82 cars in the pits, including 28 Late Models. ... Paul Petrovich of Gibsonia was sent head-on into the wall during his Sportsman Stock heat race. He had the wind knocked out of him, but was OK. ... Lernerville all-time Sprint victory leader Ed Lynch Jr. did not race Friday night. He was at the track, but as a spectator. ... Defending Sportsman Stock point champion Joe Kelley dropped out during his heat race and was a scratch for the feature.