BUFFALO TWP - Bob Wearing Jr. missed out on the checkered flag Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

But on this night, it was OK to finish second.

Wearing had the pole for the Late Model feature and held the lead for six laps before settling for a distant second-place finish behind Davey Johnson of Greensburg.

The Renfrew driver of the No. 1W knows Johnson well.

"He's a good guy. He's been racing for a long time," Wearing said. "He had to show up here tonight and cost me a feature win, though.

"Davey does a lot of traveling and races all-star circuits. He raced in Florida earlier this year. … He runs the Outlaw Late Model shows a lot."

Johnson started in the second row Friday in winning at Lernerville for the first time since 1999.

He opted to come to the Sarver track Friday in preparation for the World of Outlaws Late Model event scheduled here April 29.

"We wanted to come over here and check out the track," Johnson said. "It was pretty cold and pretty hard, but everything worked out all right."

Wearing stands fifth on Lernerville's all-time Late Model feature win list with 23. He is ninth in Modified feature wins at Lernerville with 17. Overall, he has 96 career feature wins.

But he hasn't won at Lernerville since claiming the 30-lap Summer Sizzler on Aug. 1, 2003.

During the 18th-lap restart Friday, Wearing took the high groove around Turn 2 and appeared ready to pull alongside Johnson, but he fell back.

"My tires were gone a little bit," Wearing said. "The way I see it, if you're running with Davey Johnson late in a race, you've got something pretty good."

Jim Weller Jr. of Hubbard, Ohio, made a good showing in the Modified division on the opening night of points, winning the first points feature for the second consecutive year.

Weller was able to grab the lead on the sixth lap when pole-sitter Tommy Marshall III got a flat tire and contenders Kevin Bolland and Dave Murdick got stuck behind him.

"They got bottled up when Tommy broke and I was able to scoot on past everybody," Weller said. "That was a big break for me because there was only one line out there tonight."

Bolland ran second for the final 12 laps, but couldn't overtake Weller.

The win was Weller's 29th at Lernerville and came rather unexpectedly. He had finished only fourth in his heat race and struggled early in the feature.

"I've been struggling, period," Weller said. "We made a lot of changes (in the car's setup) after the heat race and it worked a lot better."

Brian Swartzlander of Leechburg didn't win the Modified race, but he finished third after starting 19th - and failing to finish his heat race.

"We ripped the front end off the car (during the heat race)," Swartzlander said. "It was one of those chain reaction things. Everyone just bumped into each other and we sustained some damage.

"We weren't far off in our setup. I'll gladly take a top-three finish after what happened."

Rod George of Kittanning started 11th, grabbed the lead from Charlie Holben on the 12th lap and cruised to the Sprint feature win.

George's victory was his 27th Sprint feature triumph at Lernerville, tying him with Bob Felmlee and Ralph Spithaler for seventh on the track's all-time list in that division.

"I didn't know I've been around that long," George said. "But, yeah, that's pretty nice."

Holben finished second. Ed Lynch Jr. - who started 12th - got tied up in lap traffic early before rallying to finish third.

Mike Pegher Jr. of Wexford won his second career Pure Stock feature at Lernerville, holding off Rob Shook, who won last week.

Pegher's other win here was the final Pure Stock points feature last season.

Notes:

There were 109 cars in the pits, including 37 Late Models. … Chuck Kennedy of Mars won the first B-Main, then came from the back of the field to finish seventh in the feature. Jason Dupont of Lewis Run won the second B-Main and finished eighth in the feature. … Butler's Mike Turner finished fourth in the Pure Stock feature. He has never won at Lernerville and owns one career second and third-place finish.

April 15Top 15 in featuresSprint Feature1. Rod George (Kittanning), 2. Charlie Holben (Cabot), 3. Ed Lynch Jr. (Apollo), 4. Jack Sodeman Jr. (Butler), 5. Kevin Schaeffer (Kittanning), 6. Mike Shearer (Freeport), 7. Arnie Kent (New Castle), 8. Dan Shetler (Johnstown), 9. Brett Covell (Titusville), 10. Cory Good (Smicksburg), 11. Brent Matus (Wampum), 12. Gary Rankin (Renfrew), 13. Davey Jones (Warrendale), 14. Mike Dehner (Clarion), 15. Carl Bowser (Sarver)Heat winners1st heat:Dan Shetler,2nd heat:Ed Lynch Jr.Late Model Feature1. Davey Johnson (Greensburg), 2. Bob Wearing Jr. (Renfrew), 3. Ken Schaltenbrand (Sarver), 4. Alan Dellinger (Hermitage), 5. John Flinner (Zelienople), 6. Lynn Geisler (Cranberry Twp.), 7. Chuck Kennedy (Mars), 8. Jason Dupont (Lewis Run), 9. Mike Blose (Dayton), 10. Dave Hess Jr. (Waterford), 11. Robie Blair (Titusville), 12. Bobby Hoffman (Renfrew), 13. Mike Johnson (Imperial), 14. Chris Schneider (Tarentum), 15. Jim Kurpakus (Leechburg)Heat winners1st heat:Alan Dellinger,2nd heat:Bob Wearing Jr.,3rd heat:Mat Lux (Franklin),B-Main #1:Chuck Kennedy,B-Main #2:Jason DupontModified Feature1. Jim Weller Jr. (Hubbard, Ohio), 2. Kevin Bolland (New Brighton), 3. Brian Swartzlander (Leechburg), 4. Dave Murdick (Slippery Rock), 5. Tom Winkle (Mars), 6. Del Rougeux Jr. (Frenchville), 7. Joe Crawford (Polk), 8. Gary Risch Jr. (Freeport), 9. JR McGinley (Fairmount City), 10. Chanda Reitz (Franklin), 11. George Hobaugh (Karns City), 12. Jeremiah Shingledecker (Polk), 13. Bob Dorman (Stockton, N.Y.), 14. Tom Marshall III (Wampum), 15. Mike Turner (Butler)Heat winners1st heat:Kevin Bolland,2nd heat:Tommy Marshall IIIPure Stock Feature1. Mike Pegher Jr. (Wexford), 2. Rob Shook (Creighton), 3. Bob Lipinski (Pittsburgh), 4. Mike Turner (Butler), 5. Bobby Whitling (Franklin), 6. Greg Beach (Chicora), 7. Bob Egley (Kitanning), 8. Herman Bertolini (Creighton), 9. Doug Iorio (Kennerdell), 10. Gary Norman (New Castle), 11. Jake Ayers (Chester, Md.), 12. Jason Fosnaught (Bairdsford), 13. Butch Lambert (Mars), 14. Dave Spangler (Renfrew), 15. Nick Reges (Butler)Heat winners1st heat:Bobby Whitling,2nd heat:Mike Pegher Jr.