BUFFALO TWP — Temperatures were taken. Masks were donned.

And racing was back.

Lernerville Speedway held its long-awaited 2020 season opener Friday night with 81 cars in the pits and close to 4,000 people in the stands.

“It just feels good to be back,” Sprint driver Carl Bowser of Sarver said. “Seeing the crowd, feeling the atmosphere ... It was like a small bit of normalcy coming back in life.”

Late Model driver Russ King — who won the feature, earning himself an automatic spot in this weekend's Firecracker 100 — admitted this wasn't a typical opening night.

“There are way more people here than there normally is on opening night,” King said. “Everybody has been waiting for this.”

Nobody was permitted inside the gates without having their temperature taken and signing a COVID-19 waiver. Once inside, most people removed their masks.

It became business as usual.

Jack Sodeman Jr. of North Jackson, Ohio — the defending Lernerville Sprint points champion — picked up the first feature win of the season at the Sarver oval. He started on the pole and led wire-to-wire in the 25-lap race.

“He never came down off that top groove,” said Evans City's Brandon Spithaler, who finished third. “Then again, he didn't have to.”

Spithaler came close to overtaking Sodeman a couple of times, but lapped traffic made that difficult.

“I could feel him there,” Sodeman said.

Bowser, who was sitting third, took advantage of a 23rd-lap restart and passed Spithaler on the back straightaway.

On the feature's first lap, R.J. Jacobs rolled his Sprint off the third turn, the car flipping violently down the hill and into the fence separating the pits from the track. Jacobs was not seriously hurt.

Friday marked only the third racing night of the season for Bowser, a former Lernerville track champion. He had a pair of DNF's at Tri-City Speedway.

“The car felt great. I was strong between (turns) one and two all night,” Bowser said.

Spithaler won a race at Tri-City a week earlier. He also started 12th and finished fifth at Attica.

“It's been a good week,” he said. “I can't complain about finishing third. The car got a little loose at the end.”

Sodeman's win was his 23rd career Sprint feature triumph at Lernerville. He is three wins behind Bowser for 10th-place on the track's all-time win list in the Sprint division.

The race marked Sodeman's fifth of the season. He's raced at Roaring Knob, Wayne County and Tri-City earlier this year, finishing as high as third.

“I was able to take advantage of starting up front and just holding my line,” Sodeman said. “We were able to run clean.

“Just being able to get back on the track here after this much time was a lot of fun.”

King started 10th in the Late Model feature and was able to work his way into third by the 15th lap. He moved up to second when race leader Colton Flinner spun out on a 15th-lap restart.

King grabbed the lead from Matt Lux off Turn 2 on a 20th-lap restart. He held on to secure his 16th career Late Model win at Lernerville.

“Everyone was out here busting their ... to win,” King said, referring to the Firecracker 100 berth going to the victor.

There were 25 Late Models at the track in preparation for this weekend's three-day World of Outlaws Late Model event.

Garrett Krummert started third in the Modified feature and was able to overcome pole-sitter Dave Murdick of Butler for the feature win.

Chicora's Mike Miller won the Pro Stock feature, securing his 13th career feature victory, but first at Lernerville since 2015.

Lernerville Results

June 19

(top 10 in features)

Sprints

1. Jack Sodeman Jr., 2. Carl Bowser, 3. Brandon Spithaler, 4. AJ Flick, 5. John Garvin Jr., 6. Dan Shetler, 7. Brent Matus, 8. Gary Kreiss Jr., 9. Jacob Gomola, 10. Brandon Matus

Late Models

1. Russ King, 2. Matt Lux, 3. Michael Lake, 4. Will Thomas, 5. Colton Flinner, 6. Ken Schaltenbrand, 7. Tyler Dietz. 8. Mike Miller, 9. Gary Lyle, 10. John Weaver

Modifieds

1. Garrett Krummert, 2. Dave Murdick, 3. Brian Swartzlander, 4. Rex King Jr., 5. Rex King Sr., 6. John Mollick, 7. Jeremiah Shingledecker, 8. Ricky Richner, 9. Steve Feder, 10. Rick Regalski

Pro Stocks

1. Mike Miller, 2. Noah Brunell, 3. Jason Fosnaught, 4. Tyler Dietz, 5. Corey McPherson, 6. Chase Lambert, 7. Joe Kelley, 8. Mike Bordt, 9. Brett McDonald, 10. Tony Zembowski