BUFFALO TWP — Fireworks were on display at Lernerville Speedway prior to the Ti22 Sprint feature on Friday night.

Once racing resumed, Brian Ellenberger put on a show of his own.

The Butler driver passed Eric Williams of Greenville with three laps to go and held off a competitive field of racers for his second feature victory of the season.

“It was a fun race and it's always nice to win one,” said Ellenberger. “Tonight, we had to work really hard for it.”

Ellenberger was ahead of the pack when the race was red flagged on Lap 6 after Todd Bauer's No. 45 went toppling. Ellenberger had a tough time immediately regaining the momentum and a little trouble on Turn 2 gave Williams the advantage.

However, it could have been worse. A caution came out on Pete Miller III, which saved Ellenberger from falling behind additional drivers.

“It was just cold tires on a restart and I sailed it off the track there on Turn 2 and I'm guessing two more cars were going to pass me,” Ellenberger admitted. “I was probably going to come out of there fourth or fifth and the yellow came out and at least got me back into second.”

It was the final caution of the race, though, which proved key to Ellenberger's victory.

“It seemed to take forever for my tires to get warmed up after my restart. ... Those restarts are what killed me, because it took a while for (the tires) to light back up again,” he explained. “I was glad on that last restart it went all the way to the end and my tires got better as the race went on.

“It was a close race,” he added. “Eric Williams ran a good race tonight.”

Williams wasn't the only competition, though.

Jack Sodeman, Jr. passed the Butler driver for second place on Lap 10, but Ellenberger managed to sneak back into second four laps later. Sodeman eventually finished fourth, while Danny Holtgraver — last week's winner — claimed third.

“The only thing I could do is just bide my time,” said Ellenberger. “I got passed a couple of times and just had to be patient and wait for those guys to make a mistake.”

Patience also turned out to be a virtue for Big-Block Modifieds feature winner Dean Pearson of Harrisville.

The veteran driver has been racing for three decades, but collected his first-ever feature win at Lernerville on Friday.

Kevin Bolland was in complete control and appeared to be destined for the win with approximately a six-second cushion on the field. However, his car shut down on a straightaway after leading the first 18 laps of the feature.

Pearson was second on the restart behind Butler's Steve Feder, but the Harrisville driver pushed ahead on Lap 22 and took the checkered flag. Feder earned his second runner-up finish of the year and defending track champion Jeremiah Shingledecker nabbed third.

For Pearson, it was a long time coming.

“Boy, we've been running down here for 30 years,” he said in Victory Lane. “I never thought this was going to happen.”

Tarentum's Corey McPherson has been no stranger to checkered flags in the Sportsman division this season and continued a stellar campaign with his third feature win of the year.

Even though it was a 20-lap race, McPherson had to hold off the competition for a couple extra. A caution on Lap 19 created a two-lap shootout, but another wreck occurred before the race could be completed and McPherson was forced to beat the field on another shootout.

He successfully did so, leading the way on all 22 laps of the race. Defending track champion and Chicora native Mike Miller placed second.

“The car felt awesome. I can't complain about anything,” said McPherson. “Three wins, I'm really happy with that.”

Latrobe's Davey Johnson was the Late Models feature winner. Like McPherson, Johnson led from start to finish.

“It was pretty awesome here tonight. It was good in the traction and good in the slick,” said Johnson of his car. “Once we got some heat in (the tires), it took off.”

Chub Frank finished second, Cranberry Township's Mike Pegher Jr. took third and points leader Jared Miley claimed fourth.

There were a total of 89 cars in the pits.