EVANS CITY— Consider Brandon Spithaler a fast learner.

In only his second year of driving in the Limited Sprint car division at Sharon Speedway, the 16-year-old Butler resident finds himself at the top of the division's points race.

Spithaler's car is owned by his father and crew chief Frank Spithaler of Evans City. The younger Spithaler won two feature races last year.

"Brandon finished third in points and was the division's Rookie of the Year last year," his father said. "Our goal entering this year was to go after the points championship."

Easier said than done, considering the Limited Sprint division increased from 12 cars to 17 this season and its three-time points champion, Guy Griffin, is a veteran dirt track racer who won the Modified points championship at Mercer Raceway Park in 1997.

But when Spithaler won his first feature of the season last weekend, he overtook Griffin for the points lead and holds a 759-744 edge. Seven points races remain on the schedule.

"I'm proud of it,"Spithaler said of passing Griffin in the standings. "This is the first time anyone's ever led him in points, except for maybe the first couple of weeks of the season.

"Last year, I was surprised how fast (his father and himself) caught on to this division. By the end of last year, we were pretty good."

This year, Spithaler has yet to finish lower than third in any points race at Sharon, heat race or feature. He has won four of his first eight heat races.

But before last week, he had finished second or third in every feature.

"Yeah, it got frustrating," Spithaler said. "But I knew I was hanging around in points, so it wasn't too bad."

The Spithaler father-son tandem and family friend Joe Soltesz of Zelienople comprise the pit crew.

Sharon Speedway is the only dirt track in the region that runs Limited Sprints as a series.

"I'm glad it's that way, actually," Spithaler said. "If a lot of tracks ran it, the car count might be hurting."

Limited Sprint cars have a 327-cubic inch engine with 450 horsepower. A regular Sprint car has a 410-cubic inch engine and 800 horsepower.

A bigger difference between the two divisions is cost. The engine in Spithaler's car cost $8,800 and is on its second year with little wear and tear. The motor for a regular Sprint car is about $40,000 and requires a few thousand more to maintain, Frank Spithaler said.

Brandon Spithaler started seventh in last week's feature, had the lead by the 12th lap and won the race by seven car lengths. He started his heat race third and won the eight-lap race by half a track's distance.

"We changed the set-up a little bit last week and it worked,"the elder Spithaler said. "Brandon was pretty dominant. We're excited about the rest of this season."

An incoming senior at Butler High, Spithaler will turn 17 Aug. 20. He holds down two part-time jobs, along with working on the car with his father.

"I don't have a lot of free time, but it's OK,"he said. "There's no way Dad would let me race if I didn't spend time working on the car. It's worth it. I'm enjoying this."

Brandon admitted he would love to race a regular Sprinter next year, "but it all comes down to budget and we can't afford it.

"If somebody with more money than us asked me to drive their Sprint car, we might consider it," he added.

But the car would have to be a good one.

"Brandon's a good driver and he's earning that reputation," his father said. "I don't want him in a half-rate car. He's taken incredibly good care of this one. We're almost two years through and we haven't had $100 total in damage done to it altogether."

So look for the Spithalers to return to the Limited Sprint division next season.

"Hopefully, with a title to defend,"Frank Spithaler said.