April
Ed Makes His First Visit to Mercer and Comes Away With 2nd Place on Saturday - 4/28/07 

    When other tracks cancelled because of rain, Vicki Emig, owner of Mercer Raceway Park, thought the weather might clear and said she was racing.  Ed and the crew loaded up in a drizzle and headed north Saturday to make one of their infrequent appearances at Mercer and signed in to be part of the 18 Sprint cars on hand. 

    The need for three yellows and two red flags in just the first five laps of the feature had a lot to do with the way the race played out for Ed.  What could have been a short and sweet night at the races with the Sprints second on the docket and getting a green flag for their 20-lap feature at 9:10PM, turned out to be 50 minutes long. 

    Line up for the field had been determined by Mercer's handicap system, setting the front row with Joe Butera and Mike Dehner followed in row two by Arnie Kent and Rod George.  Last week's feature winner Danny Holtgraver and Scott Bonnell made up row three while Ed started seventh inside Brian Ellenberger.  The original start was a good one for Ed as he passed three cars in turn two and passed Bonnell in turn four coming to the flag stand.  But, Rodney Duncan's young son Cole who had started 14th, got caught up in the outside rail and fence in turn two and the red flag came out requiring a complete restart.   

    It took 15 minutes to get Duncan's car unhooked from its upright position imbedded in the fence.  Just one lap was completed before Scott Rogers spun on the front stretch and Dehner now took charge of the single-file restart.  Only two more laps were completed when Dennis Wagner lost power causing another single file start with three laps scored.  Now, George was the leader followed by Dehner, Kent, Ellenberger, Bonnell and Ed.  However, on the restart, Holtgraver took a nasty flip on the high side of turn three and it was a red flag condition, still with only three laps complete. 

    On lap four, Ed was able to pass Bonnell outside on the back stretch, moving him into fourth.  The final yellow followed on lap five for Rogers again.  Finally, the green came out to stay on lap six with Ed passing Kent in turn three and by lap nine, Ed was closing in on Ellenberger.  In turn two, Ed moved into past Ellenberger with an inside pass on lap 10.  By this time, George had a commanding lead and Ed spent the remaining laps narrowing the gap with each lap.  On lap 18, Ed was inside George, but a lapped car running low prevented the pass and George pulled ahead again. 

    With two laps remaining, Ed closed on George once again, but fell short by a car length at the checkered with Kent, Dehner and Ellenberger rounding out the top five.  The two heats were won from the front row with Bonnell taking the first heat from the pole and Ed winning the second heat from outside pole.    

Most fans know a "blanket finish" when they see one and that's the way the 25-lap Sprint Feature ended Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.   The top three cars were separated by less than one second on the AMB automatic timing/scoring sheet with front-row starter Kevin Schaeffer in first, Brian Ellenberger in second and Ed in third.

 Despite having to start 12th in the 21 car field, because of his win here last week, Ed set out to methodically make his way forward. Arnie Kent and Schaeffer brought the field to the green flag with Bob Felmlee and Scott Priester in row two.  By lap four, Ed was up to ninth just behind Scott Bonnell.  Two laps later, Ed had picked up two more spots and was seventh.  But, leader Schaeffer was making good time as the laps clicked off, lapping seven cars before the first yellow came out for Terry Bowser on lap 11. 

The running order now showed, Schaeffer, Felmlee, Kent, Ellenberger, Dan Shetler and Ed in sixth with several lapped cars spaced inbetween the front-runners.  By the time Bowser slipped off turn two causing another yellow on lap 19, Ed was up to fifth.  The last six laps went very fast as Ed used an inside move to get by Shetler for fourth by lap 21.  He passed Felmlee on lap 22 and closed in on the front two, Schaeffer and Ellenberger. 

As the front three circled the track, they were practically bumper to bumper.....thus the blanket finish with less than one second, the margin from first to third.  Schaeffer claimed his first win of the year, with Ellenberger second and Ed third at the checkered flag.  Felmlee and Shetler rounded out the top five, followed by Kent, Rod George, Carl Bowser, Danny Holtgraver and Scott Bonnell in the top 10.  The first heat was won by Ed and Felmlee took the second heat.

 Plans are to run Sharon on Saturday..
 

The fans were on their feet as the opening night Sprint Car feature at Sharon Speedway went non-stop and had a down -to-the-wire finish as Ed closed in on leader Bob Felmlee who had a straight-away advantage at one time..  Although Ed turned the fastest lap time in the 25-lap event, he missed getting the win he wanted by the narrow margin of .064 seconds.  

"Sometimes, it's all in how the lapped traffic plays out in a deal like this when we go non-stop," but, Ed admitted further, "with the way our night started, I'm really glad to get a good finish."  He was referring to his heat race where he started, but lost power on the first lap and was forced to pull to the infield giving him a 7th place finish.  However, he soon got word that Russ Sansosti, who finished third behind Jody Keegan and Kevin Schaeffer, failed to cross the scales and was disqualified, thus moving Ed up and eligible for the random feature draw.   Felmlee won the second heat over Bob Lime and Dan Shetler. 

The track conditions (Ed did not do hot laps) were choppy, rough and dusty for the heats, but the track crew set out to fix that and they did.  To everyone's surprise the track was smooth and had multiple grooves for the 16-car Sprint feature.....thus, the fans were treated to the green-to-checkered event. 

Keith Taylor and Shawn Minor made up the front row of the feature which took to the track at 8:25PM.  Bob Lime and Dan Shetler were in row two followed by Mike Kekich and Scott Bonnell.  Row four had Kevin Schaeffer and Felmlee while Ed and Keegan started in row five  It was Minor, however, that led the first four laps before Schaeffer passed by to lead the next two laps before Felmlee found his way from the outside row to take charge on lap seven with Ed now in third.  It took Ed until lap 14 to run down Schaeffer and claim second. 

With Felmlee seemingly in command with a straight-away lead,  Ed had the fans' attention as he methodically cut into that lead.  It was clear as the laps were winding down, that it would be a close finish and the transponders that each car carries to record their lap times that it was going to be a fraction of a second that decided the outcome.  Following Flemlee and Ed, it was Keegan Schaeffer and Kekich, the only cars on the lead lap.   Jarod Larson and Bonnell were next, but down one lap.  Rounding outt the top ten, but two laps down were Minor, Tail Hilbert and Lime. 

For anyone interested in viewing the lap times, go to Sharon Speedway's web site www.sharonspeedway.com or www.mylaps.com where information is posted immediately following races.. 

Coming from eighth spot in the 25-lap feature Friday night at Lernerville Speedway on their first point night of the 2007 season, Ed lapped up to the eighth place car in the 25 car field on his way to win number 83 here.

It was a late night with the Sprints running last in the four-division rotation with the field getting the green  flag at 12:10AM.  But, the die-hard Sprint fans that were around for the checkered flag at 12:33AM all were quick to comment, "It was worth the wait!" 

After winning his heat race from the outside pole position,  the redraw for the feature line-up put Ed outside row four.  The first heat winner, '06 Champion Kevin Schaeffer, was on the pole with Charlie Holben outside.  Row two showed Rod George and Gary Rankin with Danny Holtgraver and Dan Shetler in row three.  Carl Bowser, winner of heat three was inside Ed in the next row.  Through all three heats, Ed had turned the fastest lap of 13.017, which was understandably a full second slower than opening night when the Sprints had the track first.

 Schaeffer was fast out of the blocks and pulled away from Holben, but George was quick to move into second, dropping Holben to third.  Schaeffer had caught the back of the field by lap three and had put two lapped cars between himself and second place George when Scott Bonnell spun on the front stretch, bringing out the first yellow.  Ed was up to third at that point followed by Carl Bowser and Shetler.  Just two laps later, Brent Covell spun to bring out another yellow on lap six.  However, now there were no lapped cars separating the top three. 

When the green replaced the yellow,  Ed was able to close the gap on second place George and as the race continued all green, Ed showed his nose inside George on laps nine and ten.  When George adjusted to the threat and moved down to the inside groove, Ed went by him on the outside on the back stretch and came across the scoring line officially second on lap 11.

 
By now, lapped traffic played into the picture and Schaeffer, who had set the fastest lap of the feature on lap seven, started to turn slower laps as Ed's set-up kicked in and his laps got faster,  as he took the lead on the inside of turn three coming to complete lap 12.   With the remainder of the race going non-stop, Ed took the fans for an exciting ride, weaving, dodging and splitting lapped cars as he built his lead to a straightaway over Schaeffer at the finish. Bob Felmlee came from eleventh to rank third ahead of George and Bowser.  Rounding out the top ten, it was Rankin, Shetler, Holtgraver, Arnie Kent and Mike Shearer.

 From Monday night when Ed hosted a local troup of Cub Scouts in the garage, letting them sit in the cars and answering their many questions, the rest of his week was full of challenges from his construction work.  The crew thought everything was ready for racing, but just two hours before they were ready to load up, they found they had to make repairs on the hauler's exhaust system.  When they finally had that fixed and towed to Lernerville, the line for the pits was out to the highway and Ed pulled beside the line into the parking area.  From all the rain last week, the ground was soft and the truck sunk down so far, they had to get one of the track's farm tractors to pull the rig up to the pit entrance.  With the way things were going,  the perfect ending....a feature win couldn't have come at a better time!

May
Sharon  5-26-07 

Lynch Racing had a busy night at Sharon Speedway.  A make-up feature from last week's rain-out and a regular scheduled feature for tonight kept things moving right along.  To add to the already full schedule of events, they found themselves changing engines between features due to a cracked exhaust valve that broke on lap 22 of the first feature as Ed was leading the race..... 

Even though the sky was dark and stormy, the Sprints ran their make-up feature from last week shortly after 6:00pm.  Dodging raindrops, Ed started 10th in the 25 lap event.  He quickly made his way forward and when the first caution on lap 13 came out for the #49 of Keegan, Ed was right behind the leader of Kevin Schaeffer who started on the pole.  On the restart, Ed passed Schaeffer on the bottom of turn 4 and pulled away from the field.  On lap 22 with a half a track lead, Ed's motor started making a terrible noise and the car started losing power.  He stayed smooth through the last three laps hoping the motor would hold up until the end of the race. It did.  Ed won over Dan Shetler by a straight-away claiming his second win of the season at Sharon Speedway. 

The sky stayed overcast and dreary but the rain stopped.  Sharon proceeded with their regular scheduled heat races.  Ed was posted as starting outside pole of the first heat but because the crew had to change engines after the make-up feature, he wasn't able to make it out in time.  This would leave him to start last in the feature event. 

The Sprints were first in the rotation of features for the night.  The front row showed the #23jr of Jack Sodoman, Jr. and the #6F of Bob Felmlee.  When the green flag flew, racing went non-stop until lap 22 when the caution came out for a car that spun.  Ed had maneuvered through the entire field of cars and found himself in the second position with three laps remaining.  The restart showed Felmlee, three lapped cars then Ed.  Ed made cautious moves on the lapped cars but fell short of a victory and settled for a second place finish.  

Ed plans on attending the World of Outlaw show at Sharon on Friday then returning there on Saturday for the regular night of racing.

New Steering Gets Ed Back in Winning Groove at Lernerville - 5/25/07

         What a pleasant surprise!  A feature win (number 86 in Sprints) and an early night at Lernerville Speedway.  

        With the Sprint cars first on the agenda Friday night at Lernerville, things moved along well and the 23 cars lined up for their 25-lap feature event at 9:00PM.  But, as track PR man Eric Westendorf stated, "It got off to a sluggish start with a few cautions early in the race."  

        The redraw after three qualifying heats showed Brent Matus and Jody Keegan in row one of the feature and Dan Kuriger and Davey Jones in row two.  Terry Bowser, Scott Priester, Ralphie Spithaler and Jack Sodeman, Jr. were in the next two rows.  Starting ninth it was Kevin Schaeffer, then Carl Bowser, while Ed and Rod George sat in row six.   Before the green came out, Spithaler had stopped on the front stretch and then the caution waved for a spin by Priester on the back stretch before a lap could be completed.   Ed re-lined up eighth because Terry Bowser left the track on that caution. 

        Matus led the first seven laps as Ed passed Schaeffer on the high side in turns three and four to move into second spot by lap three.  A caution was necessary after six laps for Sodemen and the restart line-up showed Matus, Ed, Schaeffer, Kuriger and Jones in the top five.  Ed was credited with taking the lead on lap eight after a low pass of Matus in turn two.  One lap later Lindsay Enscoe (whose fastest time of the race was 20mph slower than the front runners) caused a caution. 

        Now with Ed leading Matus and Schaeffer, Followed by Kuriger, George, Carl Bowser, Keegan and Jones, just three more laps were recorded before a yellow for Jones.  From that point on it was all green and Ed managed to have a l.435 second lead at the finish, taking the checkered as Schaeffer came out of turn four.  Finishing third, it was George advancing past Keegan and Carl Bowser ranked fifth. 

        Ed tripped the clocks with the fastest time of the night in the heat races, but he finished second behind Priester in the second heat, with Jones taking the first heat and Schaeffer winning the last heat. 

        The crew heads to Sharon Speedway on Saturday for Double Features.
 

Sprints Run Heats Before Rain Forces Double Sprint Features Next Week at Sharon - 5/19/07

         With the Sprints scheduled to run third on the docket at Sharon Speedway Saturday night,  only the heats for all divisions and the Modified feature got in the books before rain fell at 8:15PM halting the action.  At 8:35PM the races were cancelled and the Sprints are scheduled for double features next Saturday (May 26). 

        A total of 16 Sprints ran two heats with Ed and Bob Felmlee on the front row of the first heat.  They ran side-by-side for the first four laps, but Felmlee chopped down on Ed in turn three and ended up with the win as Ed was second ahead of Kevin Schaeffer, Dan Shetler and Jarod Larson.  However, Felmlee failed to report to the scales and will line up 13th in the make-up feature.  The second heat showed Russ Sansosti ahead of Tait Hilbert and Mike Kekich. 

        The complete line-up for next week's first Sprint feature will be Hilbert and Schaeffer in row one followed by Kekich and Sansosti.  Shawn Minor and Shetler will make up row three ahead of Daniel Kuriger and Keith Taylor.  In row five it will be Mike Palmer and Ed Lynch, then Jarod Larson and Kyle Moffit, Felmlee, Bob Lime, Jody Keegan and Leo O'Malley. 
 

Still searching and fine tuning the #2L after replacing the steering that seemed to give them the most problems at Tuesday's WoO show at Lernerville, the crew made the normal changes with gears and tires, and came home with a sixth place finish after starting 12th because of winning two features in a row here.

     The 22 cars signed in ran two heats with Ed lined up eighth in the second heat and was up to third when the only yellow came out for Dan Shetler on lap five.  He was able to get one more spot and finished second behind pole sitter Mike Shearer.  The first heat went to Rod George over Davey Jones.

     With the Sprints second in feature rotation behind the Modifieds, the field rolled on to the track for 25 laps at 9:56PM with Shearer and Brent Matus on the front row.  Next came Gary Rankin and Scott Priester followed by Ralphie Spithaler and Jones.  In row four, it was Arnie Kent and Carl Bowser, then Rod George and Kevin Schaeffer.  Starting inside Ed in row six it was Dan Kuriger.

     Pole sitter Shearer, jumped into the immediate lead and Matus for the first 17 non-stop laps.  Ed was up to ninth by lap eight, but George was up to fourth by then.  At the one-half way mark, Ed was eighth, but George had moved to third behind Shearer and Matus.  A caution on lap 17 for Joe Butera tightened the field with Ed still eighth.  On the restart, George took the lead dropping Matus to second.  With five laps to go, Ed was seventh and after the final yellow came out for Kuriger, Ed gained one more position on the final two laps.  He settled for sixth behind George, Carl Bowser, Matus, Schaeffer and Priester.

Despite Many Changes Ed Was Forced To Drop Out of WoO Feature Tuesday at Lernerville - 5/15/07
 

    Ed drew a high pill for time trials and went out 38th in the 45 car field.  On his first lap he went off the back stretch and jumped the cushion in turns three and four.  On the second lap he went low, but then glanced off the wall in turn four.  His best time of 13.442 at 120.518mph slotted him 33rd behind fast timer Jason Meyers' time of 12.959.  With the top 16 in times inverted for four heat races the rest of the lineup followed by times, making Ed start ninth in the first heat.  Passing Shane Stewart and Tony Bruce, Jr. he finished seventh in a heat won by Justin Henderson..  Only the top five advanced to the A-Main, relegating Ed to 13th starting spot in the B-Main.  The other heat winners were Jason Solwold, Tim Shaffer and Steve Kinser. 

    Kinser won the Dash,  and Chad Kemenah and Carl Bowser advanced from the C to tail the B-Main.  The "B" showed Dion Hindi and Lucas Wolfe in the front row followed by Danny Smith and Zach Chappell.  In Row three it was Chad Hillier and Jason Martin, then Stewart, Kevin Schaeffer, Greg Wilson, Bruce, Jr., Donny Schatz, Terry McCarl, finally Ed in 13th starting spot inside Kerry Madsen.   

    Ed's team had changed front ends prior to the 12-lap B-Main and it seemed to help.  Smith didn't take long to move into the lead and by lap four, Ed was up to ninth.  With six laps down, WoO announcer, Johnny Gibson, had Ed on the move up to fifth.  With two laps to go and Smith leading Wolfe and Hindi following, Chappell was being pressured by Ed for fourth (the last qualifying spot.) and at the checkered flag behind the top three, Gilson said "they are three-wide".  Only the transponder readings could separate them.  It turned out to be Chappell, Hillier and Lynch. 

    The 35-lap feature normally starts 24 cars, but the WoO added two Provisionals - Donny Schatz and Terry McCarl, while Lernerville added two Provisionals - Ed Lynch and Craig Rankin.   The green flag flew at 10:08PM for the front row of Kinser and Sam Hafertepe, Jr. and the field made five laps before Paul McMahan brought out the first yellow.  The restart showed Kinser leading  followed by Tim Shaffer and Joey Saldana with Ed on the move up from 26th to 19th.  When the green replaced the yellow, ED went off the track in turn two and lost several spots.   

    Bob Felmlee brought out a lap six caution and on lap 10, Ed hit the wall between the flagstand and turn one.  He took the #2L to the pits, but rejoined the field as Kinser continued to lead Saldana and Shaffer.  On lap 14, Ed went off turn one backwards and restarted last again.  On lap 17 Ed took his car to the pits.  One more caution on lap 20 was for McCarl and the final halt to the action came on lap 26 to a roll-over by Jeremy Campbell. 

    It was Kinser leading all 35 laps at the checkered followed by Saldana, Jason Meyers, Tim Shaffer and Danny Lasoski in the top five.  Craig Dollansky, Stevie Smith, Jason Solwold, Donny Schatz and Tim Kaeding ranked in the top 10.  Ed was credited with 26th place.   

    The team suspects a steering problem and will replace the steering box tomorrow.
 

Ed "steals" a win with a broken front wing at Sharon  5-12-07
 

Jarod Larson and Kevin Schaeffer made up the front row of the 25 lap feature. Ed was scheduled to start in the 10th position behind the #91 of Bob Lime. On the drop of the green, Ed committed to go high in turn one not anticipating that the #91 of Lime was sliding from the middle of the track up to the top, leaving Ed no room to get by him.  Having no where to go, Ed hit the back end of Lime damaging Ed's front wing extensively. Ed continued racing hoping that the front wing would hold up for the remaining 24 laps.  By the time the caution came out on lap 4, Ed had made his way to the 3rd spot following the #9 of Schaeffer and the leader Jarod Larson.  In the next 16 laps, Larson held the lead over Bob Felmlee and Ed.  

On lap 20 Larson tried to make a move on the lapped car of Scott Bonnell but hit him instead causing Jarod to flip in turn two also collecting Bob Felmlee as he tried to get by. Larson, Bonnell, and Felmlee all went to the pit area but only Bonnell and Felmlee were able to make it back out in time to tag the tail of the field. Ed came from sitting in the 3rd spot to restarting on the pole with only 5 laps to go.  When the green flag flew, Ed was able to quickly pull a straight-a-way lead over the second place finisher of Kevin Schaeffer.  This would be Ed's first trip to victory lane this season at Sharon Speedway. 

Ed will be at Lernerville Speedway on Tuesday, May 15th for the World of Outlaw show.

Because he won the feature last week, Ed knew he would have to start 12th Friday night at Lernerville.  What he wasn't counting on, was having to pass the race-long leader Scott Bonnell twice!  But he was able to get past Bonnell twice, to pick up Sprint Car Career win #85. 

        The 23 Sprint cars signed in for the night were third in the rotation of events and ran three heat races.  Ed started the third heat outside the front row and led every lap, turning the fastest time of the night with a time of 13.442 and a speed of 107.127mph.  The other heats went to Gary Rankin and Ralph Spithaler. 

        Dan Shetler and Bonnell made up the front row for the 25-lap feature.  Mike Shearer and Scott Priester were in row two followed by Kevin Schaeffer and Brent Matus.  Rows four, five and six had Dan Kuriger, Gary Rankin, Rod George, Spithaler, Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Ed.   

        From the drop of the green, Bonnell was in command and Priester zipped past Shetler to take over second.  Ed was trying to pick his way through traffic, but was only up to seventh in five laps.  The top groove was the fastest way around early and Bonnell never left that zone.  After following Shearer for several laps, Ed was able to make an inside move in turns three and four and pass both Shearer and Shetler on lap 13.  On the next lap, he moved by George high off turn four, advancing to third. 

        It was on lap 16 that Schaeffer went low and Ed went high in turns one and two to take over second spot and set his sights on the leader Bonnell.  However, with no break in the action, lapped cars were a factor and Ed was able to dive to the bottom in turn two for the lead on lap 17.  But, problems for Mike Shearer brought out the yellow and the officials did not count the lap.  The restart line-up for lap 17 showed Bonnell back in front and Ed on his tail, followed by a lapped car, then Schaeffer, George and Priester.   

        For the next four laps, Ed tried to find a way around Bonnell, who stayed on the high groove.  On lap 22, as the two approached turns three and four, Ed dove the the bottom of the track and exited turn four with the lead.  As the #2L went back up to the top groove headed down the front stretch, there was a close call as the car jumped the cushion.  From the grandstands, the crowd might have thought he glanced off the outside wall, but that didn't happen and Ed began to stretch his lead over the final two laps, winning by nearly a straight-away.  Bonnell held off Schaeffer and George and Shetler rounded out the top five. 

        The team plans to run Sharon on Saturday, with the All Star race at Bedford a possibility for Sunday.
 

The second show of the season at Sharon Speedway ended in a disappointing way for Ed.  He had come from seventh starting spot in the feature to go for the lead on a lap six single-file restart, only to clip an infield tire marker in turn two with his left front tire, ending his night. 

    Strange track conditions greeted the 16 Sprints that signed in.  Parts of the 3/8 mile clay oval were dry and other parts were not.  The first heat needed four yellows for spins by Keith Taylor, Mike Kekich and Scott Bonnell.  Jarod Larson pulled off the win with Ed next, followed by Jason Dolick and Bonnell.  The second heat had a spin by Bob Lime turn into a red flag situation when his car tipped over on its side in turn four on lap two. 

    With the Sprint 25-lap feature set to be third in the rotation, additional work on the track surface, meant the green flag to start the race didn't wave until 9:55PM.  The front row of the feature had Jason Dolick and Tait Hilbert followed by Russ Sansosti and Mike Palmer.  The third row consisted of Kyle Moffit and Bob Lime.  Ed started seventh inside Larson. 

    Ed made an inside move at the start and improved three spots before turn one.  Things were going well as Ed worked his way to second by the time the first yellow came out for Hilbert on lap six.  When the green replaced the yellow , Ed was inside Jason Dolick going into turn one and just ahead of Dolick when Ed clipped the infield tire.  Both front tires were off the ground, and he spun and sat sideways as the field somehow managed to miss Ed and his #2L.  He went off on a wrecker. 

    Still stuck on lap 6, Ellenberger spun in turn one.,  Seven laps later Hilbert spun, again.  Lap 22 saw Lime spin.  The race ended with Felmlee going strong and winning by 1/4 of a straight-away (2.6 seconds) over Jody Keegan, Larson and Russ Sansoski and Kevin Schaeffer.  Ed was credited with last place (16th) 
 

Imagine changing just about everything on your sprint car after a third place finish in your heat race.  That's what was going on in the #2L pit area Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.  The results paid off in spades as the crew joined Ed in victory lane after he just won his 84th career sprint feature here.
 
    Using an engine just back from being refreshed at the Kistler Engine Shop and the newly mandated Hoosier spec tire on the right rear, Ed struggled a bit in his heat with the unknown.  With 21 cars signed in, Ed started eighth in the first heat and finished third behind Kevin Schaeffer and Arnie Kent.  On Ed's 6th lap in his heat, although he didn't win, he turned the fastest Sprint Car lap of the night at 13.465 for a speed of 106.944mph.  The second heat went to Gary Rankin over Scott Bonnell and Terry Bowser.  The re-draw for the 25-lap feature put Danny Holtgraver and Scott Priester in the front row ahead of Mike Shearer and Dan Shetler.  Ed started 5th with Kent outside him in row three.   

    For the second week in a row, officials had things moving really fast and the Sprints were first to put their feature on the track at 8:42PM.  However, only one lap was completed before Sheilia Rankin lost power on the front stretch causing a yellow flag to fly.  With Priester leading Holtgraver to the single-file restaart, Ed was up to third followed by Shetler and Shearer.   

    By lap eight with Priester still showing the way and Ed now in second, Holtgraver stopped just off the track in turn four.  Members of the fire crew gave a quick shot with an extinguisher as the field circled the track for several laps.  Finally, Holtgraver went pit-side and the field got the green once again.  Ed set his sights on Priester (who was piloting a car he recently purchased from Ed) and began to reel him in.  After completing 11 laps, Ed was on Priester's tail and took the inside lane in turns one and two to come out ahead as they headed down the back stretch with Ed now leading officially on lap 12. 

    The drama wasn't over yet, as Ed had to withstand three more yellows in the second half of the race.  Rod George and Ralph Spithaler tangled coming out of turn four on lap 13 and by lap 16 Sheilia Rankin lost power again.  Both restarts, showed Ed followed by Shetler and Priester, Shearer and Gary Rankin.  Unfortunately, Shearer was the cause of the final yellow on lap 18.  

    With the final six laps run under green, Ed's margin of victory was just over 4.2 seconds.  Shetler drove home a strong second followed by Priester, G. Rankin and Carl Bowser.  This made Ed number 84 in Sprint car wins and with one Modified win in 1986, his total wins at Lernerville now stands at 85 and he moves into fifth ahead of Blackie Watt on the all-time career win list.  

September
Ed Makes Starting Field for Williams Grove National Open - 9/29/07

         Saturday morning the crew changed the steering and front axle on the #2L in the motel parking lot.  They then headed for Williams Grove Speedway where 54 cars returned for the final day of the 45th Annual National Open sanctioned by the World of Outlaws paying $50,000 to win. 

        Ed felt a big improvement when he went out for hot laps and by the time he went out 20th to single-lap quality, his time of 16.732 was second quick to the fast time of the night set by Lucas Wolfe at 16.611. 

        The first four cars from Friday were exempt from times.  Instead, Chad Layton, T.J. Stutts, Kerry Madsen and Donny Schatz were guaranteed pole sitters for tonight's four qualifying heats.  The rest of the heat line-ups came from time trials staggered and straight up.  Thus, Ed started outside Stutts in the second heat.   

        The first two cars from each heat automatically went to the Dash, so Ed set out to win his heat.  He took the lead immediately and built a five-car margin over Stutts when a red had to come out for a flip by Clark Simonton.  When the green replaced the red, Ed took charge and once again pulled away only to have a yellow slow the field after seven laps when Bob Felmlee dropped fluid on the track because of engine problems.  The race had to end on a green, white, checkered so the checkered came after nine laps.  Ed held on for the win over Todd Shaffer.  Wolfe won over Greg Hodnett in heat one, while Kerry Madsen beat Doug Esh in heat three and the final heat went to Schatz over Freddy Rahmer. 

        Jason Meyers won the C-Main which ran before the Dash.  In the Dash, Ed started sixth and finished seventh which meant the 40-lap A-Feature line-up would be Schatz and Todd Shaffer in the front row with Esh and Hodnett in row two.  Wolfe and Madsen maade up row three, while Ed and Rahmer were in row four.  Layton and Stutts came next in row five.  The B-Main then sent Lance Dewease, Paul McMahan, Billy Pauch and Steve Buckwalter to the A-Main. 

        The National Open had a tough time getting a lap in the books.  After the parade lap for the SPEED-TV cameras, the race was underway, but before the field could get through turns three and four, Rahmer flipped out of the park, Madsen was damaged and parked against the outside rail in turn four and the cars of Layton, Tim Shaffer, Jason Solwold were involved. 

        The lineup was adjusted and the field tried again.  This time, Steve Kinser and Keith Kauffman had an incident with a scary flip by Kinser resulting in heavy, heavy damage to his car.  Fans were shocked to see his car go by on the boom of a wrecker with no front end or bottom rails in addition to overall damage to every other corner of the car.  In a separate flip at the same time,   Billy Pauch and Tim Shaffer tangled and flipped.  With the field now down to 22 starters from the original 28,  Ed was starting sixth.  But as serious racing now underway, Ed was not able to keep up.  By lap six, he was 10th and by lap 16, he went down a lap to Schatz. 

        There was a yellow for a flat on Wolfe's car on lap 32, which now put all the lapped cars behind the clean cars for the remaining eight laps.  Wolfe rejoined the field and started last of the unlapped car in 12th position.  At the checkered flag, it was Schatz, Todd Shaffer, Dewease, Danny Lasoski and Hodnett in the top five.  Next came Esh, Joey Saldana, Paul McMahan, Daryn Pittman and Stutts in the top 10.  Sean Michael and Wolfe completed the 40 laps while one lap down it was Meyers, Craig Dollansky, Jason Solwold, Layton and Ed in 17th.  Terry McCarl finished two laps down, while the rest of the field dropped out at various stages of the race. 

        The team now looks ahead to the Octoberfest at Hagerstown on Halloween weekend.
 

Ed Times Well Opening Night At Williams Grove

         Ed was 19th overall in hot laps for the 57 cars signed in for opening night of the 45th Annual Williams Grove National Open.  He improved to 14th in official time trials which made the 16-car heat inversion and started him on pole of the second heat. 

        However, he was unable to capitalize on the good starting position because at the drop of the green with Jason Meyers on his outside, Ed took off.  WoO officials called back the start, saying he had jumped and penalized him one row.  Now, starting third, he fought the car's handling problems.  If he was running inside, the car wanted to go to the inside rail.  If he was outside, it wanted to go to the outside rail. 

        After two laps, running fourth, he spun to the inside in between turns three and four.  On the restart, in last, he continued to fight the steering and handling problems, taking it to the pits after two more laps.  Kerry Madsen won that heat with T.J. Stutts, Chad Layton and Steve Kinser winning the other heats.  This made Ed start fourth in the B-Main.  But, despite changes, he fought handling problems again, finally finishing 12th behind winner Doug Esh. 

        Ed was a spectator for the 25-lap A-Main which had two red flags and four yellows.  Pole sitter Layton led all laps despite constant pressure from Madson who lost second spot on the final lap to Stutts.  Donny Schatz worked his way to fourth, the final spot locked into Saturday's finale, after starting 21st.  Jeff Shepard, Greg Hodnett were next. 

        The crew plans to change steering and the front axle in preparation for Saturday.
 

         Sharon Speedway fans were treated to a mix of races from an Australian Pursuit, a Crack The Whip, a Heat Winners' race and action-packed features to wrap up their 2007 season Saturday night.  In addition, Ed capped off his season at Sharon with win number six here, maintaining his status as leading all-time Sprint car winner now at 50 career wins. 

        After leaving Eldora Speedway Friday night, the weary crew stayed over night at Lima OH arriving at the motel just in time for the last call for pizza delivery. 

        Saturday morning they walked the parking lot, admiring The Rod and Custom Cars in town for an annual event at the Fairgrounds, before they continued the trip to Sharon, arriving just after the pit gates opened.  A total of 16 Sprints signed in and the division ran two heats.  One for the drivers that had won heat races this season and one for drivers that had not won heat races.  Jody Keegan and Ed were in the front row of the first heat but the victory went to Bob Felmlee and Ed finished second.  Andy McKisson won the other heat. 

        Unfortunately, the other divisions were acccident plagued and by the time the Sprints pushed off to be the fourth feature, it was 11:00PM.  It was a strange inversion for the lineup by points with 35th place Danny Holtgraver sitting on the pole and Tommy Quarterson was outside.  Jason Dolick and Scott Bonnell made up row two with Ricky Byers and Russ Sansosti next, then Ed was inside row four with Bob Lime outside. 

        The first caution for Brian Stainman who spun to the inside of turn four was on lap five.  The restart lineup showed Quarterson leading Holtgraver, Bonnell and Ed.  One lap later Ed was past Bonnell into third.  He made a nice inside move coming off turn two which powered him down the backstretch past Holtgraver and into second.  Ed's winning move past Quarterson came as they completed lap eight.   

        Now, the trick was to master the lapped traffic and maintain top speed.  But on lap 14 Holtgraver, who was running second, got backwards in the heavy cushion high in turn two.  Holtgraver's miscue put Felmlee on Ed's tail for the restart.  Ed was able to hit his marks perfectly and had maybe a three car lead as the two got into lapped traffic.  Flagman Mike Henshaw used his layover flag to alert slower traffic as Ed made good moves on the individual lapped cars, keeping Felmlee at bay. 

        But on lap 19, as Ed came out of turn two, there were two lapped cars running side by side.  While Ed lifted to figure a way past them, Felmlee closed right up.  Then Sansosti brought out the final yellow on lap 20, clearing the track for Ed to lead the final five laps.  Ed's fastest lap of the race came on lap 22 as he was able to put a little distance between himself and Felmlee.  His margin of victory was 1.4 seconds over Felmlee, then came McKisson, Quarterson and Bonnell into the top five.  Rounding out the top ten it was Keegan, Dolick, Holtgraver, Brent Matus and Ricky Byers. 

        The Williams Grove Nationals are coming up next for the team..  
 

         Ed drew the number one pill for time trials and made the most of it.  Friday night at Eldora Speedway, he set fast time over a field of 48 cars in the last World of Outlaw Sprint race of the season here.  His run in the 30-lap A-Main resulted in a 13th place finish, to kick off an American Revolution Weekend at the big "E".  On Saturday the USAC 4-Crown (Wingless 410's, Midgets, Dirt Camp Cars and Modifieds} 

        After hot laps Ed was eighth overall with a 13.998, but his near-perfect job on lap one on the official amb timing clocks improved to 13.172.  Joey Saldana came closest to him with a time of 13.240. 

        With four heats staggered and four cars inverted,  Ed started fourth in the first heat and finished second behind Dale Blaney.  At the start of that heat, an odd situation happened in turn four when a car hit the wall hard.  Ed stopped on the track in turn four and WoO announcer Johnny Gibson thought there was a problem with the #2L.  It turns out that the flagman had turned the red light on for a split second and then turned the yellow back on.  WoO push truck driver Workin' Woody radioed the tower with that info and Ed was given his spot back and the race was restarted.  Danny Lasoski won the second heat over Saldana and in heat three, it was Paul McMahan over Randy Hannaghan.  Donny Schatz beat Steve Kinse in the final heat. 

        For the six-lap dash, Ed made changes that he admitted, "did not help."  After starting eighth, he finished ninth behind Schatz, McMahan, Saldana, Kinser, Lasoski, Hannaghan, Blaney and Terry McCarl.  Behind Ed it was Daryn Pittman.  How the cars finished the Dash is how they started the feature event.  With just one lap in the books, Rob Chaney had a torsion arm problem and came to rest  on the front stretch.  Changes made to Ed's car made his fuel setup rich and the car did not take off on the start.  The single-file restart showed Ed in 12th. 

        On lap 10, the leader Schatz had a right rear tire go flat and he came to a stop hugging the back stretch inside wall.  He rejoined the field as Kinser inherited the lead and Ed was now 11th.  Saldana drove hard and took the lead away from Kinser before the next yellow for Craig Dollansky on lap 24.  At the same time, Lasoski went to the work area, but both cars rejoined the back of the field in time to continue. 

        However, as the cars were circling the track,  WoO Officials announced the total amount of green and yellow flag laps exceeded the total for fuel allowance, so a red flag "fuel only" was called for with one crew member allowed to service the car with fuel and/or air only.  Ed was 12th at the time, but in the last six laps, lost a spot to Schatz who was on the move forward trying for more points to maintain his narrow point lead over Saldana. 

        When the checkered flag flew on lap 30, it was Saldana, Kinser, McMahan, Pittman and McCarl in the top five.  Blaney, Schatz, Hannagan, Jason Solwold, Jac Haudenschild, Lasoski and Justin Henderson finished ahead of Ed in 13th.  

        The crew would now head for Sharon Speedway for their final Saturday race of the season.
 

         It had been a long time since Ed had visited Fremont Speedway, but he and 43 other 410 Sprint drivers were in attendance Saturday night for the Chuck Kears Memorial and promoter Jim Ford's "Big Bang" race to celebrate his departure after eight years at the helm of the 59-year old facility that he brought back to life after two previous promoters left it in bad shape.       

        Ed made the main event, but pulled out after 32 laps because he was not able to make his set-up match the smooth track conditions. 

        He drew a low pill, number eight, and went out in the first hot lap session.  He was the fifth car to take time with everyone getting one lap on the clock.  Ed's lap was a slow one that slotted him 23rd overall.  He just barely made the 24-car inversion and started on the pole of the third heat.  He led all 10 laps despite two cautions on laps two and seven.  Mike Linder finished second, then it was Rob Eyler and Caleb Griffith.  Other heat winners included Paul Weaver, Alvin Roepke and Brian Smith. 

        Finishing in the top four sent 16 cars to the feature, then four cars came from the B-Main, plus the top four Fremont regulars that didn't make the A-Main would be added to make up the 24-car field. 

        Cars pushed off to line up for the start of the 50-lapper at 10:40PM with Rod George and Brandon Wimmer in the front row, followed by Mark Keegan and Mike Linder.  Next came Byron Reed and Kevin Huntley.  The top eight that qualified through their heats were inverted and everyone else got their time back.  Thus, Ed started 18 in the feature. 

        George led early and there were two yellows on lap three for separate incidents involving Chris Knopp and Reed.  Someone helped Reed get spun around on the front stretch coming out of turn four and many drivers, including Ed had to take evasive action to miss him.  Once lap three was in the books,  it was typical Fremont racing, fast and furious. But Ed never got a good bite of the track surface as he searched evey groove and he was lapped around lap 23 by leader Stevie Smith.  He stuck it out  for another ten laps, but exited the track on lap 32, still unable to make his set-up work well. 

        With the race winding down, on lap 42, a red flag came out for Mike Linder and Greg Dobb who both tested the outside soft (foam) wall coming into turn three.  Drivers were OK and the race resumed and Smith went on to victory and the $15,000 prize.
 

        Mercer race fans got to see Ed at his best Saturday night in his second appearance of the year there.  He mastered lapped traffic, going high, low and splitting some slower cars where there was just barely enough room to squeek through during the final 17 non-stop laps of the 30-lap 19th Annual Western PA Sprint Championship which earned him the top prize of $3,000. 

        The race has a storied history at Mercer.   After a 22-year hiatus, it was brought back in 2004 and Ed was the first modern day driver to win it that year, with the previous winners all retired - Ralph Quarterson, Bobby Allen, Johnny Beaber, Kenny Weld, Jan Opperman, Buddy Cochran, Lynn Paxton and Lou Blaney. 

        Luck played an important roll in Ed's victory.  The first stroke of luck came when the top 12 cars that qualified through their heats had to re-draw for their starting positions in the A-Main.  Ed drew number one!  The second stroke of luck came on lap 13 at the expense of race leader, Rob Eyler whose right rear wheel broke as he was about to enter turn four and he flipped.  Eyler was OK, but his car was done for the night. 

        The field of 23 cars lined up at 8:35PM to start the main event with Ed and Charlie Holben in the front row.  Eyler and Gale Ruth were in row two, while Todd Bauer and Tommy Quarterson came next in row three.  Arnie Kent, Brian Ellenberger, Bob Felmlee and /rid George started next .  However, from the drop of the green flag, it was Holben who led the way with Ed tucking into second followed by Eyler.  A caution for Butch Beasley on lap five showed the top three as Holben, Lynch and Eyler. 

        Four laps later, fifth running Ellenberger had top wing problems and spun to the outside in turn four causing a second yellow.  On the restart, Eyler made a strong move coming out of turn two to power his way past Ed and into second spot as lap 10 was recorded.  Immediately following that move the third yellow came ouut for Aaron Shaffer.  Now, the line-up showed Holben leading followed by Eyler, Ed, George and Bauer.  Eyler made his bid for first, going around Holben on the outside and was leading when he lost his right-rear wheel with 13 laps in the books.   

        When the green replaced the red the line-up showed Holben inheriting the lead over Ed, George, Kent and Felmlee.  Ed's car was too tight at the beginning of the race, but finally on this restart, he was able to go to the outside of Holben in turn one and pass him on the outside of turn two.  From that point, the race went non-stop and Ed knew with Track Champion Rod George hot on his heels, he better make good time through lapped traffic.   

        When Ed had a clear track in front of him, he could pull away from second place George, but everytime Ed encountered lapped cars, George would close right up .  At the checkered flag, it was Ed followed by George, Kent, Felmlee and Holben in the top five.   

        Three heats for the Sprints showed Quarterson leading over Ruth in the first one.  Ellenberger won the second heat over Danny Holtgraver while Ed started seventh in the third heat and finished third behind Felmlee and George.  For Ed it was his 13th win of the year and 205 of his career.

         It was an emotional start to the races Saturday at Sharon Speedway.  One of their faithful Push Truck drivers died after a two-year battle with cancer.  His favorite driver was Ed Lynch, Jr. so Ed in his #2L was asked to lead the "Missing Man" formation of push trucks around the track prior to the national anthem. 

        Following that tribute, Ed stayed on the track to start sixth in the first Sprint heat.  But two cars failed to show up and he then started fourth.  He took the lead on  lap five over C.W. Harshman.  The second heat went to Scott Bonnell.   

        The 22-car field was the first feature and Bonnell and Mike Kekich led the double file formation to the green flag at 8:50PM.  Jason Dollick and Jody Keegan made up row two, while Aaron Shaffer and Ed were in row three.  There were two aborted starts when the front row couldn't start the race side-by-side.  Once the race got underway, Ed seemed to be fast in any groove and was making a pass on Keegan for second, when a yellow flag came out for a tangle in turn three involving Bob Felmlee and Karl Baker,  This, of course, negated the move into second and the restart lineup showed Bonnell leading Keegan and Ed. 

        However, it was just two laps later that Ed was in first place again.  Setting a blistering pace, he had two lapped cars as a cushion when Kyle Moffitt rolled to a stop high in turn four on lap eight.  The race went green for the rest of the laps and Ed was dominating as he lapped up to the eighth place car and had stretched his margin-of-victory at the end of 25-laps to 8.225 seconds over Dan Shetler, who passed two cars with two laps to go, to finish ahead of Felmlee (who won the Track Championship) and Keegan.  Bonnell drove from lap eight with a cracked header to salvage fifth spot. Rounding out the top ten, it was Tommy Quarterson, Kevin Schaeffer (runner-up in the point race), and Danny Holtgraver completing the distance.  Down one lap but finishing ninth it was Mike Kekich then Dolick. 

        Ed is Sharon's leading Sprint feature winner with 49.  His career total at all tracks is now 204 and he has 12 wins this year.  He does not plan to run anywhere on Sunday. . 

October
Ed Will Not Be At Hagerstown for the Octoberfest Oct. 27-28, 2007

        Because of unexpected engine problems and a death in the family of a crew member, Ed and his #2L Sprint car team will not be competing in the Octoberfest this weekend at Hagerstown.

        Usually, Ed ends his season at Hagerstown but in making final preparations for this weekend, the crew started the car on Saturday.  To everyone's surprise, the engine they planned to use, did not run right and it was pulled out and taken back to Kistler's engine shop.

        On Sunday evening, Eric Womeldorf received word that his sister Roberta (age 49) had died of a sudden heart attack.  The viewing was Wednesday and the funeral was Thursday and Lynch Racing expresses sincere sorrow and sympathy for the family's loss.

        There has been no good news from Kistler regarding the engine and the "fix" will take longer than expected.