March & April
Sunday's Tri City Race - 4/29/09
The
price of Adult Admission at Tri City Speedway for Sunday's
Sprint Race will be $18.00
Two races coming up for Ed this week - 4/27/09
After Friday night races at Lernerville the #2L Race Team will get ready for Sunday's (May 3) Sprint Car Hall of Fame Qualifier at Tri City Speedway (north of Franklin PA) now under the ownership of H&H Motorsports.
Ed last ran Tri City on a regular basis in 2003, when he competed 15 times and had six wins. In 2004 he was there three times and had two wins. The following year, 2005 he ran there twice and was second both times. In 2006 he was there twice and had one win. His last appearance at Tri City was the one time he ran there that year in an All Star race on July 3, when he started 13th and made his way to a top five finish.
He has 24 career wins at the 1/2 mile oval which ties him for fourth overall since the track has been a 1/2 mile. Rod George ranks first with 48 followed by Bob Felmlee with 30, Lou Blaney with 28 and Buddy Cochran with 24, also.
Gates open at 4:00PM and racing is at 6:00PM with Adult Admission set at $11.
Ed captures his 95th Sprint Car feature at Lernerville - 4/24/09
Friday night, Ed came closer to his goal of 100 Sprint car wins at, what he considers his home track, Lernerville Speedway. Not satisfied with winning his heat on the last turn of the last lap, he and the crew thrashed to make major changes on the #2L before the 25-lap feature, which paid off with his 95th Sprint car victory here.
With 21 Sprints signed in to race on an unseasonably warm night, they were scheduled to be third in the rotation behind the Late Models and Modifieds on this first official point night of the 2009 season.
A pill draw for heats showed Ed would start fourth, behind Todd Bauer, Rod George and Dan Kuriger in the second heat. Brent Matus jumped the original start and the next try at getting a lap scored, showed Bauer leading George. Ed moved into a close third. George passed Bauer to lead lap four and one lap later, Ed followed securing second. George continued to lead until Ed made his winning pass inside in turn four bringing the crowd to its feet as the two had a drag-race to the checkered flag.
The first heat had a surprise ending, also. as race-long leader, Jack Sodeman, Jr. lost the lead to Bob Felmlee on lap seven, only to charge back on the last turn to lead Felmlee to the checkered.
Despite, Pit Officials hurrying the program along, because of rumors of rain in the area, the #2L crew completed the replacement of the front axle and other changes in time to push off in fifth starting spot for the A-Main. Matus and Mike Lutz earned the front row starting spots. Sodeman and Dan Holtgraver were in row two, while Ed and Kuriger made up row three. Charlie Holben and Felmlee were next ahead of Carl Bowser and George.
Polesitter Matus got off to a good start, followed by Sodeman, Lutz, Holtgraver and Ed. Shelia Rankin lost power on lap four, bringing out the first yellow flag. Ed was fourth as the green replaced the yellow and made the cool move of the race, as he drove between Sodeman and Lutz in turn three on lap nine to be scored as the leader on lap 10.
Sodeman then spun and collected Felmlee, thus moving Lutz into second, followed by Matus, Holtgraver, Holben, Kevin Schaeffer and George. Four laps later the third yellow came out for Holben with the restart lineup now showing Ed leading Lutz, Holtgraver and George.
The final yellow on lap 17 was for Bauer, setting up the final eight lap to run under green with Ed now leading George, Holtgraver, Lutz and Schaeffer. George gave a strong effort in turn one taking the inside lane, but Ed kept his momentum up on the high side and pulled ahead out of turn two and down the back stretch. At the checkered flag, Ed's margin of victory was 1.765 seconds over George. Schaeffer took third away from Holtgraver on the last lap. Lutz claimed fifth. Rounding out the top ten it was Ralph Spithaler, Scott Priester, Kurige, Pete Miller and Matus.
The team does not plan to race until next
weekend when they will run Lernerville on Friday and Tri
Ctiy on Sunday.
No Sprints at Lernerville - Ed takes weekend off - 4/17/09
Lernerville had an all-Late Model show Friday night and on Saturday the Lynch family will be attending a Memorial Service for Uncle Bill Coleman's mother. Sunday will be a Pittsburgh Pirate outing.
The crew
returns to racing next weekend.
Ed beats Kasey Kahne to make All Star race at Attica Raceway Park - 4/11/09
Ed was part of the 52 car All Star sprint car field that showed up at Attica Raceway Park Saturday night. That field also included NASCAR Sprint Cup star Kasey Kahne who started his career with the All Stars while still in high school. Kahne took advantage of a week-end off to bring one of his own sprint cars to Attica and a combination of luck of the draw, plus time trials, put Ed in the same heat as Kahne. Although Kahn started sixth and Ed started ninth, Ed finished third and Kahne finished fourth.
Ed drew a number 42 pill which had him go out 31st for the single lap time trials. Because of the cold weather, Attica did not put a lot of water on the track and conditions changed rapidly. As it turned out, the four fastest cars were in the first ten cars to hit the track.
Ed missed the cut-off inversion when he timed 36th and was slotted to start in the fourth heat. Daryn Pittman and Jim Linder were in the front row. Craig Mintz and Cole Duncan followed in row two. Chad Kemenah and Kahne made up the third row. Next, it was Ron Ruton and Brandon Wimmer, then Ed starting ninth and Aaron Higgins followed by Mark Keegan, Mark Imler and Bruce Robenault.
Sticking with his inside lane, Ed had an excellent start on the original green, but that was called back for a tangle between Linder and Mintz. Now, Kahne would start fourth and Ed would start seventh. Using the inside groove again, Ed quickly moved forward to lock down third and Kahne then switched to the bottom groove to follow Ed and secure fourth ahead of Kemenah. The win went to Pittman and Aaron Higgins, Tim Shaffer and Dale Blaney won the other heats.
The 40-lap A Main showed Rob Chaney and Shaffer leading the field to the green with Ed starting 24th. Shaffer jimped to an immediate lead and Ed advanced to 15th after one lap had been completed. Cole Conley and Mintz caused a yellow before another lap got in the books. After a lap four caution for Cap Henry, Ed was still 15th with Shaffer leading.
On the restart, Ed clipped an infield tire in turn two and both front wheels came up high off the track and slammed down resulting in Ed spinning. He restarted laps, but didn't have the grip he had before, so he pulled out after two more laps and was scored to finish 23rd.
Shaffer went on to lead 39 of the 40 laps and was passed by Dale Blaney who had been reeling him in with about 15 laps to go. The two had diced through lapped traffic and had the fans on their feet. Greg Wilson, Chad Kemenah and Lee Jacobs rounded out the top five at the checkered.
Lernerville rains out Friday 4/10/09 - Might race Attica Saturday.
When Lernerville rained out early at 12:30PM, the crew spent the rest of the afternoon working in the garage and preparing for future races.
The team
is considering going to Attica's All Star show set for
Saturday 4/11/09 - weather permitting.
Lernerville Rains Out - 4/3/09
Early morning
heavy rain with more on the way prompted Lernerville to cancel
Friday night's races at 10:00AM. Ed's plans for Saturday will
be determined by the weather, also.
Ed Wins Lernerville's Opener In A Perfect Night for the #2L Team - 3/27/09
Ed has been focused on winning the Lernerville Opener for the past two weeks. The extra garage time, along with the benefits he reaped from Test & Tune day last week, paid off when he captured his sixth win in the last seven Season Openers here, bringing his Sprint wins at Lernerville to a total of 94 on his quest for 100.
Friday's weather improved from foggy to cloudy to sunny as the crew loaded the car and headed to the track. With 20 Sprint cars signed in for the pill draw, Ed was slotted in the outside front row of the second heat. After being the fastest car on the AMB i.t. transponders, he led all eight laps with Kevin Schaeffer second followed by Danny Holtgraver, Scott Priester and Craig Folmer. The first heat went to polesitter Bob Felmlee who was followed by Jack Sodeman, Jr., Rod George, Scott Bonnell and Charlie Holben.
Sprints were scheduled to be the first feature and were quickly called to line up as rain was reported to be closing in from the South. The redraw for the top six in the heats showed Felmlee and Folmar in the front row for the 25 lap A-Main. Priester and Ed made up row two ahead of Sodeman and Mike Lutz. Holtgraver and first-timer, Davey Sammons from New Jersey were in row four. Then came Bonnell and George while row six showed Schaeffer and Holben.
The original start turned ugly at the flagstand when Bonnell got airborne and flipped collecting Bill Kiley. Both cars were done for the night. A complete restart followed and Ed was on the move and registered third on the first lap and followed Folmar for the next two laps as Felmlee, the leader, pulled away.
Ed turned the fastest lap of the feature, a 13.560 for a speed of l06.195mph, on lap four as he moved into second. He spent the next eight laps closing in on Felmlee as the two diced through lapped traffic. Finally, using the high line, Ed passed Felmlee to lead lap 12. Once in the lead, Ed was able to turn faster laps and put some distance between himself and Felmlee.
When the yellow came out on lap 16 for Brent Matus stalled in turn four, Ed had the lapped car of Holben as a cushion over Felmlee. But on the restart, someone hit the "cone" and caused another restart. Now there were no lapped car and the restart showed Felmlee tight on Ed's tail.
Ed turned
perfect laps, hitting his marks on the remaining circuits to
have a margin of victory of l.922 seconds at the checkered over
Felmlee, Priester, Folmer and Schaeffer in the top five.
Rounding out the top 10 it was Lutz, Sammons, Sodeman, jr.,
Holtgraver and Holben.
Ed Utilizes All Seven of His Hot Lap Sessions at Lernerville's Test & Tune - 3/21/09
It was a late night on Friday in preparation for Lernerville's Test & Tune, but it paid off with Ed recording a lap of 12.952 -( just off the track record) during his first session on Saturday afternoon.
With all divisions welcome, 60 cars showed up for the track's first attempt at a pre-season Test & Tune. The sessions were organized and divided into classes with Late Models, Crates, Sprints, Big Block Modifieds, DIRTCar Sportsman, Mod Lites and Mini Stocks.
All classes were rotated and given seven sessions starting at 12:00 noon and ending at 5:00PM. Each session slowed in times as the afternoon wore on and Ed's times went from 13 second laps to 14, then 15 and so on. The track utilized the AMB i.t. transponder system to record all laps as a valuable tool for the crews to judge their progress as they continued to make changes.
If the
weather cooperates, this Friday should be opening night at
Lernerville Speedway.
Ed plans to Test and Tune on Saturday afternoon at Lernerville on 3/21/09
Lernerville Speedway has scheduled a Test and Tune session this Saturday afternoon (March 21) from 12:00noon to 5:00PM and Ed plans to take advantage of this opportunity to set up his No. 2L for the upcoming season.
The Grandstand is FREE Saturday and the track concession stands will be open so maybe we will see you there.
May
Ed is fifth in the Eldora All Star show - 5/30/09
Ed timed second quickest of the 41 cars on hand for the All Star show at Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway Saturday night and that set up the challenge of coming from sixth starting spot in his heat , to a top five finish. It wasn't easy, but he got it done, and then went on to turn that into a top five finish in the non-stop 30-lap feature.
For the crew, work began early Saturday morning with the task of switching cars. They wanted to leave the new car that won at Lernerville Friday night at home and take a proven car to Eldora. They were running behind and started the six hour trip later than they normally would, but they were not the last to sign in the pits, as three other Sprints followed him into the pits.
Ed's pill draw was 31 which put him mid-way in the second session of hot laps and 17th in the time trial order. His best lap in hot laps was a 14.66 seconds but, he improved on that in time trials. Because there were over 40 cars, each driver only got one lap on the clock. Ed improved his time and was second overall with a time of 14.413. Cale Conley was quickest with a time of 14.338.
There were four heats with six inverted and Ed lined up sixth in the second heat that had Dean Jacobs, Butch Schroeder, Phil Gressman, Greg Wilson and Tim Hunter ahead of him. Ed got by Hunter, but then Hunter got past the #2L again. Fortunately, two laps later, Ed used an inside move to nail down fifth spot for good. Wilson won the event with the other heats going to Jim Nier, Todd Kane and Caleb Griffith.
Randy Hannagan won the All Star Dash and Jimmy Stinson took the B-Main honors.
The top six qualified cars reported to the front stretch for a re-draw and Ed drew a four, while Rob Chaney and Tim Shaffer drew front row spots. Dale Blaney would start Ed's row number two and Hannagan and Conley made up row three. Wilson, Griffith, Gressman and Paul May made up the balance of the starting front ten.
At the drop of the green flag, Ed bolted into second past Blaney and Chaney and was inside Shaffer at the flagstand. He was still second after five laps with Blaney third, then Wilson and Chaney. With 13 down, Wilson had nosed ahead of Shaffer and Blaney had passed Ed for third.
Twenty laps were in the books when Blaney moved into second behind Wilson, with Shaffer back to third and Hannagan advancing to fourth ahead of Ed, whose harder tires never did come on.
On lap 24, Blaney nosed ahead of Wilson to take the lead by two feet. There were position battles all around the track because of the flat-out racing. From the half-way mark, Ed had been in a duel with Chaney and swapped with him several times for fifth spot, finally settling the issue with five laps to go when Ed put some distance between the two.
Up front, it remained close for the win, but Blaney prevailed over Wilson. Shaffer was all alone for third, then Hannagan and Ed in the top five. Chaney held on for sixth, followed by Brooke Tatnell up from 16th starting spot, then came Dean Jacobs, Griffith and Brian Paulus in the top ten.
Plans for this coming weekend include the
June 5 All Star show at Lernerville, then on Saturday, the
Monster 1/2 mile, Pitttsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway
(PPMS) will host a Special Sprint Show. Ed's last
appearance at PPMS was an All Star Western Pennsylvania
Speedweek show on June 10, 2000. There were 32 cars and he
timed 7th and started 7th and finished 7th in the feature.
Questions may be emailed to
m.miley99@comcast.net or call
412-279-RACE.
Ed Wins His 97th Sprint Feature with New Car at Lernerville - 5/29/09
Ed got delivery of a new J&J custom-built frame and body a week ago and the crew put the finishing touches on it in time to load up for its maiden voyage at Lernerville Friday night. For never having been on a race track before, the new #2L was definitely fast "out of the box", turning 113.862 mph in hot laps and ending the night with the fastest lap of the feature (103.814mph) with two laps to go on the way to its first checkered flag.
There were 21 Sprints on hand that drew pills to determine the line up for two heats. Ed drew a low pill that put him on pole for the second heat. He led every lap over Scott Priester, Kevin Schaeffer, Lindsay Enscoe and Jack Sodeman, Jr. The other heat went to Scott Bonnell followed by Rod George, Bob Felmlee and Charlie Holben.
The Sprint feature would be second on the program following the BRP Tour Modified Tour and the green flag waved for the sprinters at 10:17PM. Ed made very few changes through the night, but the redraw for the 25-lap feature put him deep in the field at 11th starting spot. With George and Bonnell in the front row, Charlie Holben and Todd Bauer made up row two, while Priester and Bill Kiley came next. Felmlee and Sodeman came out in row four, while Schaeffer and Enscoe were set in row five. Ed and last week's winner Carl Bowser lined up in row six.
It was going to be hard to think that George would not end up in victory lane starting from the pole position, but as they say, "that's why they run the race", to see how things play out. When Priester lost power on the back stretch after two laps, George led Bonnell, Bauer and Felmlee with Ed in ninth. The green came back out for an extended run and Ed got two more spots by lap six and was up to seventh. With 10 laps in, Ed was fifth behind George, Bonnell, Bauer and Felmlee. Five laps later, Ed was up to third behind Felmlee and George.
Lapped traffic was everywhere as the front three diced through it. As Ed was on a mission and getting faster and more comfortable in the car, he passed Felmlee and then cleared George to emerge the leader on lap 22 and the caution flew for George, who spun all by himselfin turn four, Felmlee who looped his mount and Schaeffer, who got caught up in the mess in turn four. Therefore, the new running order would be Ed leading Sodeman, Bonnell, Holben, Bowser, Bauer, Brent Matus, George and Felmlee all clean cars.
A final caution one lap later was for Eli Deshales and the line-up remained the same. Ed turned his fastest lap of the feature on the white-flag lap, even though the speed was down 10mph from the first part of the night. Ed picked up Sprint car win number 97 here at Lernerville. Sodeman, Jr. settled for second followed by Bonnell and Holben and Bowser rounded out the top five.
The team plans to run the All Star show at
Eldora Speedway tomorrow (Saturday).
Ed is 8th in the big Outlaw Showdown at The Dirt Track at Lowes Motor Speedway - Friday 5/22/09
Ed used every opportunity, hot laps, time trials, a heat race, the Dash and feature, to fine tune his race car Friday night and the payoff was an eighth place finish in the 30-lap WORLD OF Outlaw Showdown on the big stage at The Dirt Track at Lowes Motor Speedway before a sell-out crowd.
As the 24-car field saluted the enthusiastic crowd with their four-wide formation, the SPEED-TV cameras caught all the action LIVE. The spectacular fireworks set off from the infield, as the Sprint cars circled the 1/2 mile clay oval, added to the excitement of the event. But, even with the noise of the 850 cubic-inch engines and the booming fireworks, the cheers of the fans could be heard above everything else. It was electrifying!
The trip had staarted just after midnight Thursday and the crew got into town Friday morning in time to eat breakfast at Bob Evans before they got in line for the pits around 10:00AM. There were 25 Sprints on hand and 50 FASTRAK Late Models.
In hot laps, Ed's pill draw (37 out of 55) put him in the second session and four of the top five times in hot laps came from the first group as the track was quickly drying. Ed was the fastest car in the second session (14.732), ranking fourth overall. The times were about three seconds off the track record.
Time trials were up next and Ed went out 17th and was 12th at the end with a time of 15.084 behind Daryl Pittman whose time was fastest at 14.737. These results set the heat line-ups. Ed was scheduled to start on pole of heat number three. Outside Ed, it was Danny Lasoski followed by Cole Conley, Steve Kinser, Matt Linder, Lucas Wolfe, Daron Clayton and Brian Ellenberger.
Ed got off to a great start and ran the bottom, staying as close to the giant infield markers as possible with Kinser in a close second. With Ed turning perfect laps on the bottom, he led the first four so Kinser moved one groove up and coming off turn four he completed the pass and was ahead at the flagstand to start lap five. That's the way they finished, locking Kinser and Ed into the Crane Cams Dash. Jason Sides and Pittman got the job done in heat one as well as Donny Schatz and Chad Kemenah in heat two.
When the Dash drivers had to report to the frontstretch for the redraw, the crowd went nuts again with cheers and applause for each one as they were introduced. Ed made changes on the #2L and tried a higher groove after staring sixth. There was definitely no grip up there and he finished ninth, returning to the pits to change the set-up for the feature.
The A-Main lined up with Schatz and Joey Saldana in front and Sides and Pittman in row two. Brooke Tatnell and Kinser made up row three followed by Kemenah and Jason Meyers, then Ed and Cory Conley in row five. At the drop of the green, Ed was boxed in and Conley moved up. By the completion of two laps, Ed got good bite on the front stretch and got by Tatnell and Conley and was in 8th when the caution flew for Robbie Stillwagon, with Schatz leading.
With 10 laps in the books, Schatz continued to lead Saldana while Sides stayed in third ahead of Kemenah, Pittman and Meyers, then Kinser and Ed in eighth. The same running order was in place through 20 laps. However, on lap 21 Saldana used lapped traffic to get by Schatz going into turn one just before Tatnell had a tire shred which brought out the final yellow.
The checkered flag waved over Saldana and Schatz lost ground to Sides for second. In fourth it was Pittman followed by Kinser, Meyers, Kemenah, then Ed in eighth ahead of Lasoski and Conley in the top ten.
Ed and the crew loaded up and drove to the nearest truck stop for showers, then started the six hour drive to Virginia Motor Speedway.
Ed's second visit to Virginia Motor Speedway nets him a hard-fought 8th place finish - Saturday 5/23/09
After an all-night drive, at 8:00AM the #2L crew was the first to pull into the pits at Virginia Motor Speedway for the WoO Paul Sawyer Memorial Race. The friendly track workers began to arrive and many stopped by to welcome us. A hot afternoon was predicted, so several hours of work went into preparing the car for that night's program and the timing allowed everyone to get a "power" nap during the heat of the day.
Thirty-one Sprints signed in and Ed had another high pill draw (48 out of 60) placing him the fourth hot lap session, but the track conditions were just the opposite of the night before at Lowes. Here, the track crew had a hard time getting the track ready for hot laps because it was too wet and greasy . Each group actually had to go out a second time to turn laps close to what they should be. Ed's times in the first session were in the 17 second bracket, but his second session was in the 15 second range.
Time trials were up next and at this track, the pits is located across a County Road from the track. A County Crossing Guard is employed each race night to stop traffic so the teams, four-wheelers and race cars can cross to the track's infield and back and forth and so on, all night long.
Ed went out 26th and had a first lap going that might have held up for fast time, except coming out of turn four, the car got too much bite and pulled a wheelie. Continuing with his second lap, he turned a 15.021, good enough for fourth overall behind Lucas Wolfe, Jason Meyers and Kraig Kinser.
He was in the first heat behind Jeff Busby and Craig Folmar (a former 305 Sprint Champion at this track), then outside Ed in the second row it was Wolfe, the fast qualifier, followed by Josh Weller, Chad Kemenah, Daryn Pittman, Bob Howard, Ed Alkin, Jeff Taylor and Scott Davis. Folmar jumped to the lead and used his knowledge of the track to a lap of 119.631mph and lead everylap. Ed finished second with a best lap of 118.530mph, followed by Wolfe, Kemenah, Weller and Pittman. Donny Schatz beat Danny Lasoski in heat two, while Craig Dollansky was ahead of Joey Saldana in the third heat.
In the redraw for the Crane Cams Dash, Ed drew an eight behind the front row of Wolfe and Sam Hafertepe. Ed finished seventh in the six lap Dash. Thus, the top ten for the 30-lap A-Main would line up with Saldana and Hafertepe in the front row. Wolfe and Jason Meyers were in row two followed by Schatz and Dollansky in row three. Ed started inside row four with Lasoski outside and next came by Kraig Kinser and Folmar.
On the initial green Ed was inside Schatz at the flagstand and off to a good lap, but there was a complete restart required when David Gravel and Ellenberger tangled and flipped coming off turn four bringing out a red flag. Saldana jumped into the lead from the double file complete restart and led every lap as the race played out to go non-stop. Hafertepe was second ahead of Dollansky, Meyers and Wolfe. Lasoski did some late passing to finish sixth ahead of Schatz.
The race of the night was for Ed's eighth position which was challenged lap after lap by Steve Kinser, jason Sides, Kraig Kinser and Jac Haudenschild. Each time, Ed's line into turn three took him out one groove and constantly, Kinser and sometimes Sides would get under the #2L, but every time Ed would muster enough horsepower to pull ahead coming out of turn four to hold his sought-after position. Most of the top finishers turned their fastest lap within the first five laps of the race.
Coming up, the team will be at Lernerville Speedway Friday night.
Ed is set to run two WoO shows this Friday 5/22/09 and Saturday 5/23/09
On Friday Ed will be racing with the World of Outlaws at The Dirt Track at Lowes Motor Speedway in front of the LIVE (8:00PM Eastern) SPEED-TV cameras near Charlotte, North Carolina and on Saturday he will travel to Virginia Motor Speedway near Richmond, Virginia.
In last year's race at Lowes, he turned the second fastest time, ran his heat, made the Crane Cams DASH but had to replace a power steering unit and was late reporting to the staging area for the A-Main. That moved him from eighth starting spot to tenth, but after just one lap of the feature a fluid leak from a pump fitting caused him to pull to the infield and he was unable to continue.
The following night at Virginia Motor Speedway, he timed sixth, ran his heat, finished ninth in the Crane Cams DASH, but ran most of the A-Main using the inside groove and finished 14th.
"Both tracks are first-class facilities and
I'm looking forward to having better luck this year," said
Ed as he finished preparing his car in the garage prior to
loading the rig.
Ed starts 24th and finishes in the top 10 at Lernerville - 5/15/09
Because Ed won the first three features at Lernerville this year, he was relegated to 24th starting spot in Friday night's feature regardless of how he finished in his heat race. Therefore, the crew was happy to get that difficult start behind them and roll the car into the trailer after a top 10 finish in the 25-lap main event.
With 24 Sprints signed in to run three heats, Ed was scheduled to start inside the second row of the third heat. Gale Ruth, Jr. and new-comer Pete Miller brought the field to the green and Ed played it cautious at first, but was leading after one lap when the caution came out for Miller. Ed was on it following the yellow and led Ruth, Charlie Holben and Jack Sodeman, Jr. On lap four, it was Miller in trouble for the second and final time. From that point on, Ed led Sodeman, Holben and Todd Bauer. The other heats went to Rod George and Brent Matus.
With the rotation of divisions, the Sprints were the first feature, but the track was already drying fast, and it was Mike Lutz and Rod George on the front row for the 25-lap feature. Matus and Bauer made up row two, while Scott Bonnell and Kevin Schaeffer were in row three. Sodeman, Jr. and Gary Rankin came next ahead of Charlie Holben and Scott Priester.
Meanwhile, Ed watched for the initial green from the last spot. Lutz turned the fastest lap of the race on that first lap as he led George through the first six laps. George had just moved into the lead when the only yellow of the feature for Lindsay Enscoe, came after seven laps. Ed was up to 12th at this point, but struggled to gain ground from that point on.
"My tires may have sealed over. I couldn't touch the gas pedal from that point on," Ed explained. He did move up three more spots, finishing ninth at the checkered flag behind George, Schaeffer, Bauer, Dan Kuriger, Lutz, Matus, Bonnell and Sodeman, Jr.
Plans are for the team to travel to The Dirt
Track at Lowes Motor Speedway and Virginia Motor Speedway
next weekend.
Ed makes first WoO show at Eldora on Saturday 5/9/09
Ed made his first trip this season to Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway to run with the World of Outlaws on Saturday. He timed well, won his heat, made the Dash, started seventh in the 30-lap A-Main and was running in the top ten for the first half of the race until the left rear quit doing its job and he ended up 14th.
It was a short night after winning at Lernerville Friday, unloading in the garage and making preparation to leave the next morning for Eldora. The crew made the long haul and was the last Sprint team to sign in making a total of 28 Sprints.
A high pill was drawn for time trials, slotting Ed in the third hot lap group…..which turned out to be a good thing. When the green waved for that last session, the engine had a miss and he never got a good lap, ducking into the pits immediately to find the problem.
Ed's engine builder, Paul Kistler happened to be close by and found a faulty spark plug. With Ed's one lap in hot laps ranking 27th out of 28, He went out in time trials and turned a solid 10th fastest with a time of 13.215 for a speed of 136.209mph.
Three heats were run with four inverted and Ed started on the pole of the first heat. He led every lap with an even faster time turning lap three at a speed of 138.196mph. Donny Schatz finished second followed by Sam Hafertepe, Jr, Sammy Swindell, Phil Gressman and Kraig Kinser in the top six. Other heat winners were Randy Hannagan and Jac Haudenschild. VP Racing Fuels - Midwest presented Ed with a certificate for 10 free gallons of Methanol for winning the first heat.
The top two from heats and the next fastest four cars were eligible for the draw in the Dash. The drivers met on the front stretch and Ed drew a number four. So, he started fourth and the changes he made prior to it didn't work out and he finished seventh behind Jason Sides, Steve Kinser, Swindell, Hannagan, Schatz, and Haudenschild. Thus, the first seven to line up for the A-Main.
Ed held his own and was seventh when the first yellow came out for Haudenshild on lap seven. With Steve Kinser leading Sides and Schatz, the race continued until Shane Stewart lost power on the front stretch on lap 14 with Ed now in 10th. A yellow for Kraig Kinser on lap 21 showed Ed now in 14th as that left rear was blistered. The final yellow came for Haud again on lap 24, which turned into a fuel only stop and a chance to see the wear on that tire. He managed to hold 14th spot as the checkered flag waved for Schatz, Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky and Hannagan in the top five.
The team plans to be at Lernerville this Friday when Ed has to start last because of three straight wins.
Ed is three for three in the 2009 season at Lernerville - 5/8/09
Ed is batting 1000 at Lernerville Speedway in 2009 and is on the right path to achieve his goal of 100 Sprint car wins here. There have been three Fab Four shows so far and Ed has won every Sprint heat and feature that the #2L was scheduled to be in, which means that he will now be relagated to last starting spot in his next Lernerville feature.
No sooner had the crew unloaded and started their normal pre-race preparations, which included hooking up the water heater, that resulted in a stream of water shooting from a hole in the upper portion of the radiator. Switching to high gear, they installed a new radiator and were ready for the call for Sprints to get heat in their engines. Twenty-one cars were signed in for competition and Ed was the fastest in Practice according to the amb.i.t. timing system that clocked him at 12.783 for a speed of 112.650mph. He made no changes after hot laps.
Ed lined up ninth in the second heat and was truly a rocket through the field and was up to third after one lap. Polesitter Danny Holtgraver and Bill Kiley were out front until Ed cleared Kiley on the next round and set his sights on Holtgraver who had a commanding lead. At the half-way mark of the eight lap heat, it seemed that the laps would be complete before Ed could catch Holtgraver. However, after taking the white flag, Holtgraver seemed to be cautious with a lapped car and Ed reeled him in just as they were coming into turn four and Ed pulled off an unbelievable inside move to leave Holtgraver in the dust with Scott Priester, Brent Matus and Carl Bowser following.
In the first heat it was Rod George over Bob Felmlee, Charlie Holben, Craig Mintz and Jack Sodeman, Jr.
Ed was not part of the redraw for the 25-lap feature because he won last week's feature. He decided to move the wing, change shocks and re-do the set-up on the #2L prior to the feature. Defending Track Champion Kevin Schaeffer and Priester made up the front row. Brent Matus and George were in row two, while Fellmlee and Mintz claimed row three. Next it was Holben and Carl Bowser, Lindsay Enscoe and Jack Sodeman, Jr. Holtgraver started inside Ed in row six.
Starting back as far as he did, Ed knew that traffic would be challenging. He said, "If you get held up getting by guys in a non-stop race, you may never get a chance to make up that distance. For me tonight, I did most of my passing on the inside and my best part of the track was turns three and four."
The green dropped and Priester was immediately in front from his outside pole position leading Schaeffer, George, Mintz and Felmlee. Ed got by Enscoe, Holben, Bowser and Holtgraver after a lap and next he got by Matus. After five laps, Ed was seventh. Ed passed Mintz on lap six, then Sodeman, Jr. by lap eight. During the next tree laps, Ed went back and forth with George, finally getting by him on lap 11. For the next four laps, Ed hounded Felmlee finally making the pass to move into third on lap 15.
Meanwhile, Schaeffer won the battle for the lead over Priester on lap 16. Ed made his winning move on lap 19 when he got by the front two, but with racing all over the track, it was still far from over. George made his move into second spot on lap 21. Ed had one really close call when Pete Miller III did a 360 just in front of him and kept going. Felmlee lost third when he encountered Miller after the white flag and that cost him a couple of spots.
When the checkered waved for Ed, his margin of victory was 1.001seconds over George, then came Schaeffer, Priester, Mintz and Sodeman, Jr. Down one lap in seventh it was Matus, Holtgraver, Ralph Spithaler, Jr.and Holben in tenth.
The team is headed for Eldora on Saturday.
Ed has a perfect night at Tri City Speedway Sunday - 5/3/09
It was two years since Ed has been to Tri City Speedway, north of Franklin PA, but Sunday night he proved he didn't lose his touch there by setting a new track record, winning his heat and his 25th career Sprint feature here, the 30-lap Hall of Fame Qualifier worth $2,500, over a star-studded field of 32 Sprint car drivers.
After hot laps where Ed was fastest with a speed of 14.730 that was under the track record, but couldn't be considered because it wasn't in competition. There was a pill draw to line up three heats and Ed started eighth in the first heat. With a nice run through the middle of the track, Ed was up to third behind outside polesitter Garrett Krummert and Rob Eyler. Just one lap later, Eyler took the point and led until Ed passed him to lead lap four where Ed's times were under the record again. The following lap was his fastest of the night and will go into the Tri City record books as the New Track Record (NTR) of 14.669 for a speed of 122.457mph.
Track announcer and Western Pennsylvania racing statistician, Walt Wimer informed the large crowd that Ed is now the leading Sprint car heat race winner with a total of 42.
Finishing behind Ed was All Star Defending Champion Dale Blaney, Eyler, Krummert, Scott Bonnell and Tony Beaber, all advancing to the A-Main. Young Cole Duncan led every lap from the pole to pick up the second heat and Tim Hunter did likewise in the third heat. The top four in each heat were eligible for the redraw for the first 12 spots in the 30-lap Hall of Fame Qualifier.
The redraw put Bob Felmlee and Eyler in the feature front row. Tim Shaffer and Todd Bauer made up row two , while Ed and Krummert were in row three. Greg Wilson, Danny Holtgraver, Blaney, Tom Wimmer, Hunter and Duncan made up the balance of the front five rows.
Ed had been fine tuning his #2L all night, changing tires, re-blocking the car, changing shocks and raising the wing. The new track owners, H&H Motorsports, were determined to have a fast show and put the sprints ahead of the other four divisions pushing off their feature before 8:00PM. Ed made all his changes and was ready to put them to the test.
The green waved on the 24-car field and Felmlee led as the first lap was completed, only to have his steering lock up going into turn one, getting the car airborne and hitting a protective water barrel. Simultaneously, Holtgraver spun sitting in between turns three and four. When the yellow flag was replaced by the green to start lap two,Eyler led Shaffer and Ed was up to third.
The remaining 29 laps were all green, with Ed getting past Shaffer on the next round and looking ahead to Eyler. The top three remained a tight-knit bunch for the next half-dozen laps. Shaffer even nosed ahead to lead lap nine, but still in a tight formation the top three continued to thrill the crowd. The "Apollo Rocket" took to the bottom groove and made his winning move to lead lap ten. Eyler fell back to secure third spot for the next six laps before Blaney moved into third on lap 17.
Ed continued to turn perfect laps, hitting his marks every time, despite lapped traffic. The whole time, he was being hounded by Shaffer. It wasn't until the flagman showed five-to-go, that Ed realized that the race might go non-stop to the end. It wasn't until about lap 28 when Ed made a great move on a cluster of lapped cars that held Shaffer up momentarily, giving Ed a little breathing room. At the checkered flag, Ed had lapped all but eight of the starting field and had a margin of victory of 1.551 seconds over Shaffer. Blaney, Wimmer and Wilson rounded out the top five. Finishing with a top ten ranking were Tim Hunter, Eyler, Rod George and Kevin Schaeffer all completing the 30 laps, while Bauer was tenth, one lap down.
Following his on-track interview with Brian Spaid, Ed signed autographs for a large group of fans in a specially designated area. He signed many of the shirts people were wearing, a girl's shoe, a boy's arm cast, many hats and of course, his traditional autograph cards.
Ed plans to run Lernerville this Friday, then think about going to Eldora on Saturday.
Lernerville Rains Out Friday Night - 5/1/09
Rain ended by noon on Friday so the crew loaded up and towed to Lernerville Speedway. There were 19 Sprints on hand and the rotation of classes had them scheduled to run second behind the Modifieds. The first heat for Sprints was on the track but before the green flag waved, large rain drops started to fall and the cars were sent to the pits. Ed was set to start fifth in the second heat. But, by 7:50PM the skies opened up and estimates are that the area received 1.50 inches of rain. Plans for the weekend are dependent upon the weather.
June
Ed joins the Pennsylvania Posse for a Speedweek show at Bedford Speedway Sunday - 6/28/09
After spending Sunday morning taking the driveline and rear-end apart to find the cause of Saturday's reason for dropping out of Fremont's feature while running third, the team prepared a second car to run in a Pennsylvania Speedweek show at Bedford Speedway.
Leaving at 2:30PM and driving through light rain on the PA Turnpike, Lynch Racing joined 29 other cars in a rare appearance by the Pennsylvania Posse Sprint cars at the Bedford Fairgrounds, normally a Late Model track. One of the promoters, J.R. Keifer, conducted the drivers' meeting, thanking the 28 Sprint car drivers in attendance and telling them about the new clay he added since Brian Leppo set the existing track record of 16.647 on 7/0l/07. "I'm hoping we can have a new track record tonight," he told the group.
Brian Householder, Coordinator of PA Speedweek, then took the mic to explain the rules and format for the night, starting with two laps on the clock for each of the 28 drivers, three heats, a Consi and a 30-lap feature. He also gave each team information on all the shows involved in this 19th Annual PA Speedweek with directions, phone numbers, purse breakdown and point fund information.
Ed drew a 54 pill out of 66 and actually went out 25th. Stevie Smith went out 18th and did set a NTR of 16.59. Ed's time was 16.819 to rank 6th overall. He started fifth in the third heat behind Justin Henderson, Johnny Mackison, Jr., Doug Esh, Mike Waagner, Ed and Dave Ely. Drivers had to finish sixth or better to advance to the A-Main. On lap three, the first red flag of the night came out for Dave Ely. There was another yellow for Mike Wagner and Dan Shetler, each made contact with the outside guardrail in turn two. Ed had a good restart and ended up second to Henderson. Other heats were won by Adam Wilt and Keith Kauffman.
The inversion for the feature was six and that put Ed on the pole. Along side Ed in the front row, it was Chad Kemenah with Greg Hodnett and Chad Layton in row two. Row three held S.Smith and Freddie Rahmer, while Mark Smith and Cody Darrah filled row four. With seven laps in the books, there was trouble in turn two with number #51 Karl Baker. Ed was not going to lead as Kemenah powered his way around Ed at the drop of the green. Chad Layton slipped into second a lap later and Ed was running third when the action halted with seven laps in the books.
Ed had nothing but praise for the track surface which had multiple grooves, plenty of room for passing and no dust. But, he wasn't able to take advantage of all that because of a tiny hole in his right rear tire. He was very calculated in his moves and had to hope the tire held enough air to finish the laps. Greg Hodnet and Rahmer took advantage of Ed's tire issue dropping Ed to sixth, which he was able to maintain to the finish. So it was Stevie Smith taking home the $5,000 followed by Kemenah, Layton, Hodnett, Rahmer and Ed in seventh. Rounding out the top ten it was Mark Smith, Daryn Pittman, Henderson and Keith Kauffman.
The crew
might try to go to Hagerstown, weather and work
permitting.
Ed makes the All Star Speedweek Finale at Fremont Speedway on Saturday - 6/27/09
Saturday was the final night of Ohio Sprint Speedweek sanctioned by the All Stars and the show was held at Fremont Speedway paying $10,000-to-win, so Ed and the crew headed west on the turnpike for four hours and arrived just after the gates opened for the 43 race teams in line.
The night was full of surprises and disappointments, starting with the pill draw of number 74 out of 75 pills. That was a bummer which turned out to be a surprise when the fastest times turned out to be toward the end of the one-lap-only time trials on the dry and dusty track. Ed turned a 13.123, which was 9th quickest, just after Stevie Smith's fast time of the night of 12.701.
Four heats were run with the top six staggered and inverted, which slotted Ed in fourth spot in the first heat with Brandon Wimmer and Randy Sweet (in the Kasey Kahne owned sprinter), Lee Jacobs, Ed and Cory Conley and Stevie Smith in the front six. Cap Henry spun on the front stretch on the first attempt to start the race, while Conley spun in turn four on the next attempt. Finally, the race was underway and Ed moved ahead of Jacobs into third. Sweet ended up the winner over Wimmer and Ed, then Stevie Smith and Dean Jacobs who all advanced to the A-Main. Dale Blaney, Daron Clayton and local Kevin Lee won the other heats.
As the heats ran off, it became ironic that every car starting in 5th spot were not able to make the top five transssfer spot. Thus, after the first heat Conley did not transfer and so now Ed would start eighth. After the second heat, Mark Keegan didn't transfer and now Ed would start eighth. After the third heat, Shaffer did not make the top five and now Ed would start 7th. When Rob Chaney crashed in the fourth heat and car of Ryan Meyers spun, moving Ed now into being eligible for the top six re-draw. Now, of course, Ed had a chance for a fan to draw him a starting spot from one to six. The fan drew a six for a starting spot. The B-Main for 23 cars sent four cars Conley, Shaffer, Keeghan and Lee Jacobs to the A-Main.
The front row for the 40-lap A-Main showed polesitter Chad Blonde and Duane Zablock followed by Brock Mayes and Craig Mintz. Row three consisted of Randy Hannaghan and Ed followed by Daavid Harrison and Sweet.
At the drop of the green, Ed's car took off and he was in third and running strong.
Being hooked up and going forward, only lasted about 2-1/2 laps before drive line problems developed and he cut to the infield not causing a yellow. Ed was scored as the first car out of the race and paid for 24th spot. Since the crew didn't get home until 4:00AM, they will wait until morning to determine the exact cause of the problem. Tim Shaffer who started 14th won the event.
They will
also determine if it is possible to run the PA
Speedweek show at Bedford on Sunday evening.
Ed makes Opening Speedweek feature at Eldora Saturday 6-20-09
Ohio's All Star Sprint Speedweek '09 kicked off at Eldora on Saturday after being rained out Friday night at Attica Raceway Park and Ed was part of the 48-car field, doing a good job in time trials, finishing second in his heat to advance to the 30-lap feature, but was hit twice on lap two ending his night.
The large field of Sprints meant just one lap on the clock in time trials and Ed made the best of his pill draw that sent him out 23rd. He timed in at 13.893 seconds which put him at 14th overall. On a quickly drying surface, the top three times came in the first eight cars in line with Cale Conley with fast time of 13.577.
After time trials, the crew made the right changes and Ed was running better in his heat, where he came from third, passing pole-sitter Arizona driver Ben Gregg, to finish behind Brock Mayes. The other heats were won by the pole-sitters Louisana's Jason Johnson, Dean Jacobs and Phil Gressman.
Stevie Smith won the Dash, while the C-Main advanced Lee Jacobs and Tennessee's Paul McMahan to the B-Main. That B-Main then sent Ryan Myers, Iowa's Terry McCarl, Chris Andrews and Connecticut's David Gravel to the A-Main.
Prior to the feature where Ed would start 14th, he made changes to the angle of the top wing, shocks, gears and electrical box. But with the drop of the green flag, he was not happy with the changes.
The front row of the feature looked like this,Greg Wilson and Smith, followed by Conley and Schroeder. Randy Hannagan and Brandon Wimmer were in row three. Then it was Tim Hunter and Brock May. Dale Blaney and Chaney.were in row five. McCarl and Myers made up row six, then Craig Mintz and Ed in 14th starting spot.
The field took the green and barreled down the front stretch only to have a big pile-up in turn one involving five cars that started near the back. On that red flag, Ed decided to duck in the pits and change the wing angle back again and check the air pressure in his right rear tire and swap out the electrical box again.
He had to start last and on lap two he was running the inside in turn one. Still on the inside, he was coming up on Dean Jacobs when Jacobs cut down and bumped Ed's right front tire, spinning him. He was sitting in turn one and the yellow light was on, when the last car on the track, Phil Gressman who was just past the flagstand when this happened, Gressman drove straight into the right front of Ed's car, getting the nose wing and bending the frame, making it impossible to continue. Ed was scored 19th in the final run-down.
The race turned out to have a high attrition rate with only 13 cars finishing the event. At the mid-way point Schroeder flipped coming out of turn four with heavy damage to the no. B20. On the restart, Blaney's right rear was going down and he dropped back and stopped, causing a yellow. He pulled onto the staging lane, his crew completed the tire change, but All Star officials would not let him be pushed off because he had to replace the tire with the same compound that he used in qualifying.
Smith looked like a sure winner until McCarl ran him
down after a restart on lap 23 with an inside move
in turn one and a slide job in turn two. The next
time around, Smith was going to return the favor,
but the yellow came out for Dean Jacobs who lost
power on the front stretch. That yellow turned into
a red flag fuel stop with six laps to go. McCarl
held on for the win over Smith, Wilson, Chaney, and
Hannagan in the top five. Rounding out the top ten
it was Daryn Pittman, Wimmer, Tim Shaffer, Tim
Hunter and Conley.
Lernerville cancels eaarly because of bad weather that never happened. 6/19/09
Shortly after noon on Friday, Lernerville Speedway
cancelled their big fireworks night and racing program
because weather sources indicated bad storms coming from
the West that were supposed to arrive around 8:00PM. It
is now 1:00AM (Saturday) and a calm 70 degrees. Radar
indicates the storms are just now in Indianapolis which
could effect racing plans for Saturday. The team
planned to go to the All Star Speedweek show on Saturday
at Eldora, but will watch the weather closer to 10:00AM.
Ed notches a top five finish his first time at Sharon this year - 6/13/09
It was a night when passing was almost non-existant on a very dusty Sharon Speedway surface, Ed managed to go forward twice after starting ninth in the 22-car field that was set to go the 25-lap distance. It was a night of good luck from start to finish, as several incidents could have turned out so much worse.
With 22 Sprints on hand, three heats were on the board and Ed's pill draw put him mid-way in the first heat line-up. Danny Holtgraver and Russ Sansosti were on the front row and Jim Nicely and Ed were in row two. Holtgraver led the first four laps, before Ed took the lead, turning the fastest lap of the night, 13.920 for a speed of 96.983mph.
The first incident occurred after Ed's checkered flag. He coasted around turns one and two, held his left arm up to indicate he was off it and turning left into the normal exit lane through the infield to the pit gate. He heard and engine reving up and Nicely, who was a lap down, hit Ed in the left side of the fuel tank, rear bumper and top wing. Nicely told Pit Steward Carl Best that he was trying to complete his eight laps.
The other heats were won by front row starters Scott Bonnell and Gary Edwards. While those heats were running plus the heats for the other divisions, the #2L crew worked to repair the damages to their car. The Sprint feature would follow intermission.
The inversion for the Sprint feature was nine, thus Ed would start ninth. Dan Shetler and Bob Lime were in the front row, followed by Broc Martin and Pete Miller. In row three, it was Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Russ Sansosti were next, then Edwards and Bonnell in row four. Ed and Kevin Schaeffer were in row five.
The first two starts were erased because of spins. With everyone anxious and cars having trouble getting grip, Ed decided this was no time to charge and he maintained his starting position for the first two laps. On lap three, Ed got by Sansosti and one lap later, he passed Edwards. While on his methodical move forward on lap seven, coming out of turn two, he spun a "donut", and looped it, but had a hard time keeping it from stalling. By the time he was pointed in the right direction and the engine was responding properly, three cars got by. Fortunately, those cars got by Ed without making any contact.
The next lap, Miller spun bringing out a yellow, with the restart lineup showing Shetler, Sodeman, Lime, Martin, Sansosti, Schaeffer and Ed in seventh. On lap 13, Ed passed Sansosti. However, on lap 17, when Ed tried to get by Edwards on the outside, it was Schaeffer who got back by Ed. On lap 22, Ed diced back in front of Schaeffer. It wasn't until the final lap that he passed Edwards. for fifth.
Sodeman, Jr. became Sharon's 4th different winner. Shetler, Martin,Lime and Ed ranked in the top five.
The team
has no plans to race Sunday.
Close to his goal of 100, Ed wins 98th Sprint feature at Lernerville - 6/12/09
It was a night of firsts at Lernerville Friday for Ed as he was first in hot laps, first in his heat race, drew first starting spot in the 25-lap Mid-Season Championship and finished first in that feature event which carried a bonus, for the first time, of a Guaranteed Starting Spot in the Don Martin Silver Cup 2009 race in July.
With 23 Sprints signed in, they were first in the rotation of the four divisions and had the biggest turnout of cars. Hot laps showed Ed to be the fastest with a time of 13.054 for a speed of 110.311mph on the amb i.t. transponders. A pill draw set the three heat line ups and Ed drew #50 out of 50 pills, placing him eighth in the second heat. He passed pole-sitter Rod George on the white flag lap to go on and pick up his sixth heat win of the year with a time faster than he turned in hot laps.
Ed's speed on lap three of his heat, turned out to be the fastest speed of the night in all divisions at 110.837. The other heats went to Brent Matus and Kevin Schaeffer, who benefitted from a jump by pole-sitter Dan Kuriger. This moved Kuriger back a row and put Schaeffer of the pole, who then went on to win his first heat of the year.
For the Mid-Season Championship, the top 12 in current points (Ed is third) all gathered at the blackboard and 12 fans representing those drivers did a pill re-draw. A young lady drew for Ed and gave him his first start from the pole this year. Danny Holtgraver started second while Scott Priester and Jack Sodeman, Jr. made up row two. Matus and Todd Bauer were next followed by Carl Bowser, kuriger, Charlie Holben, George, Bob Felmlee and Schaeffer in the top ten.
The green dropped and Ed had a good start and led that lap, however, Garrett Krummert slipped off the track between turns three and four and the yellow waved before the second lap could be completed. That single file restart allowed one more lap to be recorded with Ed leading. Peter Miller brought out the next yellow with just one more lap in the books.
A stretch of 21 green flag laps followed and Ed 's #2L was fast in every groove and proceeded to stretch his lead to 1/2 lap as he was lapping cars at will, sometimes splitting two cars to keep his momentum going. With 23 laps recorded, Lindsay Enscoe spun, bringing out a yellow after lap 23. At this point, all the lapped cars dropped to the back, erasing his 1/2 lap lead, Ed found himself with George, Schaeffer and Felmlee (the only other cars on the lead lap) on his tail.
It was like the race that wouldn't end, when Enscoe spun again after one more lap. The track has a rule that the race has to end with two consecutive green-flag laps, thus setting up a 26-lap feature. Despite the restarts, Ed managed to lead wire-to-wire and come within two of his goal of 100 Sprint wins. George made an effort to challenge for the lead on the inside, but fell short each time. Schaeffer finished third and Felmlee held fourth. Down one lap in fifth it was Todd Bauer, then Scott Priester, Holben, Kuriger, Matus and Gary Rankin in the top ten.
Ed and his son Ed,III celebrated their Sprint win by watching the 3rd period of the Penguins game on a big screen TV (10x14) set up by Lernerville General Manager Gary Risch behind the grandstands. A large group of fans watched and cheered as the Pens won the Stanley Cup.
The team
talked about running Sharon on Saturday and maybe running the
Clearfield All Star race on Sunday. Nothing is certain at this
time.
The Best of Both Worlds!
Watch the Pens win the Stanley Cup
Watch your favorite driver win the Mid-Season Championship
Contact: Lernerville Speedway
Eric J. Westendorf, Public Relations Director
(724) 664-1075 · ewestendorf@dirtcar.com
Sarver, PA (June 10, 2009) Conflicted as to what to do Friday Night? We’ve got you covered! We’re Penguins fans too! So to ensure that you won’t miss a goal by Evgeni Malkin or a slide job by Ed Lynch Jr., General Manager Gary Risch Jr. has ordered and will provide a big screen so that the “Greatest Fans in the World!” can watch “A Hockey Night in Pittsburgh!”
In all, five championships will be determined Friday Night; one Stanley Cup Championship to the Pittsburgh Penguins and four Mid-Season Championships to a driver from each of the Fab Four divisions.
And while you may not be able to hoist the Stanley Cup Friday Night, you might walk out of the Action Track with a ticket to one of the biggest races of the 2009 Lernerville Speedway season.
Eric J. Westendorf
Public Relations Director
Lernerville Speedway
Ed on his way to a dominating win at PPMS - but tangled with a lapped car to end his night 6/6/09
Prior to getting his flyer about a special race for Sprints paying $2,500-to-win at the monster 1/2 mile oval, Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, Ed started to prepare for his first trip back there since running an All Star Circuit of Champions race in 2000. His calculations for his set up were spot on and he had a commanding lead with seven laps to go, but a lapped car changed everything.
Following a good showing Friday night with the All Stars at Lernerville, the crew was hard at it Saturday morning preparing a car for PPMS. They wanted to leave early because of major entertainment events in Pittsburgh and not being able to fit through a tunnel on the direct route, causing them to go North before they could go West.
Departure was about 1:20 and they arrived shortly after 3:ooPM to be the first car in the Pits.
Smokey Schemp, the PPMS and Lernerville Pit Steward, had things organized for this long awaited visit of the Sprint Cars. Most of the 17 cars on hand were Lernerville regulars with a handful of outsiders. Many thought if there had been fewer crashes at Lernerville on Friday night, PPMS would have met their goal of 20 to 24 cars.
Ed had the fastest time in hot laps (on our watches) and the field was divided into heats by pill draw and Ed started 7th in the first eight-lap heat. He made his way forward and finally passed Garrett Kiummert with one to go to take the win. The second heat went to pole-sitter Rod George.
A fan was the deciding factor on luck-of-the-draw for the 20-lap feature inversion. The fan drew a 10 inversion putting Ed in 10th starting position. With Leo O'Malley and Kevin Schaeffer in the front row, Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Carl Bowser made up row two, while Gary Rankin and Danny Holtgraver were members of the thirc row. Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Garrett Kiummert were designated to the fourth row. George and Ed were starting from row five.
Ed was careful on the first round, but going forward and picking off several more spots in lap two. When the scoreboard showed three laps down, two cars ( Ronnie Rowe and Leo O'Malley)spun on the backstretch. The best move by Ed was on the restart when he was third behind Schaeffer and Bowser. Those two leaders, took a middle -of-the-track line into turn one as the green replaced the yellow. That left the inside open for Ed and he used it to pull off the lead change coming off turn two and building on that, he stretched his margin over second place Kevin Schaeffer to 1/2 a lap at lap 13.
At this point, in turn three, Ed came upon two lapped cars. Ed tried to split them, with the first car staying low (he cleared it) and the other one higher on the track, but as Ed was committed to the middle,, that car did not hold its line and Ed was committed and out of business after going over and getting upside down, bringing out the red flag. The crew loaded up and left before the race resumed.
What a big disappointment,
the car was perfect, the margin of victory was going to be huge,
and with seven laps to go, Ed's set up seemed to get faster as
the race progressed. He had already lapped up to fourth place.
No results were posted on the PPMS Website as of this writing.
Ed has a good showing in Lernerville's All Star Circuit of Champions Race 6/5/09
The combination of a full moon and plenty of rain to the East, set the stage for Lernerville Speedway to host an All Star Circuit of Champions race with a banner number of heavy hitters from Williams Grove - like Freddy Rahmer, Doug Esh, Greg Hodnett,Mark Smith, Lance Dewease, Justin Henderson, Adam Wilt and others pulling in to challenge All Star regulars Tim Shaffer, Dale Blaney and Greg Wilson. Even the rained out qualifying at the Pocono Raceway allowed NASCAR Sprint driver Kasey Kahne to return to the track where he was an All Star winner in 1999. Altogether there were 42 sprints signed in, Ed was still able to set fast time and nail down sixth place in the 30-lap feature.
Lately, it seems Ed has been drawing high numbers and tonight was no exception. He went out 35th in the line of 42 cars, who were given only one lap on the clock, and he managed to knock Kahne off the top spot with a time of 12.413 for a speed of 116.007mph. That placed him sixth in the first heat behind Troy Vacarro, Cody Darah,Danny Holtgraver, Bob Felmlee and Greg Hodnett. Ed was in trouble in the first turn of the first lap when a big chunk of mud cracked a side panel and came into the floor on the driver's compartment wedging under the throtle linkage and gas feed. While he tried to kick it out of the way, he lost the only opportunity to advance and he ended up finishing sixth unable to transfer to the A-Main. Darah went on to win, while Blaney, Tom Wimmer and Jack Sodeman, Jr. took the honors in the other heats.
Ed had to run the 12-lap B-Main to get to the A-Main and he led every lap, but Mark Smith was coming on strong at the end, followed by Adam Wilt and Ryan Bunton. All the early races had flips and this was no exemption. All together people started counting and came up with seven total flips. It was a night with lengthy roll-overs and it was fortunate that only one driver (Dewease) had to be taken to the hospital, but was later released.
Ed was not expecting what happened next. He found out that the best he could start would be 11th in the A-Main. The front row looked like this - Felmlee and Tim Shaffer, followed by Hodnett and Scott Bonnell. Row three had David Gravel and Kahne, while next came Rod George and Rahmer. Greg Wilson and Danny Holtgraver were slotted in row five. Ed now was told to slot in to 11th spot
Ed now was able to settle in, but there were too many incidents to get a long green flag run. Even the original start had to be called back, for David Gravel who appeared to lose power. Next, the field slowed for a turn one spin by Craig Folmar on lap 10. The same look with Shaffer leading Hodnett got another yellow before a new lap could be scored. The full-moon started to have an influence as a rash of yellows came again. Doug Esh brought out a yellow on lap 16 and then came a red flag for Ryan Bunton, who took a nasty flip .
Fortunately all drivers were OK, even though Dewease had to be taken to the Hospital for X-rays and then released. As the laps wound down, Ed made a move around Rod George for a position and next he set his sights on Greg Wilson , passing him on lap 19. With five laps to go, after running beside Kahne and trying to pass him on the inside and outside several times, he made the pass stick.
Shaffer led the last three laps after battling Hodnett up front , where Hodnett finally had to settle for second and Felmlee took third. Those three had all started in the first three spots. Rahmer held on to fourth while Mark Smith took fifth. After starting 11th, Ed made it up to sixth, finishing in front of Kahne for the second time this year. Wilson and George were the last of the clean cars
Ed plans to run Saturday at PPMS.
July
Lernerville rains out and Ed sees a video of Eldora's crash - 7/31/09
When Lernerville rained out at 4:10PM, Ed switched from working on the car he was going to race that night to another car that needed the engine to go back to Kistler Racing Engines. Once the engine came out and was loaded for the trip, he took time to watch a video clip of his scary accident with Gary Brazier at Eldora in the Knight Before the Kings Royal at Eldora. The video is posted at www.highvistavideo.com for everyone to see.
Ed will use
the weekend to prepare for the Knoxville Nationals August
12,13,14 and 15.
Ed gets his 100th Sprint Car victory at Lernerville Speedway on Friday - 7/24/09
Most fans and fellow Sprint car drivers saw a determination in Ed's every appearance at Lernerville Speedway this 2009 season, because he was trying to achieve a self-imposed goal of 100 Sprint car wins here at what he considers to be his home track.
That determination paid off Friday night when Ed crossed under the checkered flag for the 100th time. Then on a cool-down lap, he carried that flag around the track in a tribute to a tradition of past years when the feature winner would pause at the foot of the flagstand, and be handed the checkered flag by the flagman for a lap of celebration. Ed even spun a donut as a post-race victory gesture.
After he cleared the scales, the infield stage was filled with friends and family eager to join in the champagne- spraying celebration and pose for the large group of photographers recording this memorable occasion. There were large keepsake posters of congratulations, interviews by Dow Carnahan, congratulations from the track's General Manager, Gary Risch, a surprise announcement by Chad Hill of a $4,000 bonus of contributions from Ed's sponsors and friends for his landmark 100th win.
The night had started with 21 Sprints on hand, scheduled to run second all night behind the Big Block Modifieds. Ed would start seventh in the first heat and he was in the passing mode and up to second, but the yellow came out and reverting to just one lap down, he then was 4th behind Todd Bauer, Scott Priester and Pete Miller. He was up to third by lap five now behind Bower and Miller. Turn four spelled the end for both cars ahead of Ed as he used an inside move to get them both and led the two remaining laps.
The win keeps Ed in the hunt for the National Guard award for winning the most heat races of all divisions. He now has seven heat wins. Lutz won the other heat.
The re-draw for the 25-lap feature had Ed starting eighth. Early on, it looked like Mike Lutz had the car to beat in the Commercial Truck & Trailer Dirtcar Sprint Feature. On the back stretch on lap six, Ed set up Lutz on the outside and switched to the inside to take the lead coming into turn four. From that point on, Ed was weaving through lapped traffic and making all the right moves. The battle raged on until a yellow came out on lap l8. The restart line-up showed Ed had six lapped cars for a cushion before Lutz.
However, the final yellow came on lap 21 and, with less than five laps to go, the lapped cars all go to the rear thus leaving no room for error for the next four laps for Ed if he wanted this win. He was us to the challenge and drove perfect laps to the end, winning by 10 car-lengths over Kevin Schaeffer, Carl Bowser, Bob Felmlee and Rod George in the top five. Rounding out the top ten, it was Jack Sodeman, Jr., Lutz, Scott Bonnell, Todd Bauer and Scott Priester.
The team will
spend the week-end getting ready for their next big race…….the
49th Annual Knoxville Nationals.
Ed has very respectable showing all night long in Lernerville's Silver Cup XVIII - 7/22/09
The Don Martin Silver Cup XVIII sanctioned by the World of Outlaws, scheduled for Tuesday but was rained out, did run off time trials, four heat races, a C-Main, a Dash, a B-Main and two 30-lap A-Mains, at a record setting pace because of more rain approaching from the West, on Wednesday July 22, 2009.
Ed looks forward to this event at his home track every year and this year was no exception. Although, he wanted to do better, he had a very respectable showing for the night and was the highest finishing Lernerville car in all events for the 44 cars on hand.
Starting with time trials, despite going out late, 37th, he was able to turn a time of 12.890 seconds for a speed of 125.679mph to rank 4th overall behind Jason Sides, Jason Meyers and Dale Blaney. A total of nine cars were in the 12.000 second bracket and the good news is that Ed was one of them.
With four heats lined up and the fastest four inverted, Ed started fourth in the fourth heat. Only the top two in each heat would go to the Dash. Steve Kinser started on pole and won. Brian Ellenberger started outside pole with Sammy Swindell starting inside Ed, then came Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Craig Dollansky in row three. Daryn Pittman and Joey Saldana made up row four, followed by Danny Kuriger, Robbie Bartchey and Sam Hafertepe .
Ed battled with Ellenberger, who started ahead of him, after several laps, Ed put Ellenberger behind him amd nailed down second spot behind Steve Kinser. Thus, qualifying for the Dash. The other heats went to Tim Shaffer, Lance Dewease and Tim Kaeding.
The C Main slotted next with the Crane Cams Dash already in the gate. Ironically, the first five cars finished just the same as they started and Ed finished fifth behind Sides, Danny Lasoski, Cody Darrah, and Tim Kaeding. A 12-lap B-Main followed, then the cars were called for the first of two 30-lap A-Mains.
Ed was to line up fifth in the first A-Main, but Darrah's engine never fired and he was unable to start, moving Ed up one row. On lap two, Stevie Smith spun, bringing out the yellow. Kraig Kinser spun and went off number one turn bringing out the yellow with Ed running fourth behind Sides, Lasoski and Kaeding. Blaney lost an engine on lap 19 and went to the pits. The official finish was Lasoski, Sides, Steve Kinser,Tim Shaffer, jason Meyers, Lance Dewease and Ed now in eighth.
The running of a second 30-lapper showed a reverse order of the 19 clean cars from the first A-Main, and Ed would start 12th in this one. Danny Smith and Kraig Kinser were in the front row for this one and by lap three, the only red flag of the night was displayed for a flip by Swindell. When K. Kinser spun on lap 14, Smith was still the leader with Ed now in 16th and that's where he would stay for the second half of the race. On lap 27 Stevie Smith took the lead, while Jac Haudenschild moved by to claim second spot. Danny Smith held on third while Dollansky came home 4th ahead of Joey Saldana.
Ed stayed
and signed autographs well after the races were over and his
new T-shirt design was a hit. The #2L plans to be at
Lernerville this Friday in search of his 100th Sprint car
win there.
Rescheduled Silver Cup race will be Wednesday at Lernerville - 7/22/09
Ed and the #2L crew arrived early at Lernerville Speedway, then waited through the rain which eventually caused officials to postpone the Don Martin Silver Cup race to Wednesday when pit gates will open at 4:00PM. This is one of Ed's favorite races at his home track and he was well prepared for the event, bringing two cars for the twin 30-lap feature event. For the first time ever, Ed has already earned a guaranteed starting spot in the race, but will time trial, run his heat and try to earn his way in to the event, despite the guarantee.
Many fans
have fond memories of his win in the 2002 running of the Silver
Cup against the best of the World of Outlaw drivers and were
walking around the pits Tuesday night in the rain to see him and
remind him of their enjoyment of that race and to wish him luck
in this year's version.
Ed's All Star race is cut short after five laps Sunday at Tri City Speedway - 7/19/09
Going for their third race in three days, the Lynch Racing crew arrived at Tri City Speedway just north of Franklin PA as the pit gates opened at 2:30PM for their first All Star Sprint Car race in several years on Sunday.
Ed won Tri City's previous Sprint car race this year on May 3, 2009 and looked forward to competing there again this time against the All Stars. However, things did not go as planned and it made for a very disappointing night when he was spun out of the feature event early after starting sixth and running fifth.
With 28 cars on hand, hot laps were early at 5:00PM and the times were a full second slower than the May race when Ed set a New Track Record here of 14.669 seconds. Time Trials followed with Dale Blaney going out sixth and setting fast time of 16.020. Ed went out next a turned the second quickest time of the night of 16.023 seconds.
Three heats were lined up with six inverted and Ed was scheduled to be in the second heat with David Gravel and Brandon Wimmer in the front row, with Tim Shaffer and Roddy Bellbowen in row two and Cole Duncan inside Ed in row three. Ed finished sixth, good enough for a transfer to the A-Main, and pole-sitter Gravel won. In the first heat, it was Darren Clayton the pole sitter winning, while front row starter, Danny Smith taking the checkered flag in heat three.
Greg Wilson won the Dash and the B-Main advanced six cars to the A-Main including Andy McKisson, Danny Holtgraver, Rob Eyler, Gale Ruth, Jr., Charlie Holben and Matthew Reed.
The fastest six that qualified through their heats were part of the track's "Pick Six" and the fans draw for starting positions in the A-Main. The results were Duncan and Daryn Pittman would lead the 30-lap feature field. Greg Wilson and Mike Lutz came next with Blaney and Ed in row three.
The green came out and young Duncan led until the yellow flew on lap three for cars spinning in between turns three and four. Pittman charged ahead on the restart and led Duncan, Wilson, Blaney, Lutz and Ed. Just two laps later Ed was in fifth with Shaffer pressuring. At the flag stand, Shaffer. the All Stars point leader, tried to set up on the outside of Ed to challenge for fifth spot, but then switched to the inside at the last minute just as Ed was entering turn one. Shaffer tried to dive inside. Instead, he caught Ed's rear bumper on the left side, spinning Ed and himself as well. Ed went to the pits and Shaffer continued at the back.
Pittman went on to win his first All Star feature, followed by Wilson,Blaney, Danny Smith and Duncan in the top five. Rounding out the top ten it was Brandon Wimmer, Mike Lutz, Rod George, Tim Shaffer and Rob Eyler.
Ed now
focuses on Don Martin's Silver Cup race to be run Tuesday, June
21.
Ed Makes His 8th King's Royal on Saturday - 7/18/09
Using a back-up car at Eldora after his primary car was destroyed in an horrific crash here Friday night, Ed did a masterful job of getting the most out of his equipment through time trials, his heat and the dash to earn a 10th place starting spot in the 26th Annual King's Royal World of Outlaw sanctioned event over a field of 47 cars Saturday night at Eldora Speedway before a packed house and SPEED-TV cameras that were shooting for a tape-delayed showing on August 9th at 5:00PM.
The #2L crew had a good pill draw for a change and was 17th quick after all hot lap sessions, but greatly improved in time trials to end up fourth quick behind Cody Darrah, Jason Sides and Danny Lasoski.
The format for the King's Royal divided the cars into six heats with four inverted. Thus, Ed started fourth in the fourth heat. Three cars would advance to the 40-lap A-Main, but only the top two would make the Dash, which locked in the top 12 spots.
Ed's heat had Toni Lutar and Lee Jacobs in the front row with Tim Kaeding inside him in row two. Kerry Madsen and Dean Jacobs were next, followed by Brian Ellenberger and Cap Henry. Ed wasted no time in moving into second in turn one and was in a position to pass Lee Jacobs who bobbled, causing Ed to lift and Jacobs got away. The opportunity to get the win never presented itself again as Jacobs finished two car-lengths ahead. The other heats went to Joey Saldana, Sam Hafertepe, Lasoski, Donny Schatz and Dale Blaney.
For the important 12-car dash, Blaney and Schatz started up front and Ed started tenth and finished tenth. Schatz won the six-lap event and Blaney was second, which locked up the front row for the King's Royal. Saldana and Lasoski made up row two, while Hafertepe and Steve Kinser were next followed by Jason Sides, Tim Shaffer, Brandon Wimmer and Ed.
Before a lap could be recorded, Saldana had brushed the wall and had a flat tire and axle trouble and was unable to make repairs in time to rejoin the field. Schatz led the first official lap before the yellow came out again. From that point on, it was green with numerous lead changes between Schatz and Blaney until lap 22 when the yellow came out for Steve Kinser's flat and minor damage. Ed was running 15th at the time and still on the lead lap.
On lap 36, Jim Nier spun, hit the back-stretch wall and came down nearly collecting Ed. He got Ed's right side nerf bar and headers, but Ed was able to keep going. The yellow for Nier turned into a "red fuel-only" stop and when the face resumed Ed was able to pass Sammy Swindell and finish 14th with Schatz getting the $50,000 win over Blaney and Hafertepe.
The crew
then drove to Tri City for the All Star Show on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of
Mike Campbell
To view more photos
click here
Ed has a good night until feature time of The Knight Before the King's Royal" race at Eldora - 7//17/09
Ed was at Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway for the 26th Annual King's Royal weekend. The Friday World of Outlaw sanctioned show which was dubbed the Knight Before the King's Royal almost spelled disaster for Ed. After he was off to a good start in hot laps, time trials and his heat, it was not so good after that and he was lucky to escape with no injuries in the feature when a car hit the outside wall in turn one, rode the wall 50 feet, flipped up into the catch fence, got some serious air time, then started to lose altitude and came down on Ed in a cage to cage vicious scary hit that quieted the large crowd.
There were 47 cars on hand and Ed's pill draw (25) put him mid-way in the second session of hot laps and at the end of hot laps, he was 15th overall. Each car then got one official lap on the clock and Ed ended up 10th which started him outside pole-sitter Randy Hannagan in the second heat which included Jac Haudenschild, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Tim Shaffer, Jim Nier, Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky, Jimmy Moughan, Greg Wilson and Roddy Bellbowen.
Ed took off at the green and left no doubt that he was hooked up, winning by half a straight-away over Hannagan. Other heat winners included Dale Blaney, Chad Kemenah and Jason Meyers. The heat win put Ed in the Dash where the re-draw started him eighth. He went forward for two laps, then dropped back, finishing tenth.
The front row of the feature showed Terry McCarl and Kemenah with Kerry Madsen and Meyers in row two. Stevie Smith and Randy Hannagan were in row three followed by Donny Schatz, Blaney, Kraig Kinser and Ed. The race went non-stop for 21 laps with McCarl leading.
For about five laps, Ed was holding his own, but then Steve Kinser and Haudenschild got by dropping him to 12th. Ten laps later Cale Conelly got by him, then Joey Saldana. Now running 14th on lap 21, the red flag came out for Haudenschild who had a tire go down and he flipped.
Just three laps later, Australian Garry Brazier hit the turn one outside wall, flipped high, rode the wall and catch fence up into the air, then started descending toward turn two. Ed said, "I saw him hit the wall, but he got so high my wing blocked my view and I never saw him until he dropped out of the sky, landing in front of me. I spiked the brakes and my car nosed down and the engine stalled. His momentum never stopped and he came at me cage to cage. I had a fire develop when he wiped out my radiator, oil tank, fuel injection and other engine parts. It scared me because he was coming at me cage first."
Miraculously, the Ed and Brazier were OK, we feel it is because they were in Jack Elam built cars that held up well despite the hard hit. Ed's official finish was 23rd as McCarl led wire to wire.
Ed and
the crew rolled out a back-up car to prepare for Saturday's
race here.
Ed is on the road to the King's Royal at Eldora, then to Tri City's All Star Race - 7/17-18-19/09
Ed will join the World of Outlaws in their two-day King's Royal race at Ohio's Eldora Speedway this Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday he will compete against the All Stars at Tri City Speedway.
In last year's Knight Before the King's Royal, Ed timed 7th in the 40 car field, finished fourth in his heat, but was caught up by a spinning Brian Paulus on lap two of the feature and did not finish. Saturday's King's Royal rained out at 9:00PM and the team did not stay for the Sunday rain date. In 2007, Ed timed 2nd in a field of 50 cars and finished 22nd. In 2006, he was presented an Atic Cat Tony Stewart Signature Edition by Tony himself for setting the fast time of the night over 57 cars where his speed was 133.195mph. He went on to finish 11th in the A-Main.
In Ed's most
recent appearance at Tri City earlier this year on May 3, he won
after starting fifth.
Ed starts 24th at Lernerville and an outstanding performance got him a 3rd place finish - 7/10/09
In his quest for 100 Sprint car wins at Lernerville Speedway, how ironic was it that the opportunity would present itself to Ed on the night he would have to start last, because of winning the previous two features here. But that is exactly the way things played out, on a Friday night that had more than its share of challenges for Ed and his #2L team.
Quietly behind the scenes, many people close to the impending goal that Ed had set for himself this year, had planned various things to celebrate the occasion. Despite giving it a gallant effort, Ed came from 24th to a podium third place finish at the end of 25 laps. So, those plans are on hold for a while as Ed will be at the King's Royal World of Outlaw show at Eldora Speedway next Friday and Saturday (July 17 and 18) and finish off the week-end on Sunday at Tri City Speedway's All Star Show.
Twenty-six Sprints were on hand for Fireworks and Nostalgia night and Ed's pill draw started him sixth in the third heat. Hot Laps had gone well and Ed was able to show that he was prepared for the night as he had the fastest amb.i.t. time of all cars signed in with a speed of 107.063 mph or 13.450 seconds.
However, no one expected what happened to him just after the field got the green flag to start the heat race. Jason Pisani and Australian Steve Lines were in row one, followed by Mike Lutz and Brian Steinman, then Shelia Rankin and Ed in row three. Peter Miller and Scott Priester made up the last row. The green waved and the field accelerated down the front stretch. Ed stayed in the outside lane close to the wall, passsing Steinman who had gone inside, but then radically came up the track with his wheels cut to the right and into Ed's left rear tire. After hitting Ed, Steinman continued off the track and into an embankment. He was taken to the pits on a wrecker.
Ed circled the track with other cars, while the accident was being cleared, trying to figure out what damage had occurred to his car from the Steinman hit. Finally, he stopped by an official on the front stretch for him to take a closer look. The official told Ed he had a broken shock and other suspension damage, so Ed went to the pits, spoiling any chance of a heat win in the National Guard Challenge. He had been leading all divisions with six, prior to tonight. The first two heats were won by Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Andy Priest while the third heat went to outside pole sitter Lines.
Ed went straight to the pits, so the crew could get to work on the car. They thrashed and hustled making repairs and replacements to the jacobs ladder, left rear tire, arms, shock and brackets. They rolled the car into the trailer, seeking a level surface to square up the car and finished up while the Late Model feature was on the track. Because of a lengthy red flag in the Late Models, the fireworks now were going to be after the Sprint feature. This gave the crew a chance to take a deep breath.
After the fireworks and a Cochran parade of show of cars, the Sprint feature took to the track at 10:44PM with Sodeman and Lines starting in the front row and dominated with Lines leading the way. Ed was up to 18th in two laps. Still on the move and able to run inside and outside, Ed made good moves that landed him 11th by lap six. Ed was up to seventh before the first yellow came out for Kevin Schaeffer. Only two laps later, the only other yellow came out for Garrett Kummert.
The problem with the restarts was that the lapped cars held their positions and when the cars are nose to tail. it put Ed behind by almost a straightaway. Ed was seventh at the lap 13 yellow, but he kept digging and got another position when he got by Dan Kuriger and into sixth. By lap 14 Ed was on Rod George's tail and managed to get by him on lap 16. With five to go, it was Lines leading Sodeman., Then came Scott Priester, within Ed's sights.
Lines
continued to lead and Sodeman, Jr. drove a strong race in second
spot. Ed moved into fourth on lap 23 and then into third on the
final round. George and Priester rounded out the top five.
Finally, Andy Priest, Kuriger, Carl Bowser, Schaeffer and Todd
Bauer made the top l0.
Ed advances from 21st to 12th in the Lou Blaney Memorial Race at Sharon - 7/7/09
A big crowd turned out on Tuesday, July 7, for the Inaugural Lou Blaney Memorial Race at Sharon Speedway and Ed put on a good show for them when he started 21st and finished 12th on a track that had very little passing. The field of 36 Sprint cars included drivers Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, David and Dale Blaney and many others, while the Big Block Modified field included Veteran driver "Jumpin' Jack" Johnson who won that portion of the show.
It was the usual pill draw for Ed when he pulled a 65 out of 66 pills which would determine the four-heat line ups. He started last in a heat that included Australians Steven Lines and Matt Reed on the front row. All Star competitors Rob Chaney and Brandon Wimmer made up row two. Row three showed Bob Lime and Tony Stewart followed by Mike Lutz, Danny Mumaw and Ed in ninth. There were two cautions in Ed's heat and each time he was advancing a position, but that was erased with the yellow. At the finish it was pole-sitter, Lines, Wimmer, Stewart, Reed and Lutz in the first five to advance to the A-Main, while Ed finished sixth and had to earn a spot through the B-Main.
In the other heats, Dale Blaney started on pole and led every lap of the first heat, front row starter Cale Conley won the second heat as well as front row starter Australian Roddy Bellbowen winning the third heat. While Ed started fourth in the B-Main behindTodd Bauer, Jessica Zemiken and Arnie Kent, he led all laps despite two incidents. A caution was out for Nate Stein on lap one and Mumau brought out the red when he flipped. Ed had a three second lead at the end of the 12 laps.
The top three cars in each heat had a redraw and that put Conley and Stewart on the front row of the 30-lap A-Main. Lines and Broc Martin mad up row two, while Wimmer and Lee Jacobs came next. In row four, it was Dale Blaney and Bob Felmlee followed by Scott Bonnell and David Blaney. The sixth row started Bellbowen and Kahne. Ed started inside row 11 and was up to 19th on lap four with Conley leading.
Ed stayed in 18th for several laps before moving to 17th ahead of Kevin Schaeffer on lap 10. He was up to 15th by lap 13 and hounded Reed for that spot the next four laps before moving to 13th on lap 17. He felt his set up was just coming in to play when the lone caution came out for Zemiken on lap 18. His tires seemed to cool on that yellow and he was only able to pick up one more spot after that and he finished 12th.
Stewart passed Conley on lap 12 and led to the finish. Jacobs, Lines, Dale Blaney, Dave Blaney, Wimmer, Jack Sodeman, Kahne, Felmlee and Bonnell all started and finished ahead of Ed.
This coming Friday, July 10, Ed has to start last (Because of two previous wins) on fireworks night at Lernerville.
Ed will be at the Lou Blaney Memorial Race at Sharon Speedway on Tuesday 7/7/09
Ed will join Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Dave Blaney, Dale Blaney and others on Tuesday in a special 410 Sprint car race named the Inaugural Boardman/Diamond Steel Lou Blaney Memorial Classic.
The race will be held to honor the memory of Hall of Fame competitor Lou Blaney, who passed away this past January. The event is also being held to raise awareness of Alzheimer's Disease and will serve as a fund raiser for the NE Ohio Chapter of ALZ.
The Blaney
Classic will spotlight 30-lap feature contests for both 410
Sprints and Big Block Modifieds, with each race paying $3,000 to
win. The VARC Vintage cars will be on display and the evening
will conclude with fireworks. Rain date for the race will be
Wednesday, June 8.
Ed celebrates in victory
lane with champagne
for his 100th career win
Ed and his Dad celebrate
the 100th career win
Ed now has 100 feature wins at Lernerville Speedway - 7/3/09
It was a goal that Ed had set for himself about three years ago…….to achieve 100 wins at his home track, Lernerville Speedway, and in a way he accomplished that Friday night when he came from 12th starting spot in the 25-lap Sprint car feature to earn his 99th win in Sprints. Then when you add his one Modified win, it gives him the magic 100 number at Lernerville, moving him into a class with only three other drivers in Lernerville's 42 year history to make it to the century mark for feature wins here.
But, Ed's not satisfied, because he would like that mark to be 100 Sprint car wins, so the quest continues. Hopefully, he can achieve that this year, but it might not happen next Friday, because for the second time this year, he has to start last after winning three features in a row here. While waiting for that next Sprint car win, Ed confessed that, "It's an honor to join Bob Wearing, Sr., Lou Blaney and Lynn Geisler, the other drivers that have 100 wins or more at Lernerville."
In hot laps for the 27 cars signed in, Ed turn the fastest time recorded on the amb-i.t. timing system of 13.496 seconds for a speed of 106.698mph. Next, three heats were run with Ed drawing a low number and lining up on the pole of the third heat. He led all eight laps, turning the fastest lap for Sprints all night with a time of 13.268 and a speed of 108.532. Steve Lines, from Australia, finished second ahead of Dan Kuriger and Jack Sodeman, Jr. Danny Holtgraver beat Rod George in the first heat and Bob Felmlee finished ahead of Carl Bowser in the second heat.
Ed's heat win was number six, moving him into the lead for the National Guard Heat Race Challenge. While cars finishing in the top four of their heats were eligible for the redraw for the feature, except for Ed who had to start 12th, because of his previous win.
The feature line up showed Holtgraver and Andy Priest bringing the 27-car field to the green at 9:53PM. Bowser and Mike Lutz were next followed by Andy Mckisson and Bob Felmlee. In row four, it was Rod George and Dan Kuriger, then came Lime and Jack Sodeman, Jr. Todd Bauer started inside Ed in the sixth row.
Priest found the faster groove and led Holtgraver for the first four laps. By that time McKisson had moved into third, followed by Mikie Lutz. One lap later, McKisson drove into second and maintained that spot through lap 12. Ed had worked his way into fourth by that time, but never taking his eyes off the traffic on the track ahead, Ed was not sure who was leading. Now, according to the electronic scoring system, McKisson did lead lap 13.
With Priest back in charge on lap 14, McKisson was in second, ahead of Lutz and Ed. For the next five laps
Ed tried just about everything to get by Lutz, finally getting the job done by lap 20. One lap later Ed passed Priest for the lead and half the field got by the scoring line to make that pass count, before the only caution of the race was displayed for Felmlee who spun to the inside of the front stretch.
Ed's restart 22nd lap was the fastest of the feature with a time of 14.537 and a speed of 99.058. He went on to win by a margin of 1.779 over Priest, Steve Lines, Lutz,and George in the top five, Rounding out the top 10, it was Kevin Schaeffer, Carl Bowser, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Todd Bauer and Matthew Reed.
Weekend plans are uncertain, but might include Fremont, Port Royal or Selinsgrove.
August
Ed ends the regular season with a
wire-to-wire win at Lernerville, his 8th of the year - 8/28/09
Ed had an outside chance to win the Sprint
Championship, but a lot of things would have to go right for him and
a lot of things would have to go wrong for current leader Rod
George, for that to happen. However, although Ed gave it his
best shot, only missing the perfect score of 40 by one point, he
fell short by about 15 points of George's total points.
Ed's schedule had him racing away from Lernerville on three
different Friday nights and that was hard to make up those lost
points. In May, he was gone to The Dirt Track at Charlotte,
then in August, he was gone to the two-day King's Royal at Eldora
and finally in August, he was at the Knoxville Nationals.
With rain in the area all day Friday, Lernerville Speedway Track
Manager Gary Risch decided the only fair thing to do for the drivers
fighting for Track Championships in all four divisions was to get
this final point race of the season in the record books and let the
drivers race for it rather than letting the weather decide the
standings.
A field of 21 Sprints showed up and ran two heats with Ed slotted in
sixth spot of the second heat. He wasted no time getting to
the front, but could not get by pole-sitter Kevin Schaeffer,
finishing second to him. In the first heat, it was Bob Felmlee
over Ralphie Spithaler.
With the track heavy from the on-and-off rain, Ed had the fastest
amb-i.t. time in hot laps with a 13.511 for a speed of 106.580mph.
His time in the second heat was up to 106.920mph and by lap two of
the feature. he turned the fastest lap of the night of all cars at
13.352 for a speed of 107.047mph.
Ed and Lindsay Enscoe made up the front row of the 25-lap Sprint
feature with Dan Kuriger and Bob Felmlee in row two. Next came
Garrett Krummert and George, then Scott Priester and Danny
Holtgraver, while Schaeffer and Brent Matus started in the top ten.
At the drop of the green, little did the fans realize that they were
about to witness a new record for Lernerville Speedway, when the
event went non-stop and the checkered flag waved just over six
minutes later.
Needless to say, Ed drove a very skillful race as he maneuvered
through the ever-present lapped traffic. He had to be careful
with cars running in every groove, but yet he had to be fast because
Felmlee was up to second by lap two and was waiting for Ed to get
trapped in a group of lapped cars, so he could have a clean shot to
take the lead. But, Ed was conservative when he had to be and
was fast when he would clear a group of cars.
With about five laps to go, Ed saw a shower of sparks coming into
his left cockpit area. One lap later, he had no brakes.
Now he had to be extra careful, because if something happened in
front of him, he would not be able to avoid it. Fortunately,
the pace of the race stayed the same and Ed was able to chalk up his
eighth win of the year here and his 220th career win overall.
Ed crossed the line just 2.312 seconds ahead of Felmlee, then
George, Holtsgraver, Schaeffer, Kuriger, last week's winner
Jack Sodeman, Scott Bonnell, Carl Bowser and Dan Shetler.
Ed starts and finishes 3rd despite wing
problems at Lernerville - 8/21/09
Sprint cars at Lernerville Speedway run a top wing and a nose wing,
both have important stabilizing effects on the 1375 pound, 850
horsepower racing machines. Imagine having problems with one
or both of these critical aerodynamic forces on your sprint car and
you can understand why Ed had his hands full trying to hold on to
his third place starting spot at the end of 25 laps Friday night.
With the smallest field this year, 16 sprints were divided into two
heats and Ed started sixth in the second heat after being the
fastest car in hot laps, turning a lap of 13.388 at a speed of
107.559 on the amb i.t. timing an scoring system. Despite
turning the fastest lap (l05.448mph), Ed's lane didn't get going in
his heat and he finished second to Charlie Holben. The first
heat winner was Bob Felmlee with a commanding lead over Carl Bowser.
Ed had one of his best starting spots in a Lernerville feature this
year, starting third behind Rod George and Jack Sodeman, Jr. ,
however, there were several yellows and one red flag to pause the
action in this next to the last point race of the season.
Sodeman wasted no time leading the first lap from his outside pole
position. But, current point leader George used an inside move
to lead the next two rounds.
Sodeman was not to be denied the front spot and took command again
on lap five, with Ed now into second spot. But following a red
flag for a flip by Scott Priester on lap eight, Ed started to have
trouble with his top wing posts causing the wing to move at least
four inches and taking weight off the front end. Ed found he
could not follow anybody in a straight line. He had to be
inside or outside the car in front of him, or else the front wheels
didn't touch the ground.
George took over second on lap nine as Ed struggled to control the
front end of his mount. Todd Bauer lost the handle on lap 14,
then on lap 22, George came to a halt coming out of turn four.
Ed made a bid for the inside groove, but couldn't hold it when
his nose wing bracket ripped out on the left side, adding to the
instability of the front end. Kevin Schaeffer was quick to
capitalize on that and took second away from Ed coming on the
inside.
For Sodeman, it was a career first when he took the checkered flag
here. Schaeffer held on for second, while Ed finished third.
Bob Felmlee and Dan Kuriger rounded out the top five.
Lynch Racing has no plans to race the rest of the weekend.
Ed is the highest finishing PA driver at 15th in
the postponed B-Main at Knoxville on Sunday - 8/16/09
For Lynch Racing, the 49th Annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals
was extended by one day when rain made it impossible to run the A
and B-Mains on the scheduled Saturday night and Ed was locked into
20th starting spot in the B-Main, which he managed to advance to a
15th place finish, despite bleeder problems on the right rear tire.
Every day during the Nationals competitors had to unload all their
race equipment in their paved infield pit boxes and park their rigs
outside. After the heavy rain forced official to throw in the
towel on Saturdays show, it took hours to get everything
carried back out to the rigs because of the slippery, slimey mess on
their black gumbo track and pits. Nothing was allowed into the
pits except four-wheel drive vehicle. Ed, Sr. thought he
would down-size the tent they take to the infield and bought a new
10x10 which attracted a crowd everytime it rained.
The pits opened at 3:00PM on Sunday and since there were only A and
B cars for the show and half the crowd had gone home, everyone was
allowed to move higher in the grandstand, the rigs were allowed to
remain in the pits.
Both A and B cars were divided in half and each group was given two
sets of hot laps to make sure the track was ready and to let the sun
go down so it wasn't in the drivers' eves going down the back
stretch.
The B-Main front row consisted of Jack Haudenschild and Jason
Johnson, then came Chad Kemenah and Danny Smith. Other drivers
included Bronson Maeschen, Dean Jacobs, Greg Wilson, Skip
Jackson, Johnny Herrera, Calvin Landis, Jason Meyers, Fred Rahmer,
Ricky Logan, Jack Dover, Mark Dobmeir, Justin Henderson, Danny
Lasoski, Daron Clayton, Jessee Gianetto,( Ed Lynch,Jr.), Wayne
Johnson and Billy Alley.
Haudenschild led the first lap, with Kemenah taking charge of lap
two. The only yellow came out on the next lap for a spin by
Henderson. Ed had only passed two cars, but now with the cars
single file, he was back twice as far. Alley passed Ed, but Ed
got him back and was reeling in Dover, but by then his right rear
was low because of the bleeder and his car was a handful.
The 22-lap B-Main transferred Haudenschild, Meyers, Lasoski and
Johnson. A total of 12 states plus Australia were represented
in this B-Main and Ed was the highest finishing Pennsylvania driver
with his 15th place finish.
In the 40-lap A-Main which had a scheduled fuel stop for the first
time, sixth place starter Donny Schatz won his fourth straight
Knoxville National, taking the lead for the first time with six laps
to go. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is Donny's owner and Kasey
Kahne (another NASCAR driver) had his driver Joey Saldana in the
runner-up position. Pole-sitter Stevie Smith finished third.
On the trip home (which ended up being 18 hours), the trailer had a flat tire on I-80 mile marker 205, less than an hour into the trip. Eric got a bad cut on his finger changing the tire. Then, just past Cleveland still on I-80 mile marker 180, another trailer tire blew. A tire service had to be called, because we only had one spare. About 1-1/2 hours later we were on the road again. Plans are to run Lernerville on Friday.
Ed's
B-Main and the A-Main gets rained out and will be Sunday 8/16 at
Ed's B-Main had hot lapped and was next to stage on Saturday night
of the Knoxville Nationals, when the second rain of the night hit
the 1/2 mile Marion County Speedway, forcing the A-Main and B-Main
to be rescheduled for
The 10-lap E-Main feature was won by Bill Rose and the D-Main (with
five laps in)was under a red flag for Ricky Montgomery who hit the
number one outside fence full throttle, when light rain fell at
The 15-lap C-Main went to Wayne Johnson by a wide margin over Billy
Alley.
Just as the B-Main was
about to stage, heavy rain came again at
The crew was not
allowed to take the rig into the pits and had to load everything
from their pit box onto the 4-wheeler and transport it out to the
rig parked outside the track.
It is now
Ed comes up to 2nd after having to start 12th at Lernerville - 8/7/09
Regardless of what he did in his heat Friday night at Lernerville Speedway, Ed knew the best he could start in the Sprint car feature would be 12th because of his win the last time he raced here, which was his 100th Sprint win two weeks ago, but he gave the fans a thrill when he came from 12th to finish second, just 1.042 seconds behind front row starter, Rod George.
With 26 Sprints signed in, Ed was the fastest car recorded by the amb.i.t. transponders in hot laps with a time of 13.097 seconds and a speed of 109.949 mph. He got a good starting spot in the first of three heats, lining up outside Dan Kuriger in the front row. Ed capitalized on that fact and he led every lap, but the speeds fell off a little with his best lap coming on lap three with a speed of 105.952. The other heats were won by Bob Felmlee and Pete Miller (his first-ever here). Ed's heat win keeps him in a tie with Joe Kelley for the National Guard Heat Race money.
With the Sprints running second behind the 33-lap UFO Late Model feature, there wasn't very much racetrack to get a hold of and there was no bottom groove at all by 10:18 PM when the Sprints started their 25-lap feature.
Kevin Schaeffer and Rod George made up the front row of the A-Main, while Kuriger and Pete Miller were in row two. Next, it was Ralphie Spithaler and Carl Bowser then, Bob Felmlee and Eric Williams. In row five it was Andy Mckisson and Garrett Krummert. Row six showed Brent Matus inside Ed.
Schaeffer led the first three laps and Ed threaded his way up to seventh. The lead changed on the next round and George was the new leader when the first yellow came out for Robbie Bartchy. On the lap four restart, the car just ahead of Ed, Miller was involved in a tangle with Scott Priester in turn two. That moved Ed up to sixth behind George, Schaeffer, Felmlee, Carl Bowser and Kuriger.
The race ran under the green flag the rest of the way, as Ed got by Bowser on lap six and set his sights on Schaeffer. On lap 13 Ed passed by Schaeffer gaining third spot. On lap 15, he lined up Felmlee and moved into second spot. By that time, the leader George was half a straightaway ahead and Ed set about the task of reeling him in. George seemed to take the outside groove every time and since there was no bottom, Ed had to run the outside groove, also. The fans watched as Ed chipped away at George's lead every lap.
One time on lap 23, Ed decided to try the inside and was side-by-side with George. But the momentum George had coming off turn two on the high side, put him in front again. George's margin of victory was 1.042 seconds over Ed at the checkered flag. Bowser was a very close third and then it was Schaeffer and Mike Lutz in the top five.
The crew came back to the garage and loaded up for the long trip to the Knoxville Nationals where Ed's Qualifying night will be Thursday. Daily Updates will be coming from Knoxville, Iowa.
September