2010 Updates

The crew worked Saturday morning to make repairs from Friday night, and after Mercer Raceway Park cancelled around 1:30PM, the crew loaded up to go to Sharon Speedway's opening night for Sprints.

Despite driving through four rain showers on the way, the track's pit area was dry and about 40-50 rigs were already there for competition. But a light drizzle started and put everything on hold. At 5:15PM the announcement came from Shirley Aikens over the pit PA system that the races were cancelled.

The team is undecided about racing on Friday since Lernerville will have a Late Model All Star special.

Ed recovers from being collected by a spinning lapped car to finish 7th at Lernerville - 4/23/10

Ed was definitely ready for the first in a 10-race series titled DIRTcar Challenge Sprint Series at Lernerville Speedway Friday night after the amb i.t. timing system recorded his final winning lap in heat two at 111.604 (three miles an hour faster than any of the 23 cars signed in) but, he didn't get to make a bid for the win because a spinning lapped car collected him after he had come from 12th to third in 11 laps giving him front-end damage and the best he could muster coming from the back was seventh at the checkered flag.

Lining up third in the second Sprint car heat behind Charlie Holben and Carl Bowser, it was Bowser who jumped to the lead over Ed and held on for seven laps of the eight-lap race. The yellow came out for a car spun off turn four as the two were coming into turn four, setting up a one-lap dash to the finish. That's when Ed turned his fastest lap, passing Bowser on the inside in turn two. The other heat winners were Rod George and Dale Blaney.

Tires and gears were changed on the #2L in preparation for the 25-lap feature which would run first and the top 12 in the heat race finishes went into the draw for starting positions in the feature and Ed's number came out 12th. Therefore, he started behind Gary Rankin and Jack Sodeman, Jr. who had first row honors. Danny Holtgraver and Charlie Holben made up row two, followed by Bob Felmlee and Kevin Schaeffer, Rod George and Bowser. In row five it was Pete Miller iii and Brian Ellenberger, then came Blaney and Ed.

Sodeman took the lead and two laps later, the yellow came out for Holben, Miller and Felmlee. When the green replaced the yellow, Sodeman continued to lead Rankin, George, Holtgraver, Ellenberger and Ed, who was up to sixth.

With Sodeman still showing the way, Ed got by Ellenberger and Holtgraver and was up to fourth two laps later. But Ellenberger didn't give up and was scored ahead of Ed on laps six and seven. By lap nine, Sodeman was ahead of George after Rankin exited the track. Ed was into third and pressuring George for second working on lap 12 when the spinning car of Sheila Rankin collected him in turn three. Ed suffered front end damage to the nose wing, front bumper and front axle.

Ed was pushed off and cautiously tried his steering and front end set up for several laps and then started to pass cars from 21st place. When the next yellow flew on lap 15 Ed was 12th. One lap later, Sodeman exited the track with drive line problems while leading, thus George inherited the lead.

From that point on, the race went non-stop, with George leading Ellenberger, Blaney, Bowser and Holben in the top five. Rounding out the top ten, it was Felmlee, Ed, Holtgraver, Eric Williams and Brent Matus.

The crew will make repairs Saturday morning and check the forecast which looks like rain at the time this release was written.

Friday afternoon the crew hustled to load everything in the hauler as the skies darkened. The trailer back door was flipped up and then the downpour came as everyone hustled back into the garage. It was just before 4:00PM and it was a phone call to the track that confirmed the "official rain out."

Weighing a two-hour tow versus a four-hour tow, Ed and the crew headed for Mercer on Saturday night instead of Attica, besides they wanted to improve on last week's appearance at Mercer when they had finished fourth in their heat and fourth in the feature and their decision paid off in spades when they finally put a setup on the #2L that matched the race track resulting in Ed making his first trip to victory lane in the 2010 season.

Although it took longer than anticipated to run the track in, it was a fast-moving show once the races started, with the Sprints scheduled to be second all night behind the Modifieds. The two heats for the 20 Sprints on hand were in the books in record time, with Ed lined up fourth in the second heat behind Rod George, Jack Helget and Brandon Matus and after eight laps, he finished second to George. First heat pole-sitter Danny Holtgraver came on strong in the last turn to beat leader Jack Sodeman at the flagstand.

Ed and the crew went to work, making changes on the #2L that included new tires, changing gears and in general, tightening up the car…….hoping to hit the winning combination for the 20-lap feature.

The Modified feature that ran ahead of the Sprints went non-stop, thus the Sprint feature cars pushed off at 9:00PM with Jack Helget and Carl Bowser leading the way. Ed started third with Charlie Holben outside, then Russ Sansosti and Bob Felmlee in row three. George was inside of row four with Jeff Taylor outside ahead of Holtgraver and Chris Shuttleworth.

Ed hesitated on the start, not sure which line pole-sitter Helget would take, but Bowser took off to lead with Holben going with him. Ed cleared Helget and was into third after the first lap when a yellow came out for Brandon Matus who lost power on the frontstretch. Meanwhile, Felmlee caused many drivers to test their brakes as he spun in between turns three and four, but managed to keep going and line up in his spot. During the fourth lap, second running Holben tried to get inside Bowser, but that didn't work and he spun a donut and kept going on the front straightaway, finally coming to a halt on the back chute, bringing out the second yellow with four complete.

When the green replaced the yellow flag, Ed set his sights on Bowser and the two showed the fans some side-by-side racing for the lead with Ed on the inside and ahead in turns one and two, only to see Bowser pull ahead on the back stretch. Once again, Ed stayed inside and was ahead again in turns three and four. Finally, Ed was able to make his winning move in front of the grandstand and was hitting his marks when the final caution came out with 11 laps in the books for Helget who lost power on the back stretch.

In the final nine laps, Ed was not challenged and led by two seconds over Bowser at the checkered flag. Sansosti had a flawless race in a chassis that was brand new to him, finishing a solid third followed by Felmlee and George in the top five. Rounding out the top ten it was last week's winner, Mike Lutz, Holtgraver, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Dan Kureiger and Jason Dolick.

All day long, it was only 40 degrees, but Lernerville Speedway was trying to get its second show of the season in despite the cool weather. At 2:45PM officials threw in the towel , according to Eric Westendorf's Press Release, because of snow/rain.

Ed was anxious to get more track time on his new Good Year tire set-up, so the team headed two hours north to Mercer Raceway Park for the track's first regular night of 2010 racing and his fourth place finish in the 20-lap Sprint feature provided him an opportunity to try different size tires with different shock packages.

With 21 Sprints on hand, three heats were lined up by pill draw and Ed started 7th in the first heat and finished fourth behind front row starter Dan Kuriger, Bob Felmlee and Pete Miller. Brian Ellenberger claimed the second heat after his front row start, while Carl Bowser won the third heat after starting on pole.

The top 12 had a re-draw and Jeff Tayllor and Jack Sodeman, Jr. made up the front row. Jason Dolick and Carl Bowser made up row two, while Kuriger and Ed were in row three. However, the race got off to a shakey start as two cars flipped coming out of turn two and everyone from the fifth row back was collected in the red flag incident with no laps in the books.

The restart did get three laps in before another red came out. Ed avoided Bowser who was nose-to-the-sky and spinning on his tail. Ed went to the outside and missed him, but two cars behind him flipped. The restart on lap four showed Sodeman, Jr. leading Dolick, Andy Lutz, Ed, Taylor, and Ellenberger.

The remainder of the race went green and Lutz saved his winning move over Dolickuntil the last lap, while Felmlee watched Ed being held up by Sodeman going into turn one for several laps and decided to blow by both of them to nail third spot. Ed finally gained on Sodeman and earned fourth at the checkered flag.

Happy Easter to the racing community from Lynch Racing. They will race next on Friday night at Lernerville.

Although the amb.i.t. scoring showed the lead at the flagstand changing five times among three drivers, Ed and Brian Ellenberger sometimes switched lead positions several times within a lap as the Sprint 25-lap feature proved to be a treat for the large crowd on hand for a warm opening night of the 2010 season at Lernerville Speedway on Friday, April 2, 2010, but at the checkered flag, Ed was 0.5 seconds behind and settled for second place.

It was Ed's first race since the World Finals at Charlotte in November and his first time on all four Good Year tires (now required at Lernerville) for about 10 years. With 18 Sprints on hand, two heats were run and Ed was in the first eight-lap heat. He struggled after starting fifth and finished 5th in a race that had one yellow flag and two reds.

The crew was short one man because Eric Womeldorf was in the hospital having a heart catheterization procedure done. Everyone pitched in and made many changes including replacing a head gasket, brake adjustments, stagger and set-up. The #2L showed big improvement and started the feature fourth behind Kevin Schaeffer, Brent Matus, and Gary Rankin and had a great start, up to third at the end of the front stretch past Rankin, then cleared Matus coming out of turn two. He closed the gap on Schaeffer and was on his tail, when the red flag came out for a three-car pile up with a double flip in turn four, just Schaeffer completed one lap.

The field was told it would be a complete restart and now Ed was lined up third, because Rankin was one of the accident cars. Just one lap was scored before Jack Sodeman, Jr. broke a stop and hit the front stretch wall and went off on the wrecker.

Through all this Schaeffer led those first three laps, before Ed got by to lead laps 4,5 and 6. It was Ellenberger setting a fast pace to lead lap seven, but despite some really awesome wheelies by the #2L (which was not a good thing) on the front stretch, Ed battled back to regain the lead on lap eight. He maintained the lead through lap 18, despite several side-by-side laps with Ellenberger.

Lap 19 showed Ellenberger in the lead and at this point lapped cars did not fall Ed's way and he was held up twice trying to safely get by. When the yellow came out for Carl Bowser on lap 23, it set up a two-lap shoot-out between the two top runners. But even though Ed could pull even in the turns, Ellenberger seemed to have more straight away speed and won over Ed, Schaeffer, Bob Felmlee and Rod George in the top five. Rounding out the top ten it was Scott Bonnell, Danny Holtgraver, Bowser, Charlie Holben and Matus.

Lernerville Opener Set For Friday, March 26, 2009 is Moved To April 2 - 3/26/10

After a balmy 70 degree Test & Tune day for Lernerville cars one week ago, the weather did a flip-flop and following overnight precipitation with temperatures in the 30's, the high for Opening Day, Friday, March 26 was to be 42 degrees, forcing officials to postpone the start of the 2010 season one week - to April 2, 2010.

Ed gets first laps of the season Saturday at Lernerville's Test & Tune - 3/20/10

Lynch Racing was glad to have an opportunity on Saturday to test and tune two sprint cars that the crew had been preparing for the up-coming season. With the help of Bud Joyner and his truck and trailer carrying one car, they loaded another car in the tow rig and headed for Lernerville Speedway where open practice was being held for seven divisions of race cars between noon and 5:00PM.

The early going had problems with dead batteries in the lift, forgetting where things were stored for the winter and other normal first-time at the track stuff. They worked through those things and eventually had the first car in the chute to be pushed off for hot laps at 2:00. But, that session didn't go as planned and the #2L stopped on the back stretch almost in turn three and coasted in for a pit stop already. They worked on the fuel injection and had it ready to go out again in 20 minutes.

The second push off was just to get heat in the engine and once that was accomplished, he was on the amb.i.t. clocks at 2:30 for seven laps in the 17 and 18 second brackets. By 3:30 the had the second car ready for a turn and most laps there were in the 17's ending that session with a 16.954 lap.

Changes were made on the second car and the crew was satisfied with those times at 4:10PM which were Ed's fastest of the day with a lap of 15.599.

But, before loading up, Ed III climbed into the cockpit to experience very dry slick track conditions that were much different than his two previous lap sessions following race nights at Lernerville. He did a good job for his four laps on the clock…..getting faster each time, with a best lap of 18.513.

Lernerville is set to open the 2010 racing season on Friday, March 26 at 7:30PM and the team plans to be there.

In the last week of the ’09 season, Ed made the Decade’s Dazzling Dozen in SPEEDTV.com’s article written by News Director Jim Chiappelli who paid tribute to winged 410 Sprint Car drivers of the last ten years.

In February, monthly columnist Bruce Ellis penned a nine page article for Editor Doug Auld’s Sprint Car & Midget magazine titled “Drivers of the Decade.” For his story, he checked the records for winged 410 cubic inch sprint car races run in the United States from the years 2000-2009. “Just racing against good competition isn’t enough to get on this list. The results must be there as well. Wins are important. If a driver wins 100 features, that’s significant,” explained the writer.

Ellis wrote the following about Ed, “124 wins is a lot of wins, regardless of whom you are racing with. Actually Lynch had more wins in the United States than Donny Schatz during the decade…and yes, we realize the competition in Western Pennsylvania isn’t quite at the level of the World of Outlaws, but we’re just sayin’…he won three All Star races and three Lernerville track championships during the decade…validation came with the night he won the WoO sanctioned Silver Cup worth $35,000 at Lernerville in 2007…further creditability comes from his record at the Knoxville Nationals where he qualified for the A-Main four times during the decade against the roughest competition in the sport.”

Next, the March issue of Sprint Car & Midget magazine published the North American 410 Sprint Car Poll for the top 25 drivers as decided by a voting panel, and Ed is included in that group.

Despite the long haul from the Charlotte race the night before, the #2L team arrived home at 5:45AM Sunday, they had to put in a productive morning of work in the garage - including a full chassis set-up and fine tuning the engine - before loading up and leaving for Tri City Speedway at Franklin PA at 1:00PM.

Ed pulled a 49 pill out of 60 to determine his time trial order for the track's first-ever World of Outlaw show and with 36 cars on hand, it turned out that the pill draw almost determined how your night would go. It turned out that all but two of the magic cutoff number of 16 for the inversion, came from the first 16 cars to take time.

By the time Ed went out 28th, the best he could do was to time 22nd overall, which lined him up sixth in the second heat and only the top five would go to the A-Main. Toni Lutar, Rod George, Lucas Wolfe, Andy Priest and David Gravel all started ahead of Ed. With seven laps of the eight laps completed and Ed running fifth, the yellow flag came out for Brandon Matus who spun in turn two. World of Outlaw rules call for the race to end on two consecutive laps. Ed gained a position and finished fourth behind pole sitter Lutar, Wolfe and George. The other heat winners were pole sittes Dave Ely and Joey Saldana and the fourth heat went to fourth place starter Jason Sides.

The front row of the 25-lap A-Main showed Steve Kinser and Sides leading the field with Wolfe and Jac Haudenschild in row two. Ed would be starting deep in the 26-car field, in 20th spot. Two WoO drivers took provisionals, Ben Gregg and Brian Ellenberger, while local driver Bob Felmlee replaced Rob Eyler who suffered fuel line trouble while staging for the feature.

To the surprise of the large crowd on hand, the A-Main went non-stop with Kinser leading laps 1-8 and Sides took charge of laps 9-25. Ed's race was a battle all the way as he was in a group of three and sometimes four drivers (Chad Kemenah, Tony Lutar, Tim Shaffer and Paul McMahan) that were fighting for the same spot. Ed had one of his best showings on a slick track, advancing six spots to finish 14th.

Lynch Racing plans to be at Knoxville's National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction weekend of World of Outlaw races Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Lynch Racing made their annual Memorial Day weekend trip to The Dirt Track at Charlotte to compete in the 30-lap Circle K/NOS Energy Showdown sanctioned by the World of Outlaws and broadcast on SPEED, but he was unable to better his eighth place finish of last year, because on lap 10 while while Ed was running 12th, the lapped car of Tim Perry was running in the groove and slowed in front of Ed and cut across in front of him heading for the infield (I guess) and Ed hit him with his front bumper, sending Ed spinning.

Ed restarted last and tried the outside in turn three and the car got no grip and he spun and glazed the wall and then drove to the infield and later the pits. He was credited with 21st in the feature.

The race was originally scheduled for Friday, but with 31 Sprint cars and 40 FASTRAK Late Models in the pits unloaded and ready for hot laps, the skies unloaded with a heavy rain at 5:40PM. After the track drained, Randy Grove who was in charge of track preparation, send his packer cars out. That was short lived because it started to rain again and officials were forced to postpone the event until Saturday night.

With all the NASCAR events across the street at the big track this week, there were no motel rooms so the crew had to sleep in the rig in the pits. In the morning everyone used the track showers and watched Randy start on the 4/10 mile red clay surface at 7:30AM.

The drivers re-drew for time trials. On Friday, Ed had a 35 and for Saturday he now drew a 50. Not all 31 cars returned and the 24 that stayed were divided into three heats after time trials. Ed went out 21st and turned ninth fastest time - which meant he was going to start outside front row of the third heat.

His heat did not go well. The engine had a hesitation at the start and did not take off when pole-sitter Sammy Swindell's did. In addition to the hesitation, the #2L did not handle well either! He managed to hold on for a fifth place finish behind Swindell, Joey Saldana, Jason Sides, and Paul McMahan to advance to the A-Main. The other heat winners were Steve Kinser and Chad Kemenah.

The Dash finish determined the first 10 in the 30-lap feature and they were Saldana and Donny Schatz, Kemenah, Danny Lasoski, McMahan, Lucas Wolfe, Steve Kinser, Swindell, Jason Meyers and Toni Lutar. Ed started 11th with Jac Haudenschild to his outside and Jason Sides and Kraig Kinser behind him. On lap 10, with Schatz leading Wolfe and Saldana, Ed was holding his own running 12th when he came out of turn two going down the backstretch, and the lapped car of Tim Perry slowing, but in the racing groove and had the incident.

Ed will run two World of Outlaw shows this week on Friday and Sunday - 5/28 and 5/30/10

Ed will race the World of Outlaws show at The Dirt Track @ Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 28 and the event will be broadcast on SPEED-TV LIVE at 8:00PM, then the crew of the #2L heads North to Franklin PA for another World of Outlaw holiday show at Tri City Speedway on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

He is currently leading the Sprint points at Lernerville Speedway and Mercer Raceway Park, however, there are several special races in other parts of the country where he competes annually and will do so again this summer.

With all races being rained out on Saturday, a full day of work was done in the garage in preparation for the trip, getting a primary car and a back-up car ready for this weekend.

Ed drove the #2L Sprint car and #777 Bolland Modified at Lernerville - 5-21-10

After taking the morning off to watch Sye (Ed's youngest son) in his successful showing in the Junior Olympics, the Sprint car crew loaded up the #2L for the Friday races at Lernerville Speedway, despite the possibility of rain which never materialized, but, that was a good thing because Modified driver Kevin Bolland was out of town and the crew of his car #777 asked Ed if he would drive their car in the night's special which was a 30-lap BRP Modified Tour Opener for the 2010 season.

Because of the Special for Modifieds, they had top billing and were going to be first all night long. Ed quickly touched base with the Bolland family and climbed behind the wheel of the #777 for fast laps, which went well with Ed turning the second fastest time of 16.921 behind Brian Swartzlander's fast time of 16.860. With 27 Modifieds in the pits, Ed drew a high pill that started him 7th in the first of three heats. It was rough going for him, but he managed to squeak out a sixth place finish behind winner Brad Rapp, with Rex King, Jr. and Ryan Hall winning the other two heats.

Ed said, "It was fun driving for the Bollands and their crew. They were very accommodating and gave me more help in being able to feel my right front tire." His heat finish put him deep in the feature field that had two of the best on the front row - Rex King, Jr. and Dave Murdick. There were four yellow flags in the first 20 laps, with Murdick leading the way.

Sometimes using the cushion, and sometimes making the bottom of the track work, Ed was able to keep moving up and by the half-way on lap 15, he was about to crack the top ten. He was 8th with ten to go and continued until he ran out of time in sixth place at the checkered flag crossing behind Murdick, Rex King, Jr., Brian Swartzlander, Rex King and Rupp in the top five. Ed started 16th and finished sixth followed by Mike Turner, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Dean Pearson and Mark Frankhouser.

The Sprints had 24 cars on hand with Dale Blaney the only car in the 12 seconds per lap, with Danny Holtgraver next, followed by Ed still in the 110.235 range. Holtgraver, Blaney and Pete won the heat races, while Ed started sixth and finished fourth in the last heat. This sent Ed to the 25-lap feature after the redraw.

Holtgraver and Blaney made up the front row, with Carl Bowser and Eric Williams in row two. Brent Matus and Bob Felmlee were in row three, then Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Ed in row four. But, before the field could complete the first lap, Sodeman crowded Ed into the front stretch wall as Ed then cut to the inside in turn one, Sodeman then came down across the track, nearly taking off the front end of Ed's car all cars managed to miss him. When the dust cleared, Ed was sitting in turn one and had to restart last. With no laps scored, the green flag waved again over the 20-car field and Blaney and Holtgraver were off to see who could claim the win.

But Ed was not about to give up and started to pick off cars on every lap. He cracked the top five on lap nine and set sail to gain more spots on the "choppy track" as described by Late Model winner Chub Frank. Passing cars on the inside and out, by lap 14, Ed was up to third behind Blaney and Holtgraver. He did get Bob Felmlee with an outside move coming out of turn four just the lap before. By the time Ed was into second, Blaney was a straightaway ahead and Ed had to settle for second. Holtgraver, Sodeman, Jr., and Felmlee landed top five finishes.

Rounding out the top ten it was Kevin Schaeffer, Charlie Holben, Scott Bonnell, Brent Matus and Rod George.

The crew will look at Saturday's weather before making a decision on where to race.

For the second time this month, Ed received the Hard Charger Award at Mercer Raceway Park in Mercer PA on Saturday night for his drive from eighth to finish second in the 20-lap non-stop Sprint feature event.

With 16 Sprints on hand, two heats were run with Ed lined up third behind Rod George and Charlie Holben in the second heat. After six laps, a yellow came out for Holben's broken rear axle, but George ran strong to the finish with Ed and Bob Felmlee following. The first heat was won by Carl Bowser followed by Danny Holtgraver and Ralphie Spithaler and Mike Lutz.

The redraw for feature positions resulted in Bowser and Pete Miller making up the front row. Holtgraver and Branden Spithaler lined up ahead of Chris Best and Rod George in row three. Next came Ralphie Spithaler and Ed in row four. Following his heat, Ed and the crew made just about every change possible - front axle, gears, tires, etc. in order to roll the turns better, so they were anxious to try their ideas.

The first attempt to start the 20-lap feature, ended in a red flag when outside front row starter Miller got out of shape exiting turn two and the balance of the field did a great job of taking evasive action to avoid him. With cars scattering in all directions, Ed did get into the back of George, but everyone except Miller was able to re-fire and continue.

The field crossed over, allowing Holtgraver to move up to the outside front row spot and took a second green flag to start what would turn out to be a rare non-stop feature event. With Holtgraver leading the way, Ed made his way through the field until he had George in his sights. It took a dozen laps to catch and pass George on the inside coming off turn four for second place.

The laps were winding down and Ed was on Holtgraver's tail. The crowd was aware of battle to the finish and Ed was able to accommodate, running side-by-side with Holtgraver and at the same time, dealing with lapped traffic. In the closest finish of the year, Ed was beside Holtgraver's rear wheel at the finish line. Those two were followed by George, Bowser, and Bob Felmlee in the top five. Lutz, R. Spithaler, B. Spithaler, Todd Bauer and Chris Best rounded out the top ten.

It was a battle all night as every car that Ed had to pass (either for a position or as a lapped car) after starting 10th, created a problem and Ed had to pace himself and cash in on a third place finish, happy to have his #2L in tact after a feature of near misses Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

With 21 Sprints on hand, just two heats were run and luck of the draw had Ed starting 9th in the second heat. Even though the #2L was the fastest on the AMB i.t. transponders with a speed of 107.015 in hot laps, with Bob Felmlee starting in the front row, it took Ed until the half-way mark of the heat to clear the traffic and move into second spot. But the track had become faster, which rarely happens, and Felmlee in the lead had turned a very fast lap at the drop of the green of 111.145 mph and was 1/2 a lap ahead by the time Ed moved into second on lap four.

Felmlee won by 4.3 seconds over Ed with Rod George and Danny Holtgraver finishing in the top four.

Jack Sodeman, Jr. won the first heat by .571 seconds over Kevin Schaeffer, Charlie Holben and Pete Miller III. Next came the rolling cage of wooden balls at Smokey's Pit blackboard and Ed's number meant an eighth place start in the 25-lap feature.

The Sprint feature was first on the program and pulled on to the track with Carl Bowser and Brian Steinman leading the pack and Danny Holtgraver and Charlie Holben in row two. Miller and Rod George made up row three while Schaeffer and Ed were in row four. Next, it was Brent Matus and Sodeman and Scott Bonnell and last week's winner Bob Felmlee in row six.

With Bowser leading the way, two laps were scored before the first of two cautions came out. The incident happened just after Ed had cleared Steinman in turn four with an outside move into fifth position. Steinman lost the handle and spun, collecting Bonnell. The restart lineup showed Bowser ahead of Holben, Holtgraver, George and now Ed in fifth.

After two more laps, Ed used an inside move coming off turn two to get by Holtgraver for fourth, then had Holben to deal with for the next few rounds, trying the inside and outside and just as the pass was being completed using an inside move on the back stretch, the last caution came out for Eric Williams who was into the front stretch guardrail, nullifying the position gained.

Bowser looked like he would lead the rest of the way when the field returned to all green-flag racing. Ed finally got by Holben to claim third spot and set his sights on George. From lap 12 through lap 20, Ed cut into George's advantage until it was less than two car-lengths. But, then came more lapped cars and one of them, Lindsay Enscoe, went to the outside groove and took a right just as Ed was about to go by her on the outside. Ed had to spike his Ultra-lite Brakes and practically stand his car on its nose.

He probably blew out a residual valve and without brakes, he had to back off and salvage what he could. George went on to give Bowser a look on the inside and made his move on lap 24 to lead that white flag lap and then the checkered flag lap. Bowser crossed second, then Ed in third, Charlie Holben and Holtgraver rounded out the top five. Next came Miller, Sodeman, Jr., Schaeffer, Felmlee and Priester in the top ten.

Ed and his crew did garage work Saturday and might try Port Royal on Sunday.

Following the Memorial Service for Ed's Aunt Jane Coleman on Saturday at 11:00AM, the race team gathered at the garage and tried to find a track within a three-hour driving distance that wasn't rained out. Mercer Raceway Park cancelled early around 1:00PM, but Sharon Speedway said their races were still on…..but rain was around them. They later cancelled.

There was talk about going to the All Star show at Port Royal Speedway, but later found out it was cancelled because of high winds. The Sunday portion of that Port Royal show is set for 2:30PM on Sunday and the team will look at the weather again before making a decision.

Ed comes from 5th to a close 2nd at Lernerville on Friday night at Lernerville - 5/7/10

With a season high 26 Sprint cars on hand Friday night at Lernerville Speedway, Ed used a new camera device from Mosites Motorsports, set up by his youngest son, Sye, to aid in fine-tuning his shock package between his heat and feature event to enable the #2L to come from fifth starting spot to within nine-tenths of a second of front-row starter and feature winner Bob Felmlee at the checkered flag.

The Sprints were second in rotation all night and required three heats and a consey to set the field for their 25-lap A-Main. By pill draw, Ed was scheduled to start fourth in the third heat behind Cole Duncan, Felmlee and Sheila Rankin. He finished second to Felmlee and was followed by Scott Priester, Duncan and Pete Miller III. The other heats went to Danny Holtgraver and Rod George with Charlie Holben winning the Consey.

The top four of each heat were eligible for the re-draw for feature starting spots which awarded Holtgraver and Felmlee the front row spots. In row two it was Sheldon Haudenschild and Cap Henry, then Ed inside Kevin Schaeffer in row three, followed by Carl Bowser, Cole Duncan, Rod George and Jack Sodeman, Jr. to complete the first ten starters.

Felmlee blasted ahead to lead Holtgraver, Henry and Ed at the start, and the front four continued in formation for the first four laps before the first yellow flag for Todd Bauer and Miller who slid over the top of the track in turn two. With no change up front, the yellow came out again for Duncan who half-spun in turn two after nine laps were completed.

Ed hounded third place Henry on the restart and finally got under the 19-yr old who is going for All Star Rookie of the Year, in turns one and two to claim third spot on lap 13 as Henry slipped over the top of the track to bring out the third yellow. Henry rejoined the field in last spot.

When the green replaced the yellow, Ed was able to pull inside Holtgraver and pass him for second place coming off turn four, to set sail for Felmlee. However, on lap 18, Henry blew his right rear and was lucky enough to just slide off the top of the track again in turn two.

With the final seven laps going all green, the A.M.B. i.t. times show Ed was cutting into Felmlee's lead on laps 21, 22 and 23 when Ed's laps were faster than Felmlee, but the lengthy yellows took its toll on Ed as on laps 24 and 25, and his low fuel level caused him to finish slightly off Felmlee's pace by .922 seconds. Holtgraver, Sodeman, Jr. and Haudenschild ranked in the top five while Bowser, George, Schaeffer, Priester and Duncan rounded out the top ten.

Saturday morning at 11:00AM the Lynch family will attend a Memorial Service for Jean's sister Jane Coleman at the Vandergrift Presbyterian Church. They will look at the weather following the service to see if it is possible to race at Mercer or Port Royal.

Ed earned the Hard Charger Award, a Good Year tire certificate, Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park after starting 11th, he finished 5th in the 20 lap feature on a night when passing was at a premium.

Because he won the last show here on 4/10/10, Ed was supposed to start 12th, but one of the qualified cars, Dan Kurieger, had engine trouble that scratched him for the rest of the night and moved Ed to 11th in the 17 car field.

The front of the Sprint feature (which ran second) looked like this with Mike Lutz and Rod George in row one, then Chris Shuttleworth and Dan Holtgraver were in row two. Eric Williams and Bob Felmlee made up row three ahead of Gale Ruth, Sr. and Charlie Holben. Chris Best and Carl Bowser were in row five ahead of Ed and Scott Priester in row six.

It was Lutz from the pole to lead George for the first lap before Williams brought out the caution. Ed was 10th at that time. Ed moved up to eighth by the time the second yellow flew on lap eight for Francis Sesco. Once again the front two Lutz and George had a clean track in front of them and they caught the back markers before the final yellow flew on lap 15 for Williams, again, with Ed in seventh.

With five to go, Ed got by Bowser and Holben which brought Ed up to 5th in those final laps. Therefore, it was a second win this year for Lutz who was followed by George, Holtgraver, Felmlee, then Ed, who passed the most cars for the night after he came from 11th to fifth. Rounding out the top ten it was Bowser, Priester, Shuttleworth, Holben and Brian Stinman (who was one lap down).

There were two heats for the 17 cars signed in and Ed was scheduled to start sixth in the second heat. Only two laps were in the books when Sesco hit a water barrel in turn four which brought out a yellow with pole-sitter Holben leading and Ed in fourth. At the finish, it was Holtgraver ahead of Holben and Ed in third. The first heat went to Lutz over Felmlee and Bowser.

If weather permits, the crew will be at Tri City Speedway for the first time this year on Sunday for their version of the Sprint Challenge Series.

Ed had his #2L dialed to perfection in the 2nd PA Posse Speedweek at Bedford Speedway Sunday - 6/27/10

Over the years, Ed always puts Bedford's Pennsylvania Posse Speedweek show on his schedule and this year was no different, so the team headed West on the PA turnpike in mid-afternoon Sunday and arrived in time to be part of the 23 car field on hand at J.R. Keifer's fast 1/2 mile Fairgrounds facility. However, this year would prove to be Ed's most successful appearance there, timing well, struggling in his heat, but recovering and getting it all together in time to start on the front row of the 30-lap feature and leading every lap on his way to a big trophy and a check for $5,000.

Conducting the driver's meeting himself, Keifer made sure everyone felt welcome and talked about the agenda for tonight's race before he introduced Brian Householder, the PA Speedweek Coordinator, who explained the new Speedweek Line Up Procedure for this year. It involved seeding all the cars based first on 2010 feature wins. The drivers with the most wins would be a top seed. Brian had the cars seeded and divided into three groups. Each group would than draw for time trial order. Each driver would hot lap, time trial and race against the cars in their group. The fastest car in each group, would make their way into the FEATURE ZONE.

Ed was seeded pretty high in group three because of his three feature wins, two at Mercer and one at Lernerville. Now, in time trials, Ed was fastest in his group with a 16.917. This started him third in that group for his heat line-up. That put Stevie Smith on the pole with Johnny Mackison, Jr. outside. Ed was in row two with Daryn Pittman, then came Mike Wagner and Aaron Ott and finally Tyler Walker and Ralph Spithaler. Ed was in trouble with handling in the turns and dropped to fourth when the yellow came out on lap six for Mackison, Jr.'s engine problems. Walker got by Ed on the restart and the finish went like this - Smith, Pittman, Ott, Walker, Ed, Wagner, Spithaler and Mackison. The other heats showed Greg Hodnett over Mark Smith in heat one and then Chad Layton over Freddie Rahmer in heat two. Ed's time trial lap put him fourth overall.

Those who qualified for the FEATURE ZONE, were paged to come to the front straight-away and draw for A-Main starting positions. Ed drew a number two, and therefore he started outside Alan Krimes on the front row of the feature. Hodnett and Mark Smith made up row two, while Stevie Smith and Freddie Rahmer were in row three. Pittman and Layton were next.

At the drop of the green, Ed surged ahead of Krimes and continued to build that lead until the first yellow on lap 11 for Lance Dewease with rear end problems, eliminating a 15-car length lead for Ed. The restart lineup showed Krimes on Ed's bumper, then Hodnett, Rahmer, Mark Smith, Pittman, Stevie Smith, Layton, Ott, Leppo and Walker.

That restart saw Ed pull away again and build another comfortable lead. Each time Ed came upon a lapped car, he used the outside groove to sail by them. No one could match his ability to stretch out his lead and he left the rest of the field behind as the laps counted down. A two-car tangle by Doug Esh and Brent Marks coming out of turn four caused the second and final yellow flag to wave. on lap 21.

Once again, when the green replaced the yellow, Ed's combination on the #2L was unbeatable and he pulled away again. His crew finally allowed themselves to get excited as he came off turn four with the flagman's checkered flag in site and they raced to victory lane for the celebration. Lots of photographers shot lots of pictures while J.R. Keifer grabbed the mic and interviewed Ed himself. Keifer is a racing history buff and recognized the many years that Ed has supported Bedford's only Sprint car race.

Ed's crew tonight consisted of sons Ed III and Sye, Ed, Sr., Zane (a college friend of Ed III's), Eric, Henry and his son Tim and vowed to remember this race as a very special one……the night Ed, Jr. beat the PA Posse.

Coming up will be Friday at Lernerville, Saturday Twin 15-lap features at Mercer and Sunday will be Dave Blaney night at Tri City for a special DIRTcar Sprint Challenge Race.

Ed wins 2nd feature and special medal at Mercer on Fireworks Night in front of SRO crowd Saturday - 6/26/10

Ed won his second feature of the year at Mercer Raceway Park and may have had some help when two top drivers were forced to drop out while Ed was able to overcome his loose condition early and got faster as the race went on with his #2L coming close to a perfect setup at the end of 20 laps where he was met by Nick Petrishen of Nick Chevrolet in Tarentum during his victory lane interview, handing him a $100 bill, then he was awarded the first Short Track Driver's Achievement Award in honor of Clifford and Davey Allison with permission from Bobby Allison presented by Walt Keller, President of Victory Lane Racing Association (VLRA) out of Daytona Beach FL .

With 23 Sprints signed in for Mercer's big fireworks night, a standing room only crowd enjoyed a night of Sprints, Modifieds, Late Models, Mini Stocks and Stocks. Three heats were scheduled to run qualifying the top four in each heat to be eligible for a top 12 redraw. Ed lined up sixth in the third heat, behind Jeff Taylor, Jack Helget, Andy Priest, Dan Kuriger and Carl Bowser. Priest took the win and Ed was second. Bob Felmlee took the first heat over Rod George with Brian Steinman taking the second heat over Lindsey Enscoe.

When Ed's heat finished, his crew went about repairing the side panels on his nose wing that had pealed back. The crew changed tires and prepared the car for the 20-lap feature where Ed would start seventh. Carl Bowser was on the pole and Danny Holtgraver would line up outside. Dan Kuriger and Lindsay Enscoe made up row two. Andy McKisson and Brent Matus were next, followed by Ed and Pete Miller.

Ed said following the feature, "I needed every yellow we had. I kept working with my setup and the longer we went, the better I got." He was not that great before the first yellow on lap five for pole-sitter Bowser who spun inbetween turns three and four. The restart showed Holtgraver leading Kruiger, Andy McKisson and Ed.

On the restart, Ed was able to pass McKisson and move into third. While the cars were in line to let the green fly, the leader, Holtgraver returned to the pits because of a vibration in his engine, giving the lead to Kuriger. That didn't last long, as when the green replaced the yellow, Ed got high in turns three and four and Rod George wasted no time in making his move the inside, passing Ed. A yellow came out for Pete Miller who tried to take out a water barrel coming into turn four. But, according to Ed, George's right rear tire was going flat and it would be just a matter of time until it pealed off and George was forced to the pits on lap 15.

A final yellow came on lap 16 for Eric Williams as Ed led Kuriger, then Andy Priest with no passing on the final four laps the first three cars remained the same, but Felmlee took 4th place ahead of Priest at the checkered flag. Rounding out the top 10, it was Bowser, Todd Bauer, Brandon Spithauler, Jeff Taylor and Pete Miller.

From 20th, Ed advances to 6th in his first Sharon appearance of 2010 - an All Star Speedweek show Thursday - 6/24/10

Ed is Sharon Speedway's leading sprint feature winner and he used his first trip to the Hartford, Ohio oval this year to prove he hasn't forgotten how to go forward at this track, showing his talent Thursday in their Ohio Sprint Speedweek show sanctioned by the O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions.

On a full moon night, when all you have to work with is lemons, if you can use them to make lemonade and enjoy it….you would have an experience like Ed and his team had tonight.

The night presented a challenge right from the start with a high pill draw of 68 out of 75, which sent Ed out 39th of the 42 cars to qualify using the one lap time-trial rule mandated by the All Stars when they have more than 40 cars.

Hot laps went OK with Ed being one of six drivers in the 13 second bracket. But a set of new Goodyears changed the stagger and Ed was in trouble, ranking only 24th overall with a time of 14.630. Fast time of the night was set by Dale Blaney, who went out 11th and had a time of 13.853.

The #2L team made wholesale changes before the heat races and Ed was ready to start on pole of the fourth heat with Jack Sodeman, Jr. outside. Eric Williams and Bob Felmlee made up row two with Stevie Smith and Tyler Walker next. Cap Henry, Australian Matt Reed, Brent Matus and Australian Matt Butler followed.

Sodeman was faster from his outside slot and led all eight laps with Ed second, then Felmlee, Walker and Henry next, all advancing to the "A". The first heat went to Dean Jacobs over Cale Conley. From the second heat Tim Shaffer won over Brock Mayes. Then heat three had Lee Jacobs beating Kevin Lee.

The Rubbin' Repair DASH went to Felmlee with Bill Rose, Byron Reed, Stevie Smith and Sheldon Haudenschild earning their way into the " A" by way of the University of Northwestern Ohio B-Main. However, Haudenschild did not have a legal muffler and he was replaced by Danny Holtgraver who was fifth in the B-Main.

Now, with the All Star ruling of "running the same right rear all night long", Ed just about changed everything else from front shocks to headers, to tire pressure, to gears, before taking his 20th starting spot in the 24-car feature field.

After the "Pick 6" redraw from the crowd, the front three rows of the feature showed Scott Bonnell, Walker, Brandon Wimmer, Daryn Pittman, fast qualifier Dale Blaney and Brad Sweet. Ed was way, way back in row ten with Lee Jacobs on the inside..

It was rough going at the start with Ed going backwards, having trouble keeping his front wheels on the ground. If fact, Ed was last and had his pit crew on the Mosites Motorsports push-off and retrieve vehicle ready to "retrieve."

But, by lap eight, Ed got his handling straightened out and started to actually pass cars. When Brock Mayes spun to the infield between turns 3 and 4, causing the first yellow - with Walker leading Shaffer on lap 12, Ed was up to 15th.

Two laps later on lap 14, Cap Henry was crowded into the back stretch guardrail for the second and final yellow. Shaffer now had taken the lead and Ed was 14th.

When the green replaced the yellow, Ed was on the move…..passing David Gravel, Bill Rose, Greg Wilson. Bob Felmlee, Dean Jacobs, Byron Reed, Daryn Pittman and Scott Bonnell before the end of the race.

At the checkered flag it was Shaffer, followed by Brandon Wimmer, Tyler Walker, Dale Blaney, Brad Sweek and Ed in sixth.

Weekend racing plans are to go to Mercer on Saturday and then try Bedford on Sunday. As of this writing the weather channel if calling for rain on Saturday.

Ed is 4th (highest finishing Goodyear car) in the Auto Racers for Kids Charity event at Sportsman Speedway Sunday - 6/20/10

Ed is the highest finishing Goodyear car, starting fourth and finishing fourth, in a rare appearance of Sprints at Colwell's Sportsman Speedway at Knox PA on Sunday, June 20, 2010 where 34 cars were on hand to show their support for Auto Racers for Kids Charity spearheaded by Erie PA driver Scott Bonnell.

For the first time since 1998, Ed and his team headed for Sportsman Speedway after Mercer and with his boys, Ed III and Sye, his father Ed, Sr. along……it was a perfect Father's Day get-together. They had a sleep-over in the rig on Interstate 80, arrived in the early afternoon and watched the track preparation underway.

Ed's pill draw was 30 out of 50 and that lined him up seventh in the first heat where he faced front row starters Bob Felmlee and Jack Sodeman, Jr. with Kevin Schaeffer and Mike Lutz in row two. Daryn Pittman and Vern Wasson made up row three with Ed inside Scott Bonnell in row four. The three heats were 10 laps and the first four finishers transferred into the A-Main. Felmlee got the win followed by Pittman, Schaeffer and Ed who was right on Schaeffer at the end. The second heat sent Russ Sansosti, Dan Shetler, Jeff Taylor and Carl Bowser to the feature, while Rod George, Arnie Kent, 360 driver Bubba Broderick and Danny Holtgraver advanced from the third heat.

There was a Ti22 Dash for 5th, 6th and 7th place heat cars and a chance for some extra money, while the rest of the cars were scheduled for a 12-lap B-Main to transfer three more cars.

The redraw for the 25-lap feature for the 12 qualified cars was done by kids out of the audience and that turned out well for Ed when a number "4" was picked for him. Kent started on the pole with Shetler outside. Broderick was inside Ed in row two with Felmlee and Pittman in row three.

In preparation for the main event, the crew had changed torsion bars, stagger and shocks. Ed was definitely in the minority with his four Goodyears on, but since most of the places he runs require that brand of tire, he does not own anything else. However, tonight only seven cars of the 34 were on Goodyears and Ed was the highest finishing Goodyear car.

After the four-wide parade lap saluting the fans, the field settled in to serious racing for 14 laps. At this point, Gale Ruth, Sr. spun, bringing out the first yellow flag and the fans watched as the field went into double-file formation, leaving lapped cars in place. The front cars at that time were Shetler, Kent, Pittman, Ed (who had problems with a bent shock on the left rear) and Broderick.

Another yellow was needed after 22 laps and now the field went single file behind the new leader Pittman. The top five at this point behind Pittman were Shetler (who was showing smoke) and Kent. Ed, running fourth, had moved his wing all the way back to try to get more traction, and then fought to keep the front wheels on the ground. Broderick was a solid fifth. On the restart, Ed got past Kent for third, but Broderick lost the handle, bringing out another yellow and the scorers did not get a lap in, which nullified Ed's pass of Kent.

With three laps to go when the green waved, no positions changed so the finish showed Pittman picking up the win followed by Shetler, Kent, Ed and Felmlee in the top five. Rounding out the top ten it was Holtgraver, Rod George, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Bonnell and Schaeffer.

Ed plans to run the All Star Ohio Speedweek show at Sharon Speedway on Thursday, June 24, 2010.

Ed gets a podium finish after starting 7^th at Mercer Raceway Park Saturday – 6/19/17

Ed and the crew drove through heavy rains, but the sun was out at Mercer Raceway Park when they pulled in and a field of 14 Sprints ran two heats and a 25-lap feature as part of a twin-bill with the BRP Modifieds.

A lucky pill draw put Ed on pole of the first heat and despite a yellow with four laps in for Pete Miller who spun in turn two. The #2L led all laps to the checkered flag over Carl Bowser and Bob Felmlee. The other heat went to outside pole-sitter Rod George over Danny Holtgraver and Andy Priest.

The team made minor changes (gears, spacers and tires) in preparation for the Sprint feature that would run after the 30-lap Modified feature.

A redraw for the top 12 in heats produced the front row of Priest and Brian Steinman. Rod George and Chris Best made up row two, while Lindsay Enscoe and Danny Holtgraver started ahead of Ed in row three. Ed and Bowser made up row four.

To the surprise of most, the first 20 laps went non-stop. When the red flag was thrown for an oil fire on Bowser’s car, Ed was up to third after passing Enscoe, Best and Steinman in the first five laps. Ed and Holtgraver diced and ran side-by-side for another eight laps before Ed was able to claim third spot for good on lap 14.

When the green replaced the red with five laps to go, Priest led his car owner Kelsey George’s father Rod George, Ed, Holtgraver and Mike Lutz. Ed could never get to the preferred outside groove with Priest and George running there. The finish was a first Sprint win here for Priest, who has 39 other wins at Mercer , then George, Ed, Holtgraver and Lutz. Felmlee, Miller, Steinman, Tony Beaber and Enscoe ranked in the top ten.

Sunday will be a Scott Bonnell race at Sportsman Speedway at Knox PA to benefit the Auto Racers for Children Charity.

Ed gets win number 102 in Lernerville Sprints by a wide margin of 12.997 seconds- 6/18/10

After several weeks of frustration on Friday nights at Lernerville Speedway (mostly due to lapped cars), Ed was able to turn his luck around in their 25-lap Mid-Season Championship Race for Sprints, winning the event in dominating style and earning a preferred starting spot in Lernerville's Don Martin Silver Cup World of Outlaw show coming to town on July 20, 2010.

Ed was perfect in his qualifying heat leading all laps from his pole position, turning a time of 13.660 on the white flag lap where his speed was 105.317 mph over Rod George, Bob Felmlee, Andy McKisson and Kevin Schaeffer. Nevertheless, the #2L underwent changes to the shocks, tires and wing adjustments, all in preparation for the feature.

Meanwhile, the rest of the 21 Sprints on hand ran a second heat which was won by Danny Holtgraver over Scott Priester, Jack Sodeman, Jr., and Carl Bowser.

The top 12 in points after heat races , were now eligible for a re-draw for the front six rows of the feature. Believe it or not, Ed's luck stayed with him and another pole position came his way with young Pete Miller !!! outside him. In row two it was Brandon Matus and Kevin Schaeffer followed by Brent Matus and Felmlee, Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Rod George came next.

With Ed leading from the start, Schaeffer moved into second spot on lap two with Felmlee taking over third. The lone yellow flag for problems with a top wing on the Brandon Matus sprinter that spun in turn one and collected another car. From that point on, Ed was in charge as he worked through lapped traffic. The crowd was amazed as he wasted no time and continued lapping cars that encircled the track. With the balance of the race ticking down and Ed doing a fine job of keeping his rhythm through the entire field.

The big story tonight was the domination of the "clean cars" with Ed's car entering turn three coming for the checkered flag while the second place of Felmlee was coming out of turn four. At 9:42 P.M. , Ed took the checkered flag with a margin of victory of 12.997 seconds over Felmlee. Considering Ed had laps himself of 15.619 on his way to Victory, it was only a matter of time that he would have lapped the entire field.

Behind Ed at the finish, it was Felmlee, Schaeffer, Rod George, Carl Bowser and Jack Sodeman, Jr. on the lead lap then it was Danny Holtgraver, Dan Kuriger, Andy McKisson and Brian Steinman.

Ed gets Mercer's Hard Charger Award going from 7th to 2nd Saturday - 6/12/10

The weatherman didn't do Mercer Raceway Park any favors, predicting rain for Saturday all week long, but he was wrong and the track was right…..getting the entire show plus bike races in the record books and once again, Ed earned the Hard Charger Award.

After starting fourth in his heat behind Andy McKisson, Rod George and Chris Best, Ed got by McKisson on the last lap and finished second to George. The first heat went to Mike Lutz over Dan Kuriger.

The 20-lap Sprint feature rolled onto the track following the MiniStock feature with Bob Felmlee and Carl Bowser in the front row. Next came McKisson and Lutz, then Best and Eric Williams in row three. Ed started seventh with George outside him. The #2L crew had made very few changes, they changed gears and that's about it in preparation for the A-Main.

With Felmlee leading Bowser, McKisson and Ed, just one lap was completed when Lutz got out in the loose stuff in between turns three and four and then his car got in a divit just before the wall causing him to do an easy tip over on his side. He was able to continue at the rear of the field.

The next 11 laps went all green and Ed was able to get Bowser on the back stretch and eventually McKisson inside turn two after several attempts. Thus, when Danny Holtgraver spun to a stop in the infield grass on the front stretch with twelve laps completed.

When the green replaced the yellow for the restart, Ed tried to get by the leader Felmlee on the inside in turns one and two. But, Felmlee would have none of it and managed to use up most of the track, keeping Ed at bay to the checkered flag. Finishing third it was Bowser, then McKisson and George in the top five. Rounding out the top 10 it was Kruriger, Holtgraver, Best, Williams and Brian Steinman.

Ed was leading on lap 17, but a lapped car prevented the win at Lernerville - 6/11/10

Ed and the team returned to his home track, Lernerville Speedway, on Friday after being on the road at Charlotte and Knoxville for the last two weeks, but found that his luck with lapped cars has not changed and for the third time this year he had to take evasive action at Lernerville to avoid a miscue by a lapped car (sometimes the car was two laps down -but tonight the driver was three laps down) and it ended up costing Ed a good feature finish.

The night started off with 24 Sprints who were scheduled to run second behind the Late Models on this night of Lernerville's famous and entertaining fireworks. Three heats were scheduled with Ed starting fifth in the second heat. Despite turning the fastest lap on the AMB i.t. transponder system in his heat, Ed finished second to pole sitter Rod George. The other two heats also went to their pole sitters Danny Holtgrave and Carl Bowser.

The redraw for the 25 lap feature showed Ed on the pole for the first time this year, with Jack Sodeman, Jr. outside and Brent Matus and Russ Sansosti in row two. Sodeman's setup proved to be better at the start and he led the first six laps before the first yellow for a car that slid off the track in turn three. On the restart, it was Sodeman again until Ed got a good run on him and found a sweet spot in turn two to pass him for the lead. But Sodeman came right back when Ed spun the tires on the back stretch, taking the front spot again.

However, Ed's set up and his tires finally got enough heat to blow by Sodeman and lead lap eight. Ed continued to pull away through lap 11 when the stalled car of Kevin Schaeffer on the backstretch caused the second yellow. Ed continued to be fast and shortly he was in lapped traffic again.

The trouble for Ed was on lap 17 when he came upon three lapped cars spread across the track as they tried to control their cars. Ed had to make a split second decision and was on the inside when Jack Whitmore, who was being lapped for the third time, decided to take a left forcing Ed to take evasive action, spinning the #2L to avoid a crash.

Ed restarted last and came back to seventh spot at the finish, behind Sodeman,Holtgraver, Rod George, Carl Bowser, Bob Felmlee and Dennis kruiger.

Rain spoils all racing plans at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday of HoF Induction weekend - 6/5/10

The crew had a busy day Saturday at Charlie and Nancy VanHouelingen (our Knoxville hosts) family's garage because Ed, Jr. and Ed Sr., Ed III, Eric, Steve and Charlie decided to change engines and gears, fire it up and then wash the #2L in preparation for the third and final night of the three-day WoO show over the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction weekend.

Mid-afternoon, they showered and loaded up and headed to the track to be part of a 43 car field. Around 5:00PM the local radio station broadcasting from the Fairgrounds issued a tornado warning for Marion County where the track is located. The cars were already in the infield and Ed had drawn his usual high pill of 71 out of 75 pills for time trials.

The 360 Sprints were part of the program and they were pushed off in the infield, getting heat in their engines as the push trucks and packers finished packing the 1/2 mile track. The 410 driver's had their drivers' meeting and flagman Doug Clark reminded them it would a fast show because there was a weather issue.

At 6:40PM scattered rain drops began to fall and ten minutes later, it started to pour and that lasted about 30 minutes, soaking everything. First the track crew let the track drain, then at 8:00PM afleet of 25 push trucks began to pack the track once again, but after 45 minutes, they were pulled off and the grader went out on the track.

Finally, an announcement came that it would take another three hours to make the track race-ready, so officials were forced to cancel. Ed and the crew packed up and started the 16 hour trip home.

The top 20 cars from Thursday night's feature were inverted and the remainder of the 46 cars were divided into two B-Mains for Friday night's World of Outlaw program at Knoxville Raceway.

Ed started outside Josh Schneiderman in the front row of the first B-Main with Toni Lutar and Daryn Pittman in row two. Robbie Wolfgang and Ryan Button were next followed by Bronson Maeschen, Johnny Herrera and Mike Moore. He got a great start and led the entire 12 lap distance unchallenged with his fastest lap being 111.379 mph. Ed and second place Pittman then advanced to the back of the 25-lap A-Main inside rows. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. and Adam Wilt advanced from the second B-Main.

Jac Haudenschild and Brian Brown brought the 24-car field to the green and Ed chose to run the bottom of the 1/2 mile track, while the top was clearly the faster groove. Ed explained that he had tried a different set-up on his car and he was observing other cars, their set-ups and grooves. There was a battle the entire race between "Haud" and Brown with the only yellow coming on lap 23 for Donny Schatz sitting just coming out of turn two with a shredded tire.

At the waving of the checkered flag, it was Haudenschild holding off Brown, followed by Tyler Walker, Lucas Wolfe and Kerry Madsen in the top five. Jason Sides earned the Hard Charger award coming from 17th to finish sixth. then it was Kraig Kinser, Mark Dobmeier, Brad Sweet and Sammy Swindell completing the top ten. Ed started and finished in 21st spot.

Ed joined a strong field of 46 cars signed in for the World of Outlaw MediaCom Shootout and Hall of Fame Induction weekend at "The Sprint Car Capital of the World" Knoxville, Iowa to do battle for a big three-day show starting Thursday, June 2, 2010.

Despite going out 32nd to time trial(Danny Lasoski set fast time and went out 4th) Ed's second lap of 15.338 was good enough to make the heat inversion and he started on pole of the third heat with Daryn Pittman outside. The second row showed Jason Sides and Paul McMahan then Donny Schatz and Donald Droud in row three. There was a yellow on the original start and then one for a spin by Ben Gregg. Once the eight-lap heat race got going, Ed had clear sailing around this 1/2 mile and won by a wide margin over Sides, Pittman, Schatz and McMahan. The other heats went to Jason Meyers over Craig Dollansky in the first one, Brooke Tatnell over Joey Saldana in the second and finally Lance Dewease over Sammy Swindell in the fourth heat.

The heat win made Ed eligible for his first dash of the year and when an eight pill was drawn for the Dash inversion, that started Ed on the pole of the six-lap dash. He jumped out to a big lead on the first lap, but when the yellow flag flew for Dollansky who had drive-line trouble on the front stretch, the restart went to double file and Ed chose to restart on the outside because his Kistler engine was running so well. When the green replaced the yellow, his fuel loaded up and the engine bogged down and Brooke Tatnell and Jason Meyers got by. Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Saldana, Sides, McMahan and Dewease followed Ed.

Starting the 25-lap feature behind Tatnell and Meyers, Ed was in trouble from the start when a bolt fell out of the mounting for the top wing valve and that allowed his wing to slide all the way forward with no chance at adjustment. With Tatnell leading the non-stop event wire-to-wire, Ed went steadily backwards and finished the race in 23rd spot. Behind Tatnell and Meyers it was Swindell, Sides and Saldana. Rounding out the top ten it was Steve Kinser, Lasoski, Dewease, Kerry Madsen and Dollansky who got the hard charger after he was forced to use a back-up car and start 27th tonight.

Ed is second in Mercer's DIRTcar Sprint Challenge Series show Saturday - 7/31/10

For the second night in a row Ed ran in the DIRTcar Sprint Challenge Series, Friday night at Lernerville and Saturday night at Mercer both with identical car counts…26, but after winning Friday Ed finished second at Mercer behind Jack Sodeman, Jr., who finished second to Ed on Friday night.

Three heats were run with Ed starting fifth in the first heat behind Butch Beasley, Jim Nicesley, Sodeman and Jason Golick. Only the first four would be eligible for the redraw and Sodeman won over Golick, Ed and Eric Williams. The other heats saw young Russ Sansosti win over Pete Miller III, Andy McKisson and Bob Felmlee, while Brian Steinman took the third heat ahead of Andy Priest (subbing in Martha Dionese car), Danny Holtgraver and Brent Matus.

ARDC Midgets were present for their annual visit and brought a healthy car count requiring three heats and then there was a display of vintage midgets who also took a few parade laps around the track, while the drivers went through the stands with their helmets for donations for fellow Sprint car driver Charlie Holben, who suffered extensive burns eight weeks ago at Lernerville Speedway.

The Sprint feature was extended to 25 laps and the redraw put Golick and Brent Matus on the front row, with Priest and Williams in row two. The crew changed tires and gears on the #2L and Ed would be fifth inside Sodeman, with Miller and Felmlee next, then McKisson and Holtgraver in row five. The other cars in the redraw were in row six - Sansosti and Steinman.

The early laps of the "Challenge" had all four of the yellow flag incidents with polesitter, Dolick leading through the first three over Matus. Ed got by Williams and Priest to be third on the third lap. During the next two laps, Ed was trying to work the inside, lining up Matus first. Before, he could gain any ground on the inside, Sodeman saw the bottleneck there and went to the outside, dropping Ed to fourth when the yellow came out on lap five for a three car pileup inside turn two.

Sodeman's move to the front came in time to get by race-long leader Dolick before the final yellow on lap 11 for Lindsay Enscoe, who spun on the front stretch. Dolick now felt the pressure from Ed for his second spot and Ed finally completed the task as hand and was officially running second. Sodeman lost no time as he zipped through llapped traffic. By the time Ed cleared those same lapped cars he started to gain slightly on Sodeman, but it took too long and Sodeman went on to win with Ed in second (maybe for the eighth time this year). Felmlee, Holtgraver and McKisson. Finishing sixth through tenth it was Priest, Rod George, Golick, Williams and Miller.

Ed leads all 25 laps of the DIRTcar Challenge Sprint Series race worth $2,000 at Lernerville - 7/30/10

How many times this season has Ed had bad pill draws, but that was not the case as luck was on his side for Friday night's Dirtcar Challenge Sprint Series 25-lap event that paid $2,000 to win and he took full advantage of a good redraw that started him in the front row of the feature and he went on to lead every lap and take the point lead in that series.

There were 26 Sprints on hand for Lernerville's second run in the Series with three heats scheduled to send the top six in each to the A-Main, while the rest went to a B-Main. Ed's number 13 in the original pill draw was good enough to start him outside Brian Ellenberger in the front row of the third heat. At the drop of the green flag, it was a drag race down the front stretch, but Ed rolled the turns perfectly and was just ahead of Ellenberger down the backstretch. The two stayed close and finished in that order (making it six heat wins for Ed) followed by Andy McKisson, Bob Felmlee and Brent Matus. The other heats were won by Danny Holtgraver and Jack Sodeman, Jr. The crew changed gears for the feature on Ed's car.

Remarkably, the feature redraw (which did not penalize Ed as last week's feature winner) set the front row for the 24-car field with Ellenberger and Ed, followed by Pete Miller III and Dan Kurieger in row two. Next came Brandon Matus and Sodeman, Jr., then Danny Holtgraver, Kevin Schaeffer, Bob Felmlee, Andy McKisson and in row six it was Rod George and Todd Bauer.

Ellenberger who skipped a two-day World of Outlaw show at Oshweken Speedway to run some local shows, was able to stay in second spot for 19 laps, but never led a lap because Ed was in the preferred high groove at the beginning of the race. Despite four yellow flags for minor spins by various drivers on laps 1, 9, 14, and 19, Ed's restarts were picture perfect and he was ahead and locked down to his groove. Several times, Ellenberger tried to dive inside going into turn one or coming off turn four, but each time Ed's momentum carried the #2L to the lead at the flagstand.

When the top went away, Ed was able to switch to the middle groove and despite the fact that the track times were slow tonight, he managed to the rest of the field at bay. With so many yellows spaced the way they were, Ed never got into heavy lapped traffic where some of the slower drivers were running three wide. On several occasions this year, lapped traffic has been his nemesis, but tonight, the yellow flags took care of clearing the track ahead of him.

Ed told track announcer, Dow Carnahan, "Luck was on my side tonight and my car was fast just about anywhere." For Ed it was career win number 105 here, making him six total wins for the year (two were at Mercer and one at Bedford). His total Sprint wins are 226.

Ed's margin of victory was a close .775 seconds over Sodeman, Jr. (who took the spot away from Ellenberger on lap 20). Rod George came from 11th to finish third, then Ellenberber crossed fourth,but was penalized to 17th because he didn't cross the scales, thus advancing Andy McKisson to fourth and then Kuriger was fifth. Rounding out the top ten, it was Holtgraver, Carl Bowser, Felmlee, Schaeffer and Bauer.

Ed plans to run the second DIRTcar Challenge Sprint Series of the weekend at Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday night.

Ed was fast all night and picked up his 104th Sprint car win at Lernerville on Friday - 7/23/10

All day Wednesday and Thursday, Lynch Racing was working hard to get caught up from all the bent or broken parts and wings that were a result of the Silver Cup race at Lernerville on Tuesday, not to mention the hours Eric spent cleaning the mud covered floor and reorganizing all the tools in the trailer that were helter-skelter after the engine change between the heat and B-Main when the team was tested to the max and had everything conceivable happen in the course of the evening.

But Friday, Ed and the team turned the page and had a perfect night! They were fast with their oldest J&J car from hot laps, to their heat and 25-lap feature with only minor changes the whole night. Talk about a night being the opposite of their bad experiences that never ended last Tuesday, tonight they barely had to turn a wrench. As a matter of fact, the entire crew spent a lot more time helping Bob Felmlee who was pitted beside the Lynch #2L, when Felmlee came in on a wrecker with severe front end damage.

Also, it's hard to believe that "luck of the draw" had Ed starting both his heat and the feature from the front row and he used that good fortune to lead every lap in the eight-lap heat and 25-lap feature to cap off a 94 degree day with blistering speeds all night long.

Ed's fastest lap of the night was 111.498mph on the first circuit in his win over Scott Priester, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Danny Holtgraver, Lindsey Enscoe, Carl Bowser, Dan Kuriger and Brandon Matus in the first heat. The other heat went to Rod George over Andy McKisson, Brandon Spithaler, Brent Matus, Brian Steinman, Herman Bertolini, Mike Bertolini and Felmlee.

The only car to clock 100.545mph in the feature was Ed and he had to do it early on the second lap of the feature. Pole-sitter, Rod George finished 9.398 seconds behind Ed at the finish which amounted to more than one-half a lap. The two drivers ran one-two the entire distance with Ed leading all laps. The second row of the feature had Scott Priester inside Lindsay Enscoe followed by Carl Bowser inside Brandon Spithaler in row four.

There was only one caution and that came on lap nine when Felmlee sat inside turn two. All the cars hurried to line up for the restart, but with lapped cars holding their spots. Therefore, Ed had two lapped cars on his tail and then came the clean car of George followed by two more lapped cars. Felmlee was able to continue at the rear.

The field goes all the way to the checkered flag and Ed had his car dialed in to perfection and lapped up to the fourth place car. Danny Holtgraver claimed third ahead of Bowser and McKisson for the top five. Next came Kuriger, Priester, Felmlee (recovering from that spin), Sodeman, Jr.and Brent Matus finishing in the top ten.

Due to the Tri City accident (that cost us a race car) and the toll that the Silver Cup race took on our racing operation, Ed is planning to spend the rest of the weekend working in the garage and preparing for the next major race - the 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals.

Ed had an uphill battle all night at Lenerville's Don Martin Silver Cup on Tuesday - 7/20/10

The World of Outlaws presented their twin 30's Tuesday night at Lernerville Speedway in the Annual Don Martin Silver Cup race which Ed looks forward to each year, but the night turned out to be an uphill battle and not at all what he had planned as he had to use the Provisional spot he won previously in a Lernerville race to start the first 30-lapper and ended with a 16th place finish in the nightcap.

The start of everything was delayed because of rain, but once things got going, it was a fast moving night. There were 39 cars signed in the pits and Ed's pill draw put him in the third group of four to hot lap. He was OK in the ranking until the first and second group were given another session and the times there were much faster. He went out 29th and timed in at 12.994, which seemed to be OK for the inversion of 16 cars for the four heats, until Dale Blaney, the last car to quality, timed in at 12.894 and that bumped Ed to 17th overall.

He lined up fifth in the first heat behind Lucas Wolfe, Kerry Madsen, Joey Saldana and Lance Dewease. Sammy Swindell followed, then Tim Shaffer, Jac Haudenschild, Don Kuriger and Dave Delisle. Ed lost ground through out the eight lap distance, finishing eighth behind Madsen, Wolfe, Saldana, Swindell, Dewease, Shaffer and Haudenschild. The other heats were won by Steve Kinser, Jason Sides and Adam Wilt.

After a short discussion, it was decided to change engines in the #2L. They pulled the car in the hauler and proceeded to remove the engine and install another engine, but even though the swap was completed in record time for the crew, the track was hurrying the program along and it didn't take that long to run three eight-lap heats and a six lap dash. They were calling out the B-Main lineup and Ed was just getting in the car and the crew was buttoning everything up, but he was pushed to the line late and instead of the pole position where he was scheduled to start, he was relegated to 17th starting spot.

He was just getting a lap in and the next time by, he pulled a wheelie coming off turn four. Three laps later coming out of four, he was inside Tony Lutar and got bumped and spun. Now, starting last , he tried to advance but didn't get far. Only the front four Shaffer, Lasoski, Steve Lines and Haudenschild advanced to the A-Main.

Ed then used his Provisional spot that he won here a couple of weeks ago and officially started 26th in the first 30-lap portion that had Blaney and Jason Sides on the front row. There were restarts before a lap was scored.

The first was for Haudenschild and Daryn Pittman and the second yellow came when Stevie Smith jumped the cushion in turn four and got up on the front stretch wall and and landed on Ed's car as he was coming by. Ed really never saw Smith, but had seen Shaffer on the gas and off and because of Ed's right sideboard he never saw Smith until he landed on Ed's car.

Ed went to the work area where the crew just tried to pound out his right sideboard and send him out again. The race then went until lap 14 before a yellow came out, but Ed was not handling well with the right sideboard so smashed in, that handling was an issue especially in the turns. Blaney led through18 laps then Dewease got by and when 25 laps showed on the score board, Steve Kinser got into the turn four wall and caused another yellow.

Lap 27 saw a flip by Madsen, who was running third at the time, right at the flagstand front stretch wall. Three more yellows, extended the race to 32 laps and Blaney ran out of fuel and went pitside. Dewease won over Schatz, Sides, Paul McMahan and Jason Meyers. Ed was credited with 20th.

During the 18 minute break changes to the #2L included a top wing, shocks, torsion bars and headers. The horn sounded and it was time to hit the track.

The lead-lap cars were reversed, putting Tyler Walker and Brian Ellenberger on the front row for the last 30-lap race, with Ed starting 20th. Five laps were in when the leader, Walker spun in turn two and recovered to place well back in the field. Shaffer caused a yellow on lap 11 and Ed was three positions forward, but when he tried to run in that pack, there was contact and he spun bringing out a yellow on lap 13. He went to the back of the field and raced until the last yellow came out on lap 24 for Jonathan Allard and Wilt. Saldana led from lap six to the checkered and Craig Dollansky came on strong to finish second. Meyers, Schatz (who earned the title of Champion of the race because of his combined finishes 2nd and 4th) and Paul McMahan rounded out the top five. Sides, Swindell, Sam Hafertepe, Dewease and Kraig Kinser ranked in the top ten. Ed finished 16th.

Ed is eliminated before he gets a lap in at Tri City's All Star race Sunday - 7/18/10

The unexpected happened to Ed Sunday night at Tri City Speedway where he was set to compete against the All Stars on his way home from his top ten finish in Eldora's Kings Royal Saturday night.

A field of 31 cars were on hand and time trials had been completed in which Ed had to stand on his first lap for his official time because his front wing broke a bracket on the second trip around the 1/2 mile oval just north of Franklin PA. His first lap of 16.370 ranked second in the total standings with Tim Shaffer turning a 16.478 on his first lap, but his second lap of 16.138 was the fastest of the night.

The cars were divided into three heats (staggering and inverting six) and Ed was to start sixth in the second heat where the front row included Brian Smith and Lance Dewease, with Dave Blaney and Cap Henry in row two. Ed started outside Greg Wilson in row three. Bill Rose, Bob Felmlee, Brent Matus and Brandon Matus followed.

The field took the green flag, went down into turn one. Blaney spun and tried to keep it going, but collected Ed. Blaney drove to the pits and didn't return fo finish the heat, while Ed had severe front-end damage and had to go off on a wrecker. He assessed his damage which was extensive, the crew loaded up and went home.

There is never a good time to trash a race car, but with the Silver Cup on Tuesday, it poses a real problem.

Ed has an 8th place finish in the 27th Annual Kings Royal race against the best at Eldora - 7/17/10

                It was no surprise that 49 of the best Sprint car drivers showed up at Eldora Speedway for the 27th Annual Kings Royal Saturday night to begin what has become known as the "month of money" and Ed picked the right time to put a complete package together, timing well enough to make the inversion, transferring from his heat to the feature and coming home with a top ten finish in this World of Outlaw sanctioned 40-lap event paying
$50,000 to win.

                The pill he pulled for time trials had him going out 29th and he ended up 16th in the final ranking on a night when the inversion was 18 and that slotted him to a starting spot on the pole of the 4th heat. Alongside Ed it was Sam Hafertepe. Then Cale Conley and Kyle Sauder. In row three Paul May was inside and Dean Jacobs was outside, then Bill Rose and Australian Domain Ramsay. Ed was ahead going into turn one, but Hafertepe rolled the corner and was ahead down the backstretch and went on to have a margin of 1.946 over Ed at the finish. Saider finished third, the final car to advance to the A-Main.

                The first heat sent Stevie Smith, Paul McMahan, and Jac Haudenschild to the feature, while Daryn Pittman, Joey Saldana and Tim Kaeding came from the second heat. Kerry Madsen, Donny Schatz and Jason Sides advanced from heat three. From heat four Danny Lasoski, Sammy Swindell and Jason Meyers moved on and finally Steve Kinser, Dale Blaney and Greg Wilson went from the final sixth heat. That locked in 18 cars for the Kings Royal and the two fastest qualifiers that didn't transfer from the heats, Cale Conley and Kasey Kahne added to make 20.

Four cars from the C-Main, Tyler Walker, Lee Jacobs, Brian Ellenberger and Brian Paulus went to the B-Main and got their times back, thus Walker started on pole again and won the B-Main. Walker, Tim Kaeding, Chad Kemenah
and Dave Blaney earned the last four spots in the feature.

The drivers were introduced to the large crowd and escorted onto the stage individually and each had an opportunity to walk up the red carpeting, climb the stairs and sit on the King's throne that was between two five-foot trophies (one for the winning driver and one for the car owner). To call attention to the center stage and the King's red velvet chair, two eight-foot torches with flames two feet high helped to set the scene.

The heat winners were inverted setting the first three rows as follows: Kinser, Lasoski, Hafertepe, Madsen, Pittman and Smith. McMahon and Saldana were in row four and Schatz and Ed were in row five. In the early laps before the first red flag for a flip by Saldana, who was running sixth, Ed had handling issues and was losing ground and was 14th.    On that red, only two minutes were allowed for fuel only. With Kinser leading Madsen, Hafertepe and Schatz, on the double-file restart Kinser chose the outside
and five laps were run before Haudenschild flipped on lap 16. This time the teams were able to make adjustments and that was a good thing for Ed as he had lost another spot.

With the crew adjusting and changing offset in an effort to give Ed a better handling car, they hit on something better and he starting gaining spots when the green flag flew again. Another red flag came out five laps later on lap 21 for a flip by Pittman and once again, Ed suggested other changes and the guys made more adjustments. There was marked improvement and Ed made his way back to 10th where he had started.   In the meantime, Madsen
shot to the lead on the restart and opened a big lead over Kinser.   The final red came with two laps to go and to the surprise of most of the grandstand, what had looked like a sure win for Madsen over Kinser, reversed itself when Madsen's engine stumbled on the restart and Kinser blasted by into the lead and went on for the win. Ed gained another two spots and actually had passed Tim Shaffer for seventh with one lap to go, but Shaffer got him back.

Ed's Mom Jean had been chosen by Larry Boos and Eldora to be on stage and say the magic words........"By the power bestowed upon me , I hereby crown thee King Steve the 27th" in front of a large group of press, photographers and TV cameras.

Madsen finished second followed by Lasoski, Schatz and Wilson in the top five. Sammy Swindell was sixth despite two position penalties, then Shaffer and Ed in 8th. Kemenah and Kaeding rounded out the top ten.

Ed came from 12th twice and missed a win by .919 seconds Friday night at Lernerville - 7/16/10

Because he won the last Sprint feature at Lernerville, Ed knew he had to start 12th Friday night, but what he wasn't counting on was being forced into the infield as he started down the back stretch on lap six after working his way up to sixth and was in the process of passing fifth place Carl Bowser and 4th place Danny Holtgraver with an inside move, but Bowser's left front wheel hit Ed's right front wheel, forcing Ed into the infield and by the time he could get the #2L back on the track, he was 12th again.

The Sprints were scheduled to be third all night and the 21 cars were divided into two heats and luck of the draw put outside pole in the second heat which he won a wide margin over Brandon Spithaler, Rod George, Jack Sodeman, Jr, Scott Priester and Lindsay Enscoe. The first heat went to Bob Felmlee over Holtgraver, Bowser, Andy McKisson, Dan Kuriger and Brent Matus.

The Late Models had quite a time in their feature plague with yellow flag laps and then the Modifieds had their turn. So, what looked like an early night, turned out to have the Sprint feature on the track at 10:00PM.

The redraw there showed McKisson and Bowser in the front row for the 25 lap Sprint A-Main. Then came Kuriger and Mauts with Enscoe and Scottt Priester in row three. Felmlee and Spithaler lined up in row five ahead of Sodeman, Jr. and Ed in 12th spot.

McKisson took off quickly and turned the fasted lap of the feature on lap two as he led Bowser and Kuriger. It wasn't long before Bowser lost ground and Felmlee came on strong to make the front five McKisson, Kuriger, Felmlee, Holtgraver and Bowser.

As he felt there was "no outside" after the first two features, Ed's preferred line was inside and he was quickly advancing and coming out of turn two starting down the back stretch, when he was inside Bowser and Holtgraver, Bowser hit Ed's wheel, forcing him to the infield.

Ed kept his wheels turning, but by the time he made it back on the track, he was 12th again. But just one lap later, Enscoe spun in turn four bringing out the yellow and when the green waved again it was McKisson, Kuriger, Felmlee, Holtgraver and Bowser. Ed made up two spots before that first yellow and found himself now in 10th.

A red flag for a flip by Bowser on the front stretch wall on lap 11 showed McKisson leading Kuriger, Holtgraver, Felmlee and now Ed. On lap 13 the AMB i.t. timing showed Ed gained one position over Felmlee, then one lap later he passed Holtgraver. It wasn't until lap 17 that he got by Kuriger and set sail to reel in McKisson, who was 12 car lengths ahead.

Ed cut into McKisson's lead every lap, but once again ran out of laps and fell short by .919 seconds at the checkered flag. For McKisson, it was his first Lernerville win. Finishing third through 10th, it was Holtgraver, Sodeman, Jr., Felmlee, Todd Bauer, Kuriger, Spithaler, Pete Miller III and Brent Matus.

Ed plans to be at Eldora Saturday for the King's Royal and then on to the All Star show at Tri City on Sunday.

Ed comes from 10th to 2nd on Mosites Motorsports Night at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway - Saturday 7/10/10

Ed was always fond of PPMS, the Monster Half-Mile just west of Pittsburgh and is still the leading Sprint feature winner there with 13, and Saturday night he fell just short of adding to that total when he ran out of laps as he closed to less than a second (0.509) on the leader Dan Holtgraver on Mosites Motorsports Night dubbed The Flight of the Phoenix, where he started tenth and finished second.

Once a year the Miley family that owns PPMS schedules a Sprint car race and Ed looks forward to that event. "The track is so wide and it was prepared very well for our event," said Ed after nearly pulling off a win that he wanted so badly on a track that got faster as the night went on.

Again, the #2L turned the fastest lap of the night on the AMB i.t. timing system with a time of 16.547 and a speed of 135.976 on lap 14 of the 20-lap feature event up from 18.003 in his winning effort of his heat race where his top speed was 124.979mph.

In last year's only Sprint race here on June 6, Ed had a half-lap lead, but tangled with a lapped car and was unable to finish, so hopes were high again for Saturday night when 14 Sprints showed up and hot laps were in the books and Ed's car was fast again.

Luck of the draw for the heats put Ed outside pole-sitter Kevin Schaeffer with Danny Holtgraver and Carl Bowser in row two. Brian Steinman and Jack Helget made up row three followed by Davey Jones. Schaeffer led the first two laps before Ed passed him to lead lap three and go on to the checkered ahead of Schaeffer, Bowser, Holtgraver, jones, Steinman and Helget. Heat number two was won by Jack Sodeman, Jr. over Andy Priest, Andy McKisson, Rod George, Brandon Spithaler, Bobbi Rankin and Jeff Taylor.

A random draw resulted in an inversion of ten for the 20-lap feature. Spithaler and Jones led the field to the green followed by George and Holtgraver. In row three it was McKisson and Bowser then Priest and Schaeffer. Row five had Sodeman, Jr. inside and Ed outside in tenth. Spithaler led the first lap from the pole, but Jones dropped to the inside, leaving a clear shot for Holtgraver to lead starting with lap two.

A yellow flag for a spin by McKisson on lap three had Holtgraver leading and Ed up to seventh. With the next series of green flag laps Ed was able to get up to third behind Holtgraver and Bowser. On a lap 11 restart, Ed had both cars lined up, but Bowser cut down on him in turn one and Ed had to lift. As Ed found his fastest way around the track, it seemed to be high in turns one and two and low in three and four. He cut into Holtgraver's lead and clearly was the fastest car as they came for the checkered, but fell short of the win by one half a second.

So the finish showed Holtgraver, Lynch, Bowser, McKisson, Schaeffer, George Spithaler, Sodeman, Jr. , Taylor and Helget in the top ten.

Plans for Friday depend on everyone's work schedule and Saturday, Ed will be at Eldora's Kings Royal Race, then Sunday the All Star race at Tri City.

Heavy rain hit Lernerville Speedway before 3:00PM Friday forcing cancellation of the night's races. Thus, next Friday, July 16 will feature Fab Four Racing and Nostalgia Night on Dollar Dog Night.

Ed and his team will be at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway Saturday night when Mosites Motorsports will present a special race for 410 Sprints. When the gates open at 5:00PM the U.S. Army Field Band will be entertaining the fans. Hot laps for race cars will be at 6:00 and racing will be at 7:00PM.

Ed is 4th against NASCAR drivers at Lou Blaney Memorial Race at Sharon on Wednesday - 7/7/10

Ed and the crew got to Sharon Speedway early on Wednesday because they anticipated a large crowd and a packed pits because of the 2nd Annual Lou Blaney Memorial Race, NASCAR Night with stars Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney on hand to race 410 Sprints and sign autographs for fans, plus a special BRP race for Big Block Modifieds and with 32 Sprints on hand, Ed did well, qualifying through his heat and coming from eighth starting spot to finish fourth on a "challenging" 3/8 mile track.

The pill draw was OK by the team's standard high number draw luck, picking 25 out of 66. This set the #2L in fourth spot in the third heat, which ended up stacked with NASCAR stars. WoO driver Brian Ellenbeger got the pole with Sheldon Haudenschild outside, while Danny Holtgraver and Ed were in the seccond row. Next came Jack Whitmore, Dave Blaney, Tony Stewart and another WoO competitor, Tim Kaeding.

To be eligible for the feature pill draw, Ed had to finish in the top three and he did that by following Ellenberger and Haudenschild across the finish line after eight laps. From the first heat, it would be Mike Lutz, Tim Shaffer and Brandon Wimmer. The second heat sent Dale Blaney, Cole Duncan and Paul Kish to the redraw while Kasey Kahne, Bob Felmlee and Holtgraver went from heat number four.

The day was clear and in the 90's and Sharon had many things planned for intermission, including an on-track exhibition event for the many vintage race cars on display. Finally, the 30-lap feature was pushed on the track with Ellenberger and Lutz showing the way from the front row. Tim Shaffer and Haudenschild made up row two with Holtgraver and Dale Blaney next. Row four had Felmlee on the inside and Ed outside in eighth spot. Next came Duncan, Wimmer, Kahne and Kish. Stewart and Dave Blaney started 19th and 21st respectively.

Four early yellows for single car incidents came around laps seven and eight before the first red flag came out for Tim Kaeding who crashed in turn three. Each time, a lapped car was placed ahead of Ed as he had worked his way into the top five. When officials determined they had a combination of 46 total green and yellow flag laps they called for a "fuel and air only" stop. But, instead of bringing all the cars to one area so their crews' activities could be policed, the cars were spread all around the track, making it impossible to keep the adjustments limited to fuel and air.

Another yellow was needed on lap 15, the half-way mark for Cole Duncan, who thought he had packed a wheel and the final yellow came with 20 laps in for Rod George with mechanical trouble on the back stretch. Lutz continued to lead Ellenberger at this point and Shaffer got by Blaney for third and Ed was in fifth.

Ed said, "The track was challenging all night and sometimes the car would hit a hole and upset the chassis, other times the car would wheelie. There was water inside turns three and four that presented an obstacle. My plan was to do as well as I could throughout the race, but to have the car hold together to make it to the end of 30 laps. About all we did was change shocks during the night and tighten everything up."

The last 10 laps went green all the way and Lutz was never challenged, but Shaffer in third was p have pressuring Ellenberger for the runner-up position and got that accomplished with three laps to go. Meanwhile, Ed had to hold off a determined Tony Stewart (who got the hard charger award) for the last ten laps. Dale Blaney may have run out of fuel and pulled to the infield on the front stretch with six laps remaining. So Lutz got the win over Shaffer with Ellenberger third and Ed fourth and Steward fifth. Rounding out the top ten it was Holtgraver, Kahne, Felmlee, Matthew Reed and Davey Sammons.

Ironically, Ellenberger and Stewart did not cross the scales before going to their pit area, but Track Manager Dave Willowby said that didn't matter and paid them for third and fifth respectively.

Ed plans to be at Lernerville on Friday and Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday for Mosites Motorsports night.

Ed celebrates July 4th with crew, friends and family at Tri City and gets 4th in the Sprint Challenge Sunday 7/4/10

The #2L crew plus Ed, Jr., his sons Ed III and Sye celebrated July 4th with watermelon and Gatorade in the pits at Tri City Speedway on a 90 degree Sunday that featured their Sprint Challenge Race on Dave Blaney Night and his induction into the Tri City Hall of Fame.

In the hot lap session for the 20 Sprints on hand , Ed was the fastest with an AMB i.t. time of 15.255 and a speed of 117.994mph. Three heats were run with Ed in heat #3. Jack Whitmore and Danny Holtgraver were the front row starters with Ed and Brandon Spithaler in row two, then Brent Matus and Bob Felmlee. Holtgraver took off at the start and Ed was held up momentarily by Whitmore, but then Ed moved into second with Felmlee third. The finish showed Holtgraver ahead of Ed by 0.478 sec . the NASCAR star, himself, Dave Blaney in the Gene Jenkins #55 car won the first heat over Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Rob Eylar who took the second heat over Jared Ridge. With the heats in the books. The top 12 Sprints from the heats then were eligible for a redraw on the front stretch. Announcer Brian Spaid had Frisbies with numbers on them for a driver to select, when their name was called. The drivers, of course, were facing the crowd and couldn't see the numbers. Ed was lucky this time and picked up the Frisbie #1 and threw it to a fan in the grandstand.

Thus, the first six rows of the feature were now set as follows: Ed, Bob Felmlee in row one. Spithaler and Suprick made up row two. Holtgraver and Sodeman, Jr. were in row three ahead of Jared Ridge and Blaney in row four. Rob Eyler, Jeff Taylor, Rod George and Matthew Reed were the last of the qualified drivers to draw.

When the feature hit the track, Spithaler (scheduled to start third) was still in the pits. The flagman signaled one more lap six times as Spithaler was still in the pits. The field finally got the green flag, but a spin by Rob Eyler cancelled that attempt. From that point on--it was an all green run.

All eyes were on the front-row cars of Ed, Jr. and Felmlee as they completed the first of 25 laps virtually side-by-side. This tight battle continued with Ed leading the first seven, before that set-up issue started to cause Ed handling problems . Felmlee capitalized at this point and passed Ed to take the lead at the flagstand on lap eight.

One lap later, Blaney took advantage of Ed's problems with his changing stagger and made his move to take possession of second spot. On lap 12, George moved ahead of Ed dropping him to fourth. It was on lap 16 that Blaney made his winning move, dropping Felmlee to second, Now, it was George in third and Ed in 4th and Sodeman in fifth. As the laps wound down, the top five continued to deal with lapped traffic.

At the checkered flag, it was Blaney by 3.859 seconds over Felmlee, followed by George, Ed and Sodeman, Jr. in the top five. Rounding out the top ten only Matthew Reed and Holtgraver completed the 25 laps, down one lap in eighth place it was George Suprick, then Matus and Spithaler in the top ten.

Plans are for the team to compete at Sharon in the Lou Blaney Memorial on Wednesday, July 10; Friday would be at Lernerville and Saturday would be at the Mosites Motorsports Sprint Special at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.

Ed comes within ½ car length of first and gets sixth in Mercer’s Twin 15’s on Saturday – 7/3/10

It was a long, hot night at Mercer Raceway Park Saturday where 23 Sprints signed in to run their Twin 15’s along with over 40 FASTRAK Crate Late Models plus Stock Cars and Mimi’s with all line-ups determined by luck of the draw, with the exception of the FASTRAK cars that did one lap time trials.

Although the Sprints were scheduled to be first (kind of), it still took a long time to get their two features completed because of a large field of Crates. After time trials for the Crates, the Sprint heats were up with Ed starting last (eighth) in the first heat behind Brent Matus, Danny Holtgraver, Carl Bowser, Bob Felmlee, Jimmy Light, Rod George and Matthew Reed. To be eligible for the feature redraw, Ed had to finish in the top four and he managed that plus more, as he finished second behind Holtgraver and ahead of Bowser and George. Kuriger won the second heat and Arnie Kent brought the Martha Dionese car home a winner in the third heat in its first outing since the fire at Lernerville over a month ago, when Charlie Holben suffered multiple burns of his hands and was finally released from the hospital today.

By the time the other heats were finished and two B-Mains were run for the Crates, it was time for the first Sprint 15-lap Feature where a redraw put Bowser on the pole and Ed outside him. Jeff Taylor and Ralphie Spithaler in row two. At the drop of the green, it was Bowser who surged ahead and the . nextT 15 non-stop laps were spent with Ed trying to close in on Bowser. He almost got the job done as he pulled to a side-by-side finish with Bowser taking the win at the flagstand by ½ a car length. Jack Sodeman took third, then it was George,, Kuriger, Holtgraver, Felmlee, Taylor, Pete Miller III and Spithaler in the top 10, which is the number that Bowser picked for the inversion of the next 15-lap feature.

The 40-lap FASTRAK feature followed and track re-grooming was necessary before the second Sprint feature. The crew had plenty of time to change shocks, gears and tires. Of course, Spithaler and Miller were on the front row for that one with Ed starting ninth and Bowser tenth. After six laps, a three car tangle on the outside coming out of turn two involved Scott Priester, Chris Shuttleworth and Todd Bauer caused a second yellow and Ed was still ninth.

With just nine laps to go, Ed did get past Bowser, Rod George and Spithaler but ran out of laps and had to settle for sixth behind Miller who led all the way for his first feature at Mercer, Felmlee, Sodeman, Holtgraver and Kuriger.

Plans are to run Tri City on Sunday, then the Lou Blaney Memorial at Sharon on Wednesday, Lernerville on Friday and Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on the special Mosites Motorsports night for Sprints.

Ed started 12th and fell back, but came on strong to win Friday at Lernerville - 7/2/10

Because Ed won last Friday at Lernerville he was going to start 12th in the 25-lap feature regardless of the fact that he won his heat, but then because of the way cars were scrambling everywhere in the first lap of the feature, he had to swerve way outside in between turns three and four to avoid a spinning Andy Priest and crossed the scoring line in 16th spot and from that point on, he started his march to the front.

With 25 Sprints on hand, the AMB i.t. scoring system showed Ed was fastest in hot laps by five miles an hour with a speed of l07.239 mph over second on the chart Priest who had a speed of 102.101. Three heats were needed and Ed drew a low number which started him on the pole of the second heat. He capitalized on that good starting spot and led every lap with a yellow coming out on lap four for Pete Miller III. Ed had a 5.539 second lead over Cory Good, Scott Bonnell, Brandon Spithaler, Brent Matus, Andy McKisson, Miller, Gary Rankin and Lindsay Enscoe. Only the top five qualified for the feature with the rest going to the B-Main. The first heat went to Matthew Reed over Dan Kuriger while the third heat was won by Rod George over Danny Holtgraver.

The Sprint feature was first and pulled on the track at 9:15PM with Reed and Good leading the 20-car field. The second row held Scott Priester and Priest followed by Doug Kekich and Carl Bowser in row three. Next came Spithaler and Danny Holtgraver in row four, then Scott Bonnella d George. Row six had Kuriger inside Ed in 12th spot.

When the green flag waved, the wide slick track seemed to catch many drivers off guard and they seemed to be all over the track with Ed dropping back several spots trying to avoid cars with handling problems. He lost the most spots trying to avoid a spinning Andy Priest in between turns three and four and taking the nighest groove possible without falling off the track, Ed recovered, but was 16th across the line for the restart line-up. Now, he was really deep in the 20-car field, to start his charge to the front.

Only one more lap got in the books before there was a two-car tangle between McKisson and Good in turn four. with Ed up to 12th for that restart. A yellow flag waved on lap five with Ed in 11th spot. Cory Good had led the first laps before Priester took the point. Now on the lap five restart, Reed was running third behind Priester and Carl Bowser when fourth place George challenged Reed on the inside, resulting in George getting upside down and Reed suffering top wing damage. Now, Ed was in 10th place on that red flag condition with five laps down.

Ed spent the next few laps searching the middle and top groove, rather than joining the freight-train single file formation on the bottom. By lap seven, Ed had passed Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Bob Felmlee to nail down seventh place. Next, he worked on Bonnell and got that spot and looking ahead he passed Reed next. With nine laps scored, Ed was fifth and the next five laps were like a chess game with Priester leading Holtgraver, Bowser, Kruiger and Ed still in fifth.

The final yellow came on lap 15 and after following Kuriger and Bowser for another lap, Ed lined them up for a pass on lap 17 - first getting by Bowser and a lap later taking third from Kuriger. At this time, Ed may have run over debris on the track, because his right rear tire started to go down. Meanwhile, up front, Holtgraver replaced Priester as the leader on lap 18. While those two were battling it out and running side-by-side for a lap on lap 20 with Priester regaining the lead on lap 21. Ed passed Holtgraver on the inside to take 2nd on lap 22.

Working well on the inside, the #2L lined up Priester for a pass coming off the inside of turn two and starting down the back stretch to lead lap 23 in front of a cheering grandstand. Ed was unchallenged from that point and finished 2.469 seconds ahead of Priester to notch his 103rd Sprint car win here.

Finishing third it was Holtgraver, Kruiger and Felmlee in the top five. Rounding out the top 10 it was Sodeman, Jr., Bowser, Brent Matus, Bonnell and Brian Steinman.

Lynch Racing plans to race at Mercer Raceway Park in their twin 15-lap features at $1,000 each to win, and on Saturday and Tri City Speedway on Sunday for their Sprint Challenge Race paying $2,000 to win.

Ed is 3rd in the Auto Racers for Kids Charities at Mercer on Saturday - 8/28/10

The fourth and final Auto Racers for Kids Charities spearheaded by Scott Bonnell, had a strong turnout of 36 Sprint car drivers Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park and Ed had a good night with a strong run in his heat and having a podium finish in the accident riddled feature.

Ed participated in two of these Charity runs: the first at Sportsman Speedway at Knox and this last one at Mercer with a fourth and a third place finish respectively.

By pill draw, the cars were lined up in four heats with Ed slated to start seventh in the third heat which was loaded with talent. Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Jeff Taylor were in the front row and Ralphie Spithaler and Ryan Smith were in row two. Bob Felmlee, Mercer's point leader, and Danny Holtgraver were ahead of Ed in row three. Ed started seventh with Brandon Spithaler outside him and finally Mikey Lutz. Ed had a great start and by half way of the 10 lap heat, he was up to fourth. Only the top three would be locked into the feature and two laps later, Ed was in third and looking for more. He passed Felmlee to move into second on lap nine and then caught and passed race-long leader Sodeman at the flagstand for the checkered flag.

The first heat was won by front-row starter Brian Ellenberger, followed by Rod George and Carl Bowser. Heat two went to front row starter Aaron Shaffer then came Brent Matus and Gale Ruth, Jr. who passed a fading Russ Sansosti on the last lap. Heat four was claimed by third starting Daryn Pittman, followed by Chris Best and Scottie Priester.

A Dash for the fourth and fifth place finishes, resulted in a race of six laps that determined positions 13 through 20. A B-Main qualified another four drivers. The top 12 drivers from the heats reported to the grassy area near the flagstand, where local children participated in a numbered tennis ball redraw. A driver picked a child and the child then chose a numbered ball. Scottie Priester got the pole with Ed's little girl picking a number two for him. Ellenberger started third with Sodeman, Jr. outside in fourth. Next came Best, Shaffer, Ruth, Jr., Felmlee, George and Pittman in 10th, then Brent Matus and Bowser.

Ed led early, then Sodeman took the point on the outside just before Matus caused the first yellow flag on lap ten. This group uses double-file restarts in the feature and Sodeman chose outside. Ed and Sodeman gave the crowd plenty of close action, but Holtgraver lost power one lap later and the same situation allowed Sodeman to pick the outside again. Two more yellows came on lap 14 and finally, the last yellow turned into a red flag "fuel and air only" stop with 15 laps in the books.

Shortly after the fuel stop, there was a four-car mis-hap on the front stretch resulted in another closed red. Sodeman, Jr. conntinued to lead to the finish and with five laps to go, Pittman passed Ed on the outside on the backstretch. With the field coming to the checkered, Sodeman held a 10-car length advantage over Pittman while there was an equal distance back to Ed in third. Lutz came up from 21st to finish fourth ahead of Felmlee. Rounding out the top ten it was Ellenberger, George, Andy McKisson, Dan Kuriger and Holtgraver.

Ed will run the All Star Circuit of Champions race at Lernerville this Friday.

Ed comes so close to winning the final point race and championship at Lernerville - 8/27/10

The regular racing season came to a close Friday night at Lernerville Speedway and although Ed had missed three regular nights of racing when he went to Knoxville twice and Charlotte once, he was determined to give it his best effort to overcome the19 point deficit he needed to make up in order to pass present leader Danny Holtgraver for the Sprint Car Championship, however he fell short of that goal by 10 points and just missed getting the feature win tonight by 0.715 seconds.

The night showed the Sprint car field was the largest of the Fab Four Divisions with 24 cars signed in and running three heats lined up by luck of the pill draw. Ed was in the second heat and started third behind Bob Felmlee and Dale Blaney. Brandon Matus started outside Ed with Brian Steinman and Jimmy Seger in row three followed by Carl Bowser and Holtgraver. Felmlee led from wire to wire with Blaney running second until Ed, working the inside groove, got by to nail second at the finish. Seger followed Blaney to complete the top four who would be eligible for the feature redraw. Meanwhile, Holtgraver finished fifth and Ed gained three points on him. In heat number one, front-row starter Brian Ellenberger won over Dan Kuriger, Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Rod George. The third heat saw young Cole Duncan carry a big lead to the end over Brent Matus, Herman Bertolini and Bill Kiley.

With 15 cars locked into the A-Main, five more would come from the B-Main to make a 20-car field for the 25-lap feature of Championship Night. Pole sitter Kuriger discovered engine woes and elected to start last, so that set up a criss-cross for the feature. Seger was the new pole sitter and Ed moved from inside the second row to outside front row. Herman Bertolini and Blaney were in row two followed by Rod George and Bill Kiley, then Brent Matus and Duncan, Felmlee and Ellenberger followed. In row six it was Sodeman, Jr. and Kevin Schaeffer, then Holtgraver in 13th.

At the drop of the green, Ed was outside Seger and even with him through turns one and two, then Ed pulled ahead as Seger bobbled coming out of two. Down the back stretch, Ed was leading with Blaney closing fast and in turn four, Blaney dove inside and did a slide job on Ed crowding him tight against the wall. Ed had to lift and Blaney powered ahead. By the time Ed got his car back under control and pointed in the right direction, he had lost several spots to George, Seger again and Ellenberger. After two restarts, Ed got back by Seger into fourth. He had just passed George on the inside in turn three and was up to third when the red flag came out for a flip by Sodeman off turn three.

On the following restart, Ed ran down Ellenberger and set sail for Blaney, closing to within one car length weveral times, but lapped traffic was dictating the moves Ed could make. On lap 18, Ed cut into Blaney's lead by 0.455 seconds, but lapped cars fell just right for Blaney and he maintained his top spot. For the last two laps, the two diced in and around a group of five lapped cars, but Blaney managed a 71hundredth of a second lead at the checkered flag over Ed.

Following in third, it was Ellenberger, Duncan and Holtgraver in the top five. Rounding out the top ten it was George, Seger, Carl Bowser, Brent Matus and Sodeman, Jr. Ed shaved nine points off Holtgraver's point lead, but fell 10 points short as Holtgraver picked up his first-ever Championship.

Ed plans to be at the Children's Charity Race spearheaded by Scott Bonnell at Mercer Saturday night.

Ed broke a brake line on lap 4 and still managed a 7th place finish at Lernerville - 8/20/10

Major repairs were made during the week when the #2L was taken down to the bare frame and built back up again, finally installing an engine Friday morning for that night's show at Lernerville Speedway, but an unexpected problem developed when timing the engine late that afternoon and a decision was made to replace the rearend just about the time the crew should have been loading up, however, the switch was made and they arrived in time to take hot laps, making a 28 Sprint car field for the night.

Ed was three miles an hour faster than Danny Holtgraver in hot laps with a time of 13.266 and a speed of 108.548mph. Three heats were on the board with Ed scheduled to start fourth in the first heat that had Holtgraver on the pole and Aaron Shaffer beside him in the front row. Brian Steinman started inside row two with Ed outside. Rod George and Carl Bowser made up row three, followed by Sheldon Haudenschild and Dale Blaney, then Brent Matus and Dave Delisle. Holtgraver jumped to an immediate lead in lap one and Ed followed in second. Blaney made it up to third by lap three with Rod George up to fourth on lap four. At the checkered flag, they finished in that order, all advancing to the feature and eligible for the redraw.

The second heat went to pole sitter, Jimmy Seger, followed by Jack Sodeman, Jr., Bob Felmlee and Eric Williams. Heat three followed similiarly won by pole sitter Kevin Schaeffer over the other front row starter Brian Ellenberger followed by Andy McKisson and Dan Kuriger.

The #2L crew thrashed to make changes following their heat because the Sprint feature was first on the program. Among changes included gears, shocks and headers and the work was completed in time.

Schaeffer and Bob Felmlee started the 25-lap A-Main in the front row ahead of Williams and Seger. In row three, it was George and Ellenberger, then Holtgraver and McKisson. Ed started in five with Kuriger outside ahead of Blaney and Sodeman, Jr.

Around lap four, Ed broke a brake line running fifth and had a hard time handling the racing and expecially the five following restarts. He was challenged several times and managed to hold off George and Blaney through a restart on lap 12. By lap 20, Blaney got by and so did Sodeman, Jr., but Ed got by Sodeman again one lap later.

The final restart was with two laps to go Ed was sixth, but he lost one more spot to McKisson on the white flag lap. The finish showed Holtgraver the winner (with a controversial pass of Felmlee just as the yellow came out on lap 20). Felmlee protested but was awarded second. Blaney ran third ahead of Ellenberger, McKisson and Schaeffer. Ed was credited with seventh ahead of Sodeman, Jr., Carl Bowser and Williams in the top ten.

As the cars exited the track, Ed had a scary moment when he pulled into his pit area which was on an uphill grade, but still had to use the trailer ramp door to slow down. He yelled to his crew, "No brakes," but then the car started back down the ramp and it took the whole crew behind the car to keep it from coasting downhill and into traffic.

The team plans garage work and a complete re-do of the cars before they race again.

Ed and the team arrived home from Knoxville, Iowa at 5:00pm and made an all-out effort to get unloaded in record time, but not before he reflected on his 2010 Knoxville Nationals experience. Everyone who was there for his Qualifying Night Wednesday) knows that all he had to do was finish fifth (he was already up from 9th to 6th after one lap) in his A-Main Wednesday and he would have been set in the A-Main Saturday night.

But everyone who reads www.edlynchjr.com Website, knows his big night for gathering points was Wednesdy and he did make the A-Main and starting 9th, he was already up to 6th at the end of one lap. But having to take evasive action when David Gravel spun and stayed on the gas, Ed backed into the outside fence. Then as he missed the spinning car of Gravel, he sat there with the yellow light on. Bronson Maeschen came full-bore into the turn and hit the #2L. Both cars had to be towed and were done for the night. With a little luck, there wouldn't have been a spinning car and Ed could have finished fifth or better and been locked into the Knoxville Nationals A-Main.

Because the Scrambles were washed out Friday, the A, B and C-Mains for Saturday were lined up straight up by points with the high point men up front. The 22-lap B-Main that Ed was in, went non-stop and set a New Track Record, running the 22-laps in 6 min. 06 seconds.

In hot laps for the B-Main, Ed felt comfortable and the only change the team made was gears. The original start was a no-go because Tyler Walker, who had started last, jumped two rows before the green flag waved, then he went down the front stretch and jumped the cushion in turn one and flipped into the outside fence.

On the complete restart, front row starter Stevie Smith led with pole-sitter Paul McMahan running second. Ed started deep in the field in row eight, but was on the move and had passed six cars by lap eight using the inside groove. He started getting loose and had to switch to the outside lane and do the best he could as he lost positions.

After the race, the crew found that the left rear tire had shrunk 1.5", although the air pressure was not a problem, and, of course that changed the stagger. The Good Year engineers were informed and were concerned, but had no explanation for the change in circumference.

The 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals A-Main was a classic display of driving by Sammy Swindell, who handled lapped traffic perfectly and held off everything Donny Schatz could throw at him. Their repeated slide jobs were real crowd pleasers. However, while leading, Swindell blew a left rear tire in turn four on lap 47, handing the lead to Schatz.

But Tim Shaffer, who started seventh, was in second spot and passed Schatz who lost a cylinder and oil pressure as they were coming for the white flag. Shaffer took the top prize of $150,000 and Schatz finished second while Shane Stewart, Craig Dollansky and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top five. The E-Main went to Greg Nikitanko, the D went to Jonathan Cornell and Danny Lasoski took the C-Main. Swindell won the Jesse Hockett Mr. Sprintcar Award and Title for finishing the highest in 10 races for the 410 cars.

On the trip home (in Illinois) there was a problem with the trailer, but the team made road-side adjustments and continued with the trip. Ed commented, "I'm glad I had the opportunity to race against the best in the country in front of that big crowd (grandstand attendance was announced at 23,108 - not including suites or pit area). The show was tape delayed and will be shown August 28 at 4:30PM.

On Friday the crew switched cars, unloading the back-up car and storing the crashed Wednesday night car. More work will continue on Saturday to get the car race-ready for that night's 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals where Ed starts 16th in the B-Main.

Rain cancelled the Friday Scrambles and the balance of Friday's Qualifying events will be run at 12:00noon Saturday followed by the Premier Chevy Dealers Challenge race.

Saturday evening will feature a 50-lap A-Main for the high point drivers including Brian Brown, Sammy Swindell, Greg Hodnett, Donny Schatz, Steve Kinser, Daryn Pittman, Dale Blaney and others. Ed's B-Main (we think will be 22 laps) has drivers Paul McMahan, Stevie Smith, Jac Haudenschild, Dave Blaney, Lance Dewease and others. The C-Main so far has drivers like Danny Lasoski, Tim Kaeding, Tyler Walker, Jonathan Allard and others. The D-Main and E-Main will come from Saturday's noon events.

The "Meet the Pennsylvania Posse" held at 3:00PM on the first floor of the Museum, for the second year in a row, had an overflow crowd turn out for the informative one-hour session, hosted by Bruce Ellis. The drivers on stage included Justin Henderson, Greg Hodnett, Daryn Pittman and Ed Lynch, Jr. By way of introducing Ed, comments were made by Bruce, that "" the World of Outlaws had been defeated in eight straight appearances by the Pennsylvania Posse" at Williams Grove, "and now ladies and gentlemen, meet the man who defeated the Pennsylvania Posse during Pennsylvania Speedweek at Bedford Speedway.....Ed Lynch, Jr." Bruce listed Ed's accomplishments at Lernerville and also informed the audience that Ed was the only member of the panel that held a full-time job in the construction industry.

Ed will start 16^th in Knoxville’s B-Main after the combined points from 8-12-10

After the second night of qualifying for the remaining 50 cars was completed on Thursday, the points were combined and they show the top 20 will make the A-Main for the Knoxville Nationals, the next 20 will be in the B-Main, while the next 10 will be locked into the C-Main for Saturday night.

Ed’s total points are 407 and that slots him into 16^th in the B-Main with drivers Mike Reinke, David Gravel, Cale Conley, Randy Hannagan, Ricky Logan, Dean Jacobs, Keith Bloom, Jr., Brad Sweet and Gary Wright who will start the B-Main behind the B-Scramble cars. Local driver Brian Brown has the most points (484) of the 100 drivers.

Friday Ed is to be at the Knoxville National Sprint Car Hall of Fame second floor at 11:30 for a special reception titled “Alphabet Soup” and receive a gift from the museum in appreciation for his appearance at the reception. Then from 12:00noon until 3:00PM, the public will be invited to a special autograph session with all the drivers over the 50-year history of the Nationals race that have won a race in the progression system of E, D, C, or B-Mains leading up to an A-Main at Knoxville.

Then later on Friday at 3:00PM on the first floor of the museum, Ed has been invited by host Bruce Ellis to participate in his popular annual event, “Meet The Pennsylvania Posse” in front of a live audience. Ed was on stage for this affair last year with Bruce and on Wednesday, Bruce came into the pits looking for Ed to ask him to be part of it once again.

Ed’s youngest son Sye was entered in the Mini-Nationals at the Slideways Karting track Thursday and the whole team, plus Charlie, Nancy and their daughter Lisa were there at 7:30AM to cheer Sye on as he qualified through his heat for a start in the C-Main. Competition continues on Friday morning.

Today is Wednesday, Ed's all-important Qualifying Night at Knoxville where the 109 entries are divided into two groups to qualify on two consecutive nights for the 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals.

Tuesday was spent going over the car, mounting tires, checking and re-checking all suspension points and the normal pre-race preparation items. The temperature climbed to 95 with a heat index of 105 so the shade of Charlie's garage was a welcome relief. Nancy fixed a delicious pork roast dinner with cheesy potatoes, baked beans, spring mac salad and fresh peaches over ice cream for desert.

Ed, Jr. and his boys and crew went out to the Slideways Track (a go-kart track 2 miles north of town) for some practice runs. Ed, Ed III and Sye had a competitive heat race, then Ed, Sr. and Eric joined them for some fun laps. Sye is entered in the Slideways version of their own Knoxville Nationals, so since this is the first year Sye is tall enough to drive, he needed some laps on the track. They did more work on the #2L at Charlie's place, then went back to Slideways again. Later that night Ed III took Sye to compete under the lights.

Tuesday the Knoxville Journal Express published a 48-page tabloid about the 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals and had a large feature article about Ed, Jr. on page 27 written by Perry Bell.

Some of the 54 drivers to qualify tonight are Jonathan Allard, Randy Hannagan, Johnny Herrera, Kerry Madsen, Cale Conley, Lucas Wolfe, Jason Sides, Joey Saldana, Kraig Kinser, Jason Meyers, Freddie Rahmer, Dave Blaney, Chad Kemenah, Tim Shaffer, Paul McMahan and Erin Crocker.

Ed's night will include hot laps, qualifying, heat races and a C-Main, B-Main or A-Main. Tune in on the internet to Knoxville Raceway.com or Hoseheads.com radio to follow the action.

Lynch Racing arrived at our host destination, the home of Nancy and Charlie VanHouwelingen, in Knoxville IA on Sunday in time to have lunch together. We visited and then went to the USAC race here at the fairgrounds. That evening a storm dumped 5" of water here.

On Monday, everyone relaxed and visited, then we went to our favorite steak place, Udders, and cooked our own steaks. On the way back to the VanHowelingen's we stopped at Slideways (a go-kart track) and Ed, Jr., 'Lil Ed and Eric had a competitive race.

We decided that the race tonight at Oskaloosa would maybe turn out to be a single groove racetrack, plus the road from here to there is closed because of flooding from last night's storm. Only 4-wheel drive vehicles are allowed in the infield there and the pits should be a muddy mess. There will be no where to park, also. So.....we will relax and enjoy the racing fans and racers here at the fairgrounds.

On Wednesday Ed qualifies and that will be our high pressure day. On Friday, Ed and 42 other drivers will appear on the second floor of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum for an autograph session from 12:00 to 2:00PM as members of the "Alphabet Soup" Reception. These are drivers that have won an E, D, C or B Main over the years during the Knoxville Nationals.

Leading the Sprint Car point standings going into Friday's Fab Four races at Lernerville Speedway, Ed was trying to collect enough points to stay in the hunt because of being at Knoxville, Iowa for the 50th Annual Knoxville Nationals where over 100 cars are entered for competition next week, and he did a great job after starting the 25-lap feature here in 14th spot and finishing fourth.

The 23 cars ran three heats and Ed had no luck with a high pill draw that had him start seventh in an eight car heat race. After being the fastest car in hot laps and the only car in the 104.272 bracket (second quickest was Carl Bowser at 100.566), then the track quickly dried and changed and Ed's second heat was headed by Jack Sodeman, Jr. and Kevin Schaeffer. Bob Felmlee and Scott Priester were in row two while Doug Kekich and Jimmy Light made up row three. Ed started inside row four with Bobbi Rankin outside.

His heat went all green until a yellow after seven laps were in of the scheduled eight lap heat. Most had Ed in fourth at that point (even the AMB i.t. electronic scoring), but the officials lined Ed up fifth instead of fourth and it was green and checkered and Ed finished fifth behind Sodeman, jr., Felmlee, Schaeffer and Priester. The other heats were won by pole-sitters also, Bowser and Andy McKisson.

The crew threw a lot of changes at the #2L including headers, gears, tires and more. They were ready for their feature which followed the Modifieds tonight at about 9:30PM. Brian Steinman and McKisson brought the 20-car field to the green flag, with Eric Williams and Rod George in row two. Dan Kuriger and Schaeffer made up two three ahead of Sodeman and Priester, Bowser and Felmlee, then Lindsay Enscoe and Brian Ellenberger. Danny Holtgraver (2nd in Sprint points) and Ed (lst in Sprint points) were way back in row seven.

After just two laps with McKisson leading, there was a five-car mishap in turn four. with Ed up to eighth on the restart line-up. Sodeman was one of the cars involved and he must have had damage, because he was the cause of the next yellow on lap three. The track crew appeared to be spreading a dust over a trail of liquid that leaked from Sodeman's car. With 11 laps in the books,, Steinman lost power in turn two and Ed was up to fifth.

There were no more stoppages and despite Ed turning his fastest lap of the feature on lap 18, The leader McKisson was long gone with no serious challenge from Ellenberger who finished second. Rod George, who started fourth did finish third and had Ed hounding him the last five laps, The finish showed McKisson leading Ellenberger, then came George and Ed. Bowser, Holtgraver, Kuriger, Brent Matus, Felmlee and Schaeffer were in the top ten.

The team will take off for Knoxville on Saturday morning, therefore Ed will not be running Mercer, however, Lynch Racing is sponsoring a heat race in Mercer's third annual Race for the Cure, to raise money for Cancer Research. We will be sending updates on this website regarding all the Knoxville experiences, probably starting the first of the week. Currently, there are 109 entries and Ed qualifies Wednesday with 54 cars. More news will be coming from Knoxville shortly.