Ed Has A Disappointing Run In Lernerville's All Star Show - 8/31/07

         Ed had a good start to his final race of the year at Lernerville Speedway when he set second quick time, managed to go forward in his qualifying heat from sixth starting spot to fourth, thus transferring to the A-Main.  However, after starting fifth in the 35-lap All Star feature, he was pretty much out to lunch for the rest of the non-stop event, finishing 21st. 

        With a double header featuring All Star Sprints and MACS Late Models Friday night at Lernerville, perfect weather brought out a good field of cars in each division.  Thirty-three Sprints showed up to kick off the Labor Day weekend race, while 43 Late Models were on hand.to treat the crowd. 

        With the track surface slick and slow, the times were at least two seconds slower than normal track conditions.  Ed was fastest at 15.353 when he went out ninth to qualify, but Mike Lutz was faster yet when he went out four cars later and turned a 15.319.  The four heats showed staggered with six inverted for the lineups and Ed started sixth in the second heat.  When he finished fourth behind Danny Smith, Charlie Holben and Brent Matus, that transferred him to the A-Main.  The other heat winners were Craig Mintz, Dale Blaney and Rod George.  Blaney also won the Dash while Chad Blonde took the B-Main checkeed flag. 

        Ed made a multitude of changes prior to the A-Main, but now we know they were not a good set-up for his car.  Rob Chaney and Scott Priester were in the front row to start the race followed by Byron Ree and Bob Felmlee, while Ed and Lutz made up row three.  At the drop of the green, Ed's car appeared to just sit on top of the track and lacked grip.  He was pretty much passed by at least two cars in every lap and was 19th by lap 10.  In the meantime, Blaney, who started seventh, was advancing and went to the front using a steady pace and it looked like it was going to be a "clean sweep" night for him.  But, with about five laps to go, Stevie Smith, who had started ninth was closing fast.  The two diced for the top spot for the next two laps, before Smith got several lapped cars as a cushion behind him and went on to win.  Reed was third ahead of Blonde and Chaney in the top five.  Greg Wilson, Danny Smith, Lutz, Mintz and Felmlee rounded out the top ten with Ed ranking 21st at the end of 35 laps..

         There were lots of smiling faces Saturday night at Sharon Speedway in Victory Lane when Ed won his fourth of the season here in a very convincing fashion, leading all 25 laps after starting fourth in the 18-car field.  It was his 11th win of the year, his 48th Sharon win and his 203rd career Sprint car win. 

        The car he used is his newest J&J built #2L and it had never been to Sharon before.  It had been finished just in time for the Knoxville Nationals and had one win its first time out at Lernerville on 8/3/07  

        A field of 18 cars was on hand that ran two heats.  Ed was slotted seventh in the first heat that saw pole-sitter Jack Sodeman, Jr. win over Dan Shetler, Rob Eyler and Ed.  Again in the second heat, it was pole-sitter Russ Sansosti leading all laps over Mike Kekich, Jody Keegan and Kevin Schaeffer.  Heats were completed at 7:15PM. 

        Modifieds and Limited Sprints ran their features first with Sprints taking to the track at 9:15PM for their 25-llap main event.  Kyle Moffit and Sodeman, Jr. led the parade lap with Bob Felmlee and Ed in row two.  Sansosti and Keegan made up row three ahead of Broc Martin and Rob Eyler. 

        In Ed's on-track interview, announcer Jim Pollack commented, "Usually, you are more patient.  But, you were wasting no time in getting to the front tonight!"  Jim was descrubing Ed's powerful move on the bottom of turn four to lead the first and every following lap.  A caution on lap four for Danny Mumaw put the field in single file formation, so behind Ed it was Sodeman, Moffit, Felmlee, Keegan, Eyler, Sansosti and Shetler. 

        Ed's race setup was good on restarts and his laps were smooth, using any groove.  However, just three laps later a three car incident involving Keegan, Eyler and Shetler resulted in a red flag when Eyler flipped.  Shetler and Eyler were done for the night while Keegan made repairs and returned to the back of the field.   

        When the green replaced the red, a long stretch of 14 non-stop laps had Ed maintaining a straight-away lead while handling the lapped traffic masterfully.  When Sansosti half-spun in between turns one and two on lap 21, Ed had two lapped cars behind him as a buffer over Sodeman, Jr.   

        The remaining four laps were uneventful but noteworthy, with Ed's fastest lap of the feature coming on lap 24 with a time of 14.247 and a speed of 94.757mph.  Ed went under Mike Henshaw's checkered flag ahead of Sodeman, Felmlee, Schaeffer, Nick Mulheim, Moffit, Kekich, Martin, Keegan and Bob Lime in the top ten.    
 

         Trying to come up with a better setup on his Knoxville car with the slick track surfaces that seem to be everywhere these days, Ed had a good run in his heat - winning from the pole.  But searching for more grip and speed, he made major changes before going out for his feature which was second in the rotation tonight.   

        It's hard to tell if those changes helped or not, because Ed had just completed two laps when he spun entering turn one.  Fortunately, everyone missed him and he was able to restart last in the 23-car field. 

        Because Ed won the Sprint feature two weeks ago and then went to the Knoxville Nationals last weekend, he was slated to start the 25-lap feature in 12th spot Friday night.  Also, Ed was leading the points here before going on the road to "The Sprint Car Capital of the World" but upon returning, found himself now ranked third behind Kevin Schaeffer and Rod George. 

        The front row of the Sprint feature consisted of Carl Bowser and Ralphie Spithaler.  At 9:30PM they led the field to the initial green flag.  Brent Matus and Jack Sodeman, Jr. made up row two followed by Andy McKisson and Rod George.  Current Point Leader Schaeffer and Scott Priester were in row four, while two Dan's (Kuriger and Shetler) were next in row five.  Last of the qualified cars were last week's winner Mike Lutz and Ed. 

        The trouble was that once Ed spun, and the cars restarted in single file fashion, the distance from the leader to last place was at least 1/2 lap.  With C. Bowser leading Spithaler, Sodeman and Matus when the green replaced the yellow on lap three, a long stretch of non-stop racing followed.  By the half-way mark, Ed was up to 11th while George had moved into the runner-up spot by lap six behind Bowser.  Ed passed Matus on lap 18 to rank tenth.   

        A yellow on lap 19 was for Terry Bowser and Lutz had Ed on the tail of Charlie Holben who was eighth.  Just three laps later, on lap 22, Danny Holtgraver brought out the final yellow.  The ensuing restart saw Carl Bowser   (rwho had led from the start) sett up by George who went on to win.  Schaeffer, Priester and Sodeman had top five finishes while Spithaler, McKisson,  Ed Lynch, Holben and Brent Matus were officially scored as top ten. 

        Heats for the 23 cars were won from the front row.  For example, the first heat was won by Priester who started outside beside Kuriger  Ed started pole in the second heat.and led all laps, being the fastest car in all heat races with a time of 13.687 or 105.209mph.  Third heat pole --sitter Rod George, likewise, led all laps. 

        Plans are to race Sharon Speedway Saturday night..

        It was not a typical night for Lynch Racing, Tuesday night at Sharon Speedway.  For one thing, the race was a 50-lapper and for another thing, Ed set fast time, started second and then went backwards, even hit a hole, spun and recovered to ninth.  Ed's time of 13.547 was a speed of 99.653mph. 

        Twenty-four Sprints and 45 E-Mods signed in with many first-timers in both groups.  Perhaps because of tonight being a Tuesday program.  The event was geared arround four NASCAR drivers, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick (the winner), Clint Boyer and Dave Blaney who all made special appearances to compete in the E-Mod  Division. 

        Three heats each locked first and second place finishers into the DASH and those drivers drew for starting spots.  Ed started fourth and finished second behind Ricky Stenhouse in the third heat.  The first heat sent Christopher Andrews and Jody Keegan to the DASH, while Mike Lutz and Dale Blaney went from the second heat. 

        The finish of the DASH set the eight starting spots for the 50-lapper this way - Blaney and Ed in the front row, followed by Andrews and Stenhouse, then Lutz and Bob Felmlee.    Blaney led the first two rounds, before Stenhouse took command on lap three.  The next time around, the yellow flew for Dan Shetler setting the restart to have Stenhouse followed by Blaney and Ed.  Stenhouse got by Ed coming out of turn two.  One lap later, Felmlee made a move coming into turn three, that moved him into third.       

        There was a lengthy caution on lap eight.when two Sprints tangled, Russ Sansosti and Danny Mumaw.  With the yellow light on again on lap 19 for Tim Hunter   practically all the crews were thinking about fuel.  Ed was still in fourth behind Felmlee and tried to get ahead of Felmlee, but at the same time, Andrews would pull up even with Ed on nearly every lap leading up to the fuel stop on the 30th lap.   

        Following the "fuel only" stop, Keegan brought out the yellow on lap 33.  With Ed still in fourth, he seemed to hit a hole in turn #1, really every lap.  Somehow, he managed to find a hole like that in turn four, also.  On lap 37 he hit the hole in turn four and he almost tipped it over.  Instead, he spun and lost positions, but kept going...  Now, he fell all the way back to 11th.   

        Meanwhile, Blaney took the lead on lap 44..Tough luck for Stenhouse,  who apparently blew an engine as the flagman gave the two laps to go sign.  Blaney held off Felmlee and Andrews.  Next in the top five it was Andy McKisson and Lutz ranked in the top five.  Rounding out the top 11 it was Mike Kekich, Keegan, Nick Melheim, Ed,  Scott Bonnell and Kyle Moffitt.  . All 11 drivers completed the 50 lap distance showing quite a bit of tire wear. 

        Each year Ed looks forward to Knoxville, knowing it will be his biggest racing challenge of the season.  He met that challenge for Saturday's 47th Annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals when he put his Qualifying Night  package on Thursday together (time trials, heat race, A-Main) and made the starting 24-car field over a total of 105 of the country's best Sprint car drivers. 

        Slated to start 17th, Ed had not been on the track since Thursday and once the green flag flew at 11:06PM for the 30-lap A-Main in front of the live SPEED Channel cameras, he was, to say the least, disappointed in his suspension package. steering and handling problems. 

        With Donny Schatz and Paul McMahan on the front row, McMahan went high through turns one and two to lead down the back stretch.  But, Schatz came back like gang-busters and pulled off a dominating slide job in turn four to lead the first lap.  

        The first red occurred after that lap was in the books when Travis Cram got sideways between turns one and two, collecting and flipping Tim Kaeding and eliminating him from further competition.  The restart showed Ed had lost a position to Shane Stewart. 

        Schatz had built a 2.6 second lead over McMahan when a yellow came out for engine woes on Stewart's car.  Ed was 16th working on Jason Martin with Brian Brown, Randy Hannagan, Dion Hindi, Donald Droud and Cram behind him.  As Ed tried every groove to hook up to the demanding 1/2 mile oval, his car was not stable anywhere, forcing him to back off and see Brown, Hindi and Hannagan drive by before a yellow came out for Cram on lap 12.  

        An opportunity to make changes came on an open red for a flip by Martin.  The crew tightened the car up and changed the air pressure in the tires, but were unable to get the top wing slider to work properly.  The changes did not help when the race resumed and Ed still had his hands full with an ill-handling car. 

        By lap 20 Ed was lapped by Schatz who ended up with a 4.5 second lead over second place, Joey Saldana.  Terry McCrl, Craig Dollansky and McMahan ended up in the top five with Ed ranking 19th.

         After the second Qualifying Night (Friday because of Wednesday's rainout) at Knoxville, where Danny Lasoski started on pole and led every lap, the combined Official points which lock in the top 20 for Saturday night's A-Main show Ed in 17th spot.   On Saturday afternoon the top 10 in points will run a scramble to determine their starting positions.  

        The run-down of the top 20 is as follows:  1) #15 Donny Schatz  2) #20 Paul McMahan  3) #9E Joey Saldana  4) #7 Craig Dollansky  5) #19s Stevie Smith  6) #6 Tim Shaffer  7) #11 Steve Kinser  8) #14AJ Johnson  9) #2W Brooke Tatnell  10) #24 Terry McCarl  11) #Z1 Jeff Shepard  12) #83 Danny Lasoski  13) #7s Jason Sides  14) # R19 Jason Solwold  15) #5W Lucas Wolfe  16) #17G Travis Kram  17) #2L Ed Lynch, Jr.  18) #36 Jason Martin  19) #11D Dion Hindi  20) #81 Donald Droud
 

        Ed was set to time and race with 51 sprint cars on Thursday, with the balance of the 109 entries for the 47th Annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals to run on Friday.  He timed well, and with the five heats completely inverted, he passed enough cars to advance directly to the A-Main. 

        After three days of rain, and with a record amount (between 3" and 4" on Wednesday) that wiped out the first day of qualifying at Knoxville, the second day of scheduled qualifying on Thursday was run under sunny, hot and humid conditions.  Fans and officials who predicted a track with little or no passing were proven wrong as the track was wide with many grooves and a surface that produced a new track record. 

        Ed drew pill #34 and went out 24th to take time and ended up 13th overall with a time of 15.023 behind Paul McMahan (who set a New Track Record of 14.817), Stevie Smith, Travis Cram, Bronson Maeschen, Dion Hindi, Kenny Jacobs, Jason Meyers, Terry McCarl, Rob Chaney, Steve Kinser, Joey Saldana and Jason Johnson.    The cars were staggered into five heats with all 10 inverted.  Thus, Ed started eighth in the third heat and did a good job passing cars and finishing third behind Randy Martin from Missouri and Wayne Johnson from Oklahoma.  The other heats were won by Australians Brooke Tatnell and Lynton Jeffrey, Ben Gregg out of Arizona and Ohio's Greg Wilson.  The top four heat finishers transferred directly to the A-Main. 

        The C-Main sent Jacobs and Chad Hillier to the back of the B-Main.  Travis Cram, Stevie Smith, Terry McCarl and Hindi finished in the top four of the B-Main and tagged the A-Main.  The front row of the 25-lap A-Main showed Jeff Shepard and Tatnell leading the way with Donald Droud and A.J. Johnson in row two.  Ed started fifth inside Joey Saldana followed by Steve Kinser and McMahan in row four. 

        At the drop of the green, it was Tatnell who was in command with Shepard running second.  Ed ran well trying both inside and outside grooves and managing to hold down fifth and stay just ahead of Saldana, most of the time using the outside lane.  Around the half-way mark, Ed seemed to have problems with his tires.  Saldana got by and Ed appeared to be searching for a groove where he was comfortable.  With the race continuing under green, Ed had lost his grip with both rear tires and he definitely had his hands full.  More cars got by Ed as he backed off to keep the car from sliding toward the fence.  

        The lone yellow came on lap 23 with Tatnell still leading Shepard,  but on the restart Shepard showed his stuff and pulled ahead to lead the last two laps.  Behind the front two, it was Wayne Johnson, Saldana, McMahan, Kinser, Don Droud, Jr., Tim Kaeding, Tony Bruce, Jr., McCarl (all the way from 24th to 10th), Sam Hafertepe, Jr, Stevie Smith and Ed in 13th.   

        After the race, the crew found that both rear tires had blistered.  Ed will have his second autograph session on the square in downtown Knoxville on Friday from 1:00 to 3:00PM. 

        In the total points rundown for the night Ed earned 176 for his time trial effort, 94 for his heat and 176 for his feature, which slots him tenth at the end of the night.  With the top 10 in points showing 1)Paul McMahan - 483, 2)Joey Saldana - 471, 3)Stevie Smith - 464, 4)Steve Kinser - 463, 5)Wayne Johnson - 459, 6) Brooke Tatnell- 458, 7) Terry McCarl - 456, 8)Jeff Shepard - 455, 9)Travis Cram - 446, 10)Ed Lynch, Jr. - 446.

         After the second night of qualifying, both nights will be slotted together to determine the Scrambles and the A, B, and C-Mains.

        Ed's last win at Lernerville was on June 22nd and Friday night didn't look too promising for the maiden voyage of his new J&J car that was built for Knoxville.  He seemed to struggle in hot laps, made changes for his heat but still was not happy with his fourth place finish there.  Lots more changes were made before he rolled on  the track in sixth spot for the Sprint 25-lap feature at 9:18PM. 

        When both front wheels came off the track as Ed stomped on the throttle coming off turn four to complete the first lap, it looked like it was going to be a long night.  But after that lap was in the record book, the yellow came out for a spin by Lindsay Enscoe and Ed had advanced one position.  The restart line-up showed pole sitter Scott Bonnell leading Mike Lutz, Ralph Spithaler, Arnie Kent and Ed. 

        The only other caution came on lap four when Spithaler stopped in turn four.  Ed was able to get by Kent and Lutz took the lead from Bonnell in the short green flag run, thus the restart line-up showed Lutz leading Bonnell, then it was Ed ahead of Kent and Andy McKisson in the top five.  Kevin Schaeffer, Charlie Holben, Scott Priester, Rod George and Jack Sodeman, Jr. made up the top ten. 

        The rest of the race stayed green and Ed searched the top two grooves of the race track to try to hook up to the glazed surface.  He moved into second around Bonnell on lap six, but by now Lutz had stretched his lead to a sizable amount.  Lapped traffic entered the picture and Ed seemed to gain a rhythm and get more comfortable with the new car as the race progressed.  He made good time through the traffic, sometimes splitting two slower cars through a turn.   

        With less than 10 laps to go, Lutz showed Ed the faster bottom groove and the margin between the front two cars became less.  Three laps later on lap 18, Ed took advantage of Lutz lighting up his tires as he saw Ed coming.  As one fan told Ed after the race, "That was one of the nicest slide jobs I'vs seen, when you took the lead from Lutz.on lap 18."   Schaeffer was able to capitalize late and claimed the runner-up spot on the white flag lap.  Finishing fourth it was Priester, followed by Rod George, ,Kent, McKisson, Holben, Bonnell and Sodeman, Jr. 

        All 21 Sprints were put on the track in one hot lap session, then two heats.  Lutz, Schaeffer, Kent and Ed were the first four in heat number one.  Spithaler,  Carl Bowser, George and Richie Fitz topped the second heat.  

        The crew does not plan to race anywhere on Saturday and spend the day preparing for Knoxville and packing the trailer.  

         Ed's competition on Thursday will include Steve Kinser, Terry McCarl and about 60 other drivers.  Knoxville news will be posted once the team arrives in town.  To check progress, look at Ed's web-site or go to knoxvilleraceway.com .  Knoxville's 47th Annual SuperClean Saturday night finale will be live on SPEED on Saturday night.