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June 2008 Updates Ed sets fast time but finishes 12th at Eldora Speedweek Finale – 6/28/08 Setting quick time over a field of 36 All Star sprint cars Saturday night at Eldora’s $10,000-to-win Speedweek Finale started things off in the right direction for the #2L race team, but tires became an issue early in the 30-lap feature resulting in a disappointing twelfth place finish. For weeks, the crew had been preparing a new trailer and Saturday morning they loaded it for a maiden voyage to Eldora. They encountered no problems with the rig, but ran through plenty of rain, only to arrive at Eldora at 5:00PM under blue skies and sunshine. The pill draw had Ed hot-lapping in the second group of nine cars and going out tenth to set a time of 13.656 on his first of two laps, which held up to fast time overall ahead of Greg Wilson, Dale Blaney and Brock Mayes. For his effort the St. Henry Commercial Club presented his with a check for $300. St. Henry is a small town north of the track where Earl and Bernice Baltes, Eldora’s owners for 50 years, first met. Four heats would be lined up staggered with six inverted. Thus, Ed lined up sixth in the first heat and had to make it into the front five to transfer to the A-Main. The front row showed Jimmy Stinson and Australian Ian Lauden, followed by All Star point leader Lance Dewease and Tim Shaffer in row two. Another Aussie, Troy Little started inside Ed in row three. Ed was able to pass inside and outside, ending up second to Dewease at the end of eight laps. Other heat winners included Wilson, Kenny Jacobs and Butch Schroeder. The All Star Dash went to Blaney and Brian Ellenberger won the B-Main. For the top six drivers in times that qualified through their heats, the All Stars now have young fans matched up with drivers on the front stretch. The fans then pick a card designating that driver’s starting position. A young girl picked an “Ace” for Ed, giving him the pole for the 30-lap event. Blaney would start outside Ed. Todd Kane and Brock Mayes would be in row two followed by Wilson and Brian Smith. It took two attempts to start the race which would end up going non-stop to the finish. Ed led from the pole over Blaney and started to put four car lengths margin on him by lap two. Ed continued to look strong as Mayes took second away from Blaney. After completing six laps, Ed’s tires seemed to seal over and his earlier perfect set-up was going away fast. Mayes caught him on the back stretch and passed him in turn three to take the lead on lap seven. By lap nine, Ed fell to fourth behind Mayes, Blaney and Wilson. Three laps later, he was fifth. Searching every groove, his tires just lost all traction as cars continued to pass him. On lap lap 27, Blaney pressured and passed Mayes for the lead and then put Ed down a lap. Wilson took possession of third ahead of Dean Jacobs and Randy Hannagan, the overall Speedweek points winner, in fifth. The official finished had Ed in twelfth spot.
Ed Is Fifth on Fireworks Night at Lernerville Speedway – 6/20/08 Despite rain around the area, Lernerville stayed dry and 21 Sprints showed up to put on a 25-lap feature following a spectacular 25-minute fireworks show. Because of his win the previous Friday, Ed started the event from 12th spot and managed a fifth place finish. Being third on the rotation, the Sprints ran two heats with Ed starting on pole and leading all eight laps of the first heat. Behind him it was Rod George, Charlie Holben and Rob Eyler. Heat number two had Bob Felmlee duplicating that effort taking his win from the pole over Scott Priester, Scott Bonnell and Brent Matus. The redraw for the feature lineup put Ralphie Spithaler and Eyler in the front row for the 25-lap event. Jason Pisani and Matus made up row two, while Priester and Holben were in row three. Priester, Holben, Bonnell and Bob Felmlee came next, then Dan Shetler and Kevin Schaeffer were in row five. Starting inside Ed in the sixth row it was Rod George. With Eyler leading, an early caution on lap three was for Holben inside turns three and four. Ed had not made much progress and was only up to ninth. The only other slow down came on lap five for a spin by Lindsay Enscoe and Ed had advanced one more spot. From that point, the race went all green and Ed spent the time searching for a lane where he could be fast, by lap eight, he had passed Spithaler and Bonnell to ride in sixth spot. But, it wasn’t until lap 14 that he was able to get by Felmlee for fifth. From that point on, he didn’t get grip and followed Matus the rest of the way. A lead change happened when Schaeffer got by Eyler on lap 20. When the checkered waved, it was Priester in third, Matus in fourth, then Ed. Rounding out the top ten it was Felmlee, Bonnell, Shetler, Gary Rankin and Spithaler.
Lynch
Racing has nothing but garage work scheduled for the weekend,
and a Championship Baseball game for Sye (Ed’s youngest son) at
9:00AM Saturday morning.
Ed Returns to Winning Form on Friday the 13th
at Lernerville – 6/13/08
Despite scattered showers around the track, it never rained
at the Sarver oval and it was business as usual for the Fab Four.
The Sprints were first on the adgenda and 19 drivers were on hand to
run two heats and a 25 lap feature. Ed lined up sixth in the
second heat and made it up to third behind Scott Bonnell and Kevin
Schaeffer. All three moved to the high groove as there seemed
to be nothing to get a hold of anywhere else and some thought it
would turn into a one-groove track by feature time.
Ralph Spithaler, Jr. won the other heat over Gary Rankin and Dan
Shetler.
By making changes to the torsion bars, gears and shocks, Ed lined up
4th
come feature time and ultimately went on to run in multiple grooves,
lapping up to sixth place and having a margin of victory of almost
10 seconds – which amounts to more than half a lap lead over the
second place car.
The feature front row consisted of Kevin Schaeffer and Scott
Priester with Aaron Shaffer inside Ed in row two. Rod George
and Charlie Holben made up row three. But it was K. Schaeffer
that led lap one, with amb.i.t. scoring showing Ed leading lap two.
On lap four, Priester replaced Schaeffer in second, but just one lap
later, the only halt in the action came when Gale Ruth, Jr. got
upside down inside turn one.
Once the green came out on lap five, it was non-stop to the
checkered flag. Ed was able to handle the slick track and
master the lapped traffic effectively. Although he seemed
fastest on the inside groove, Ed was forced to the top of the track
many times as the lapped cars seemed to hug the bottom.
At the finish, Ed was followed by last week’s feature winner, Bob
Felmlee, then Holben, George, Schaeffer and Priester all on the lead
lap. Down one lap in seventh, it was Gary Rankin, Brent Matus,
Spithaler, Jr and Carl Bowser in the top ten. Ed starts 3rd and finishes 3rd at Sharon – 6/7/08 Hard work and late hours paid off for the Lynch Racing team. After flipping Friday night at Lernerville, the crew worked late and started early Saturday making repairs to the #2L. They were rewarded with a second place in the heat and a third place in the 25-lap feature. Ed made it through the race incident free and all the replacement parts did their job. With the temperature near 90 degrees and the humidity very high, a field of 24 Sprints showed up and were the highest car count in all five divisions. Competition started at 6:00PM and three heats were listed for Sprints with Ed set to go from the fourth spot. He finished second to pole-sitter Jack Sodeman, Jr. Matt Reed, visiting Sharon for the first time from Victoria, Australia, led all laps in the second heat while Rob Eyler came from sixth to win heat number three. Fans now pick the inversion number for the feature and a “rare” straight up start was selected. Thus, Sodeman, Jr., and Reed were in the front row and Ed and Russ Sansosti were row two. Jeff Taylor and Rob Eyler (last week’s feature winner made up row three. Reed led the first two laps before a caution came out for James Nicely high in turn two. The front four on the restart were Reed, Sodeman, Ed and Eyler. A long green flag followed before Shawn Minor brought out the second yellow after 14 laps. There was still no change in the front four, but Jimmy Hawley, who was running seventh, coasted to a stop just past the flagstand and was pushed to the pits. At the same time, Bob Felmlee went to the pits with a flat tire. On the ensuing restart, Eyler passed Ed for third, but Ed was able to regain the spot one lap later. Keith Taylor caused the final yellow on lap 16. The action halted on lap 17 for a flip by Broc Martin and Karl Baker.
When the
green replaced the red flag, Reed led Sodeman, Ed, Eyler and a
young Vienna, West Virginia driver, Cale Connelly in just his
first six (counting tonight) races. The top five ran unchanged
to the checkered – Matt Reed, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Ed Lynch, Jr.
Rob Eyler and Cale Connelly Ed was eliminated before he completed a lap at Lernerville on Friday – 6/6/08 Ed was hit and he flipped in turn one at the start of the 25-lap Sprint feature at Lernerville Speedway Friday night. What was already a long night for Ed with races starting at 7:30PM, it was three hours later at 10:35 when the Sprint drivers (because of being third in the track’s rotation of four divisions) pulled onto the track for their feature event. As it turns out, the night was not just long, but disappointing, also. Not satisfied with his performance of second place in the first heat, won by Rod George, Ed had made adjustments to his car in preparation for the feature. But he never had a chance to see if his changes made the #2L faster. Scott Priester and Mike Lutz won the other heats. All 26 sprints were scheduled to start the feature with the lineup showing Brian Ellenberger and Aaron Shaffer in the front row, then Brent Matus and Ed in row two. On the original start, a red flag incident involving Scott Priester, Jack Sodeman, Jr., Lindsay Enscoe and Paul Kish halted the action. On the complete restart, the front rows remained the same. At the drop of the green flag, Ed stayed in the outside lane and was on the move around Ellenberger in turn one. Ellenberger did not hold his line and came up the track and hit Ed’s left rear wheel with his right front wheel. Ed flipped, landing upside down on the top berm of turn one. With his top wing bent down over the cockpit, he was trapped momentarily, hanging upside down by his seatbelts. As he waited for help from the track’s rescue team, the only thing he was able to do was shut off the fuel valve. Which was a very good thing. Both cars went to the pits, but Ed’s damage was too extensive to rejoin the field. Bob Felmlee went on to win the feature over Kevin Schaeffer, Mike Lutz and Rob Eyler. Ed was scored as 24th with zero laps completed. A quick survey of damages at home in the garage had both top and front wings destroyed, bumper, torsion bars, steering arms and suspension parts bent. The crew will tackle the repair job on Saturday morning and see if they can be ready to race Saturday night.
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