Sarver, PA...August 6, 2004
Racing at Lernerville Speedway Friday evening was like the stock market with its ups, downs and roll-overs. Tom Winkle of Mars captured the 20-lap Joe Pitkavish Memorial/Ferrante Motor Cars Modified race collecting $1,300 plus a Syracuse qualifying position for the October 10th race in New York. The "Apollo Rocket" Ed Lynch Jr continued to raise the bar in the 20-lap St. Barnabas Health System Sprint feature with his career 73rd victory; the "Weekend Warrior" John Flinner of Zelienople survived several melees to win the 20-lap Friedman's Supermarkets/Bi-Lo Foods Late Model event. Creighton's Rob Shook bested a stellar field in the 15-lap Dingbats Restaurant Pure Stocks with his third win. It was Armstrong Zoom Cable Internet Night at the Speedway and Arch Fan Club Night.
Tom Winkle held off the charges from Dave Murdick to win the 20-lap Joe Pitkavish Memorial/Ferrante Motor Cars Modified main pocketing $1,300 plus Lernerville's Syracuse Qualifying position. From the pole position, Winkle led the entire event to win over Dave Murdick, Gary Risch Jr, Jim Weller and Brian Swartzlander. The modest Winkle said, "When you start up front you have to take advantage of it and it was my lucky night to hang on to it." On lap 8, Winkle had a straight-away lead erased when John Durci's racer spun in turn four. At that point in the race, Mark Flick was in second followed by Risch and Murdick. During the caution, Murdick alerted track officials of a problem with Flick's car. Murdick could smell the burning and was getting grease on his helmet as he trailed Flick during the green flag racing. Flick found later that a bearing went in the rear differential and thanked Murdick for saving the team a lot of money. When the race resumed Murdick was in second and began to pressure Winkle. Winkle seemed to lose momentum a few times and Murdick could have hit him, but instead applied the brakes and did not touch Winkle. Murdick said, "I could have gone right into him (Winkle), but I wasn't going to do it (win) that way." Murdick, running second, shadowed Winkle the entire race, but Winkle repelled his challenges to win by two car lengths. Winkle said, "I knew Davey was right there behind me. It is great to have a good pit crew and owner, Larrel Smith, who picked the right gear tonight." With two nights of Budweiser Points left, Murdick's 2004 goal is too win the point title and he was able to increase his lead over Jim Weller Jr to 22. Sixth through tenth position went to Tom Marshall III, Del Rougeux Jr, Kevin Bolland, Bob Dorman and Carl Murdick. George Hobaugh, Winkle, and Weller Jr won the heat races and Roger Bennett claimed the B-Main. Risch Racing added $100 to first place in memory of the late Larry Peters. Nick Petrishen donated beautiful trophies for all divisions. Helgert Racing gave $100 to Mark Flick for the Hard Luck Award. The Pitkavish family and friends "sweetened" the Modified purse by adding $1,000 to it.
Two time champion Ed Lynch Jr continues to have a superb season scoring his ninth 20-lap St. Barnabas Health System win in 2004. From the front row Lynch's Indy Recycling/Commercial Truck and Trailer/Red Devil #2L dominated from the green to the checker despite a miss in the engine. He padded his point lead over Rod George to 48 points with two nights of Fab Four racing left in August. Lynch's nine wins is the most he has ever in accrued in one season at the track; in 2003, he had eight. Having a career best finish, Gary Rankin won the excellent campaign for second by warding off the hard charging Jody Keegan. Jim Weller III claimed fourth and Ralph Spithaler came from the B-Main to capture fifth. Sixth through tenth place was taken by Caleb Griffith, Rod George, Dan Shetler, Jack Sodeman and Chad Hill. Schaeffer, Lynch Jr, and Hill claimed the prelims and Roger Bennett checkered the B-Main.
John Flinner won the 20-lap Friedman's Supermarket/Bi-Lo Foods Late Model race that became a crash-fest with three red and one yellow flag events occurring in the first 4 laps. With Flinner starting 11th, Tommy Kitchen guided the field for the first two circuits. On lap two the #3 "slow ride" of David Scott took a wild ride ricocheting off the front wall landing upside down in front of the field. Scott walked to the ambulance, but was done for the evening. On the restart Nick Jones took control, but Dan Swartzlander crashed into the front wall destroying his #3. When the race resumed on lap four, Kitchen was back in control when third place Lynn Geisler and Kitchen connected. Geisler, who was pinned next into the wall, smashed into it with the bottom of the car climbing the wall and facing the stands (Joey Chitwood style) and Kitchen's racer slowed a few feet down the front straight. The incident eliminated both Geisler and Kitchen. When the race resumed Nick Jones inherited the lead. On lap seven, Flinner, using the inside line, made a winning pass on Jones. In a futile attempt, Jones tried to chase down Flinner, but on lap 16 his suspension broke and the car made a right hand turn toward the pits in turn four. When the race resumed, Gary Lyle, running second, tried his luck at running down Flinner. But the John Johnson Towing/Flinner Sign & Decals/Brian Equipment #48 prevailed to score career win #33. Coming from 21st, Keith Zimmerman placed third and following were Matt Gaston, Mike Johnson, Mike Norris, Rick Isadore, Chuck Kennedy, Bobby Hoffman and John Mollick. Flinner, Johnson, and Geisler were the victors of the heat events and Steve Everhart won the B-main.
Rob Shook drove an impressive feature race in the 15-lap Dingbats Restaurant Pure Stocks to win a hard, clean, wheel to wheel action packed event over Joe Kelley. "Cemented" to the inside line of the track, Shock's Golden Goblet/Simpson's Tire/Three Rivers Trucking/Don's Catering #64 and Joe Kelley battled the entire event, exchanging the lead seven times. The twosome weaved their way through traffic in "cat and mouse" fashion before Shook narrowly defeated Kelley at the checker for a career fifth. Their side-by-side racing was a beautiful display of synchronized driving talent. Kelley's runner-up position padded his point lead to 15 digits over Shook. Shook said "I was just concentration on hitting my marks. I knew if I got a little too high, Joe would be right there." He further added "These guys all race clean. They are a great group of guys." Butch Lambert was the leader laps one and two, but finished third. Fourth through tenth place went to Greg Beach, Bob Egley, Nick Reges, Paul Schreckengost, Jason Fosnaught, Jeff Bastin, and Dave Spangler. Beach, Kelley and Scott Bochek won the heat races and Mike Valasek won the B-Main. Fosnaught was the Stover-Net Connection Hard Charger.