Brian Swartzlander Wins the Joe Pitkavish Memorial, Lynch wins 100^th Sprint Feature, pockets $4000, Miley wins Lates, Kelley becomes All Time Wins Leader

Sarver, PA (July 24, 2009) On the night we honored the memory and achievements of legendary car owner Joe Pitkavish, three future Hall of Famers continued to pad their lofty win totals.  Brian Swartzlander captured his 63^rd career Modified Feature, Ed Lynch Jr. won his 100^th career Sprint Feature and Joe Kelley took sole possession of the All Time Wins lead in the Sportsman Stock division with win #28.  Jared Miley, last year’s division leader in wins, won his first Late Model Feature of 2009 at Lernerville Speedway.  The folks from Thoma Meat Market were also on hand as the weekly sponsor of Fab Four Racing.

The Diehl Auto Group DIRTcar Modifieds rolled onto the track for the 30-Lap Joe Pitkavish Memorial Feature with Mike Miller starting on the pole and tonight’s Trackside Radio guest Mike Turner by his side. With seven laps down, Jeremiah Shingledecker had already made his way to the front and created a lead that made it seem as if no one could catch him. But on lap eight, he slowed on the front stretch with a flame coming from under the car and left on the business end of a tow truck.  On the restart, Del Rougeux Jr. flew to the front having started fifteenth.  But, again bad luck struck the leader and Rougeux got caught up in a cluster of spun out cars in turns three & four on lap 17 and was forced to exit the track with broken suspension in the right rear.  Again a new front row was introduced on the restart with Kevin Bolland and Brian Swartzlander.  They battled until the end, but ultimately Brian Swartzlander was the man to take home the win!  The victory is the 63^rd of his career at Lernerville Speedway, moving out of a tie for second place with Bob Wearing Sr. (62 wins).  Swartzlander now trails only the late, great Lou Blaney (69 wins) for All Time Wins in the Modified division.  Kevin Bolland crossed the stripe in second, Tom Winkle in third, Dave Murdick in fourth and Mike Turner with his first top five of 2009.  Heat Race winners were Jeremiah Shingledecker and Tom Winkle.

Not to be out done, Ed Lynch Jr. set a milestone that only two other drivers have accomplished.  The record is 100 wins in a division and the drivers are Bob Wearing Sr. and Lynn Geisler; both in a Late Model.  Early on, it looked like Mike Lutz had the car to beat in the Commercial Truck & Trailer DIRTcar Sprint Feature, but Lynch rocketed below Lutz on the back stretch on lap six and took the lead entering turn three.  Lutz did not easily concede the lead, however, and fought back, but Lynch would not be denied his 100^th win.  The “Apollo Rocket” rolled his legendary #2L into Sheetz Victory Lane to a waiting crew armed with multiple bottles of champagne.  A drenched Ed Lynch Jr. took part in a well deserved Victory Lane celebration with his crew, family, sponsors and fans.  Kevin Schaeffer ran a strong race to finish second, as did Carl Bowser in third.  Bob Felmlee and Rod George took advantage of a late restart to surge to top five finishes.  Early leader Mike Lutz appeared to have mechanical problems or perhaps lost his tires during a caution and faded in the second half of the feature, but held on to finish seventh.  Heat races were checkered by Lynch and Lutz.

In the Friedman’s Freshmarkets DIRTcar Late Models Feature the front row consisted of John Garvin Jr. and Denton Boyer.  Looking extremely fast, Boyer gained the lead right away.  He led the first 11 circuits until he was caught up in lapped traffic.  The lapped traffic was the break Jared Miley was waiting for and he blasted below Boyer in turns three & four to take the lead on lap 12.  Miley survived a few late cautions but prevailed as the winner!  Dave Murdick, piloting the Pitkavish #1 Late Model, put on a late charge during the green/white/checker restart and passed Boyer on the final lap to finish second.  Denton Boyer’s first Lernerville Feature win will have to wait for another night, but as well as he ran tonight, that wait will not be a long one! Alex Ferree finished the race in fourth, but could have been a contender had he not been bottled up behind two lapped cars for quite a few laps during the middle laps of the feature.  Lynn Geisler rounded out the top five.  Heat race victors were Jared Miley and Mike Johnson.

The Advance Auto Parts DIRTcar Sportsman brought the Fab Four Show to a close with Six-Time Track Champion Joe Kelley in Sheetz Victory Lane for the 28^th time in his career.  The win puts Kelley in sole possession of the division lead ahead of Scott Bochek (27 wins).  But the getting there wasn’t exactly an easy proposition.  Pat Hanley kept Kelley within three or four car lengths all race, but could not make a move for the lead, as he had his hands full with Corey McPherson and Bob Egley challenging for second.  When the checkers waved for Kelley, he was followed closely across the line by Hanley in second, Egley in third, McPherson in fourth and Wayne Carbo in fifth.  McPherson and Kelley won their respective heat races.

Join us next week, Friday July 31, to see what records will be broken during another night of Fab Four Racing.  If you missed it - and shame on you if you did! - or if you just want to watch it again in Hi-Definition, the 3^rd Annual Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com will air on SPEED during a two and a half hour broadcast tomorrow, Saturday July 25 at 3:30PM and again at 2:00AM.