Another page was added to the Lernerville Speedway history books this past Friday when Sye Lynch visited victory lane for the first time.
(The famous 2L was back in victory lane, this time with Sye Lynch at the wheel. Photo by Rick Rarer)
He did it driving the famous black and fluorescent yellow 2L sprint car. Sye is the son of the winningest sprint car driver in the history of the track, “The Apollo Rocket” Ed Lynch Jr., who amassed 107 wins during his illustrious career at the Sarver oval. Sye has recently opened eyes with wins at Sharon Speedway and Tri-City but Lernerville had eluded him until this past Friday.
After an early battle with Central Pennsylvania invader Gerard Mcintyre, the young Apollo driver rocketed to the lead and never looked back scoring his first Lernerville win in convincing fashion. It was definitely a popular one, as the crowd cheered loudly. It was great seeing the familiar 2L back in victory lane for what will most likely be the first of many wins.
In other action, Michael Norris continued his dominance of the Late Model division by nearly lapping the entire field for his seventh win of the season. The Kings swept the top two spots in the big block modified feature as Rex King Sr. got his first win of 2018 over son Rex King Jr. Corey McPherson finished out the night with his fourth stock car victory of the season.
Another night of Fab 4 racing is on tap this Friday at Lernerville Speedway and then the track returns to action again Wednesday, Aug. 15 with the RUSH wingless sprint cars.
While the rain ended early enough for Lernerville Friday, Thunder Mountain Speedway was forced to postpone their racing program. Fan appreciation night has been rescheduled for Friday, Aug. 17. This Friday the Penn-Ohio Pro Stock Series will invade the Brookville oval for the big $1,500 to win Scott Winslow Memorial event and it will also be Autism Awareness Night. Joining the stock cars will be the late models, semi lates, and 4 cylinders making for a full night of action.
At Sharon Speedway, a new face visited victory lane where George Hobaugh Jr. of Karns City scored a popular win with his first career 410 sprint car victory. Hobaugh spent many years perfecting his craft in the micro sprints before moving to the 305 sprint class for a pair of seasons. He then graduated to the more powerful 410 sprints full time in 2016. Hobaugh has been close to that first win on several occasions this season and made headlines when he passed Dave Blaney for the lead momentarily and finished second against the All-Star Circuit of Champions during the Lou Blaney Memorial.
This Saturday, Hobaugh would not be denied as he charged from his ninth starting post to take the lead on lap 13 and went on to score his first career 410 win worth $3,000. The win came over a strong field of 29 sprinters. The sprints will be back in action again this Saturday at Sharon Speedway and the following Saturday for the first-ever FAST sanctioned show featuring some of the best racers from Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway in central Ohio.
George Hobaugh in victory lane after scoring his first career 410 victory. Photo by Rick Rarer
Hummingbird Speedway kicked off the month of August with familiar faces in victory lane this past Saturday. Chris Farrell of Clearfield scored his seventh late model feature while Mike Anderson recorded his fifth pure stock victory of 2018. Zach Myers of Knox picked up his fourth semi late feature win. Bruce Hartzfeld picked up his third street stock feature, and John Campisano visited victory lane for the fifth time this season.
This Saturday at Hummingbird there will be a semi-late special featuring an increased purse and lap money presented by Psycho Industries.
Chad Ruhlman continued his winning ways this past weekend as he picked up win number nine during RUSH sprint car competition at Bradford Speedway. It was the second and final appearance of the sprints at Bradford. Joe McEwen recorded his best finish of the year with a second-place finish while Franklin’s Shawn Smith rounded out the podium in third.
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About Rick
Rick Rarer, a Franklin resident, is the owner of Racestud.com and SprintCarNews.com. He has been covering racing for 18 years, taking racing photos for 13 years, and has covered races at over 100 tracks in 15 states. Most recently, Rick won the Bill Steinbach Media Award at the Lernerville Speedway Annual Awards Banquet.
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