BUFFALO TWP - Any time is a good time to beat Ed Lynch Jr. in a Sprint car race - even 2 a.m.

Just ask his brother-in-law Chad Hill.

Hill became the first driver to defeat Lynch in a Sprint feature at Lernerville Speedway this season when he held him off for the final 11 laps Friday night.

Because of a two-hour rain delay, a Late Model Feature that needed eight restarts and the Sprint feature that needed eight restarts of its own, Hill didn't get the checkered flag until just after 2 a.m. Saturday.

"I don't care how and I don't care when," Hill said of his victory. "Ed is our Steve Kinser. When you've beaten him, you've beaten the best."

Hill started on the pole and led the race throughout. Lynch started 12th, but had worked his way up to second by the ninth lap.

"I thought I was better during the longer runs," Lynch said. "Everybody else needed the cautions. I didn't, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

"Chad ran a good race. He looked like a slot car getting around those turns."

Lynch appeared primed to overtake Hill in lap traffic, but another car spun out and a restart was required on the 18th lap. That gave Hill an open track the rest of the way."That definitely helped me," Hill said. "It's always better to be running second in lap traffic because you can take advantage of the leader's mistakes. And I made about three of them."I tried running the bottom to get around lapped cars and it was horrible. I felt like Ed was going to get around me."When I saw he was second with 11 laps to go, I figured there was no way. He was gonna get me," Hill added.But Hill held on for his third career Sprint victory - his second at Lernerville. And he won the race in one of Lynch's old cars."When you start up front, you should finish up front," Hill said. "Ed Lynch Sr. taught me that a long time ago."Late Models marked the first feature of the night and their race didn't begin until 11:55 p.m. It proved to be a fight for survival as only 12 of the 26 cars finished the race.John Flinner of Zelienople, the fourth driver to get the lead, grabbed it on the 15th lap and held off David Scott for the win.Doug Eck led for the first eight laps and Lynn Geisler of Cranberry Township for the next five before getting bumped off the back straightaway by Ken Schaltenbrand."I don't think Kenny meant to do that," Scott said. "His car was tight and he was running hard. It just slid up into Lynn."That was a tough break for Lynn because I think he would have won the race otherwise."Schaltenbrand grabbed the lead once he bumped into Geisler, but it was short-lived. A lap later, Scott's car got into Schaltenbrand's on the fourth turn and spun him out."I barely caught his back end, but it was enough (to spin him)," Scott admitted. "It wasn't intentional."Flinner started 11th and moved in front when Schaltenbrand spun out."Crazy things were happening out there," Flinner said. "I was just driving around the track and kept moving up."Flinner's win was his first of the year at Lernerville and his 31st overall here."I give the new directors here credit for getting that track ready after all the rain," Flinner said. "The track was fantastic, really, really racy."It's Friday night. I had nothing else to do. I would have stayed all night if they asked me to. Let's race."Scott agreed, despite having to drive back to Erie after the race."I'd rather race and get home at 4 a.m. instead of not racing and get home at midnight," he said.Joe Kelley led the Pure Stock feature from start to finish, picking up his first Lernerville win of the year. It was Kelley's 18th career feature victory at the Sarver track, tying him for fourth on the track's all-time Pure Stock list.Notes:There were 118 cars in the pits. … Because of the late hour, the Modified feature wasn't run. It will be run as part of next Friday's show. The Pure Stock feature from last Aug. 29, which scheduled to be run Friday, was canceled. … Three violent flips caused red lights during the features. T.J. Wright of Imler was unhurt when he hit the wall in the Late Model feature and his No. 31 landed on its roof. Mike Shearer of Freeport flipped his No. 25 Sprint car off the fourth turn. The wing of the car wound up lying by the starting gate and the car was wedged into the fence and guardrail. Shearer was also unhurt. Gary Rankin of Renfrew flipped his No. 16 Sprint car off the wall at the end of the feature and was hit by another car as it rebounded back onto the track. Rankin climbed out of the car, but was checked by the track's medical personnel.