BUFFALOTWP — Four years ago, Ed Lynch Jr. reached the top of the mountain.

He's been trying to stay there ever since.

The veteran driver of the No. 2LSprint car, known around Western Pennsylvania racing circles as the Apollo Rocket, won the World of Outlaws Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup race at Lernerville Speedway in 2002.

He has not won an Outlaws feature before or since, though he's remained competitive in qualifying with the regulars on the circuit.

"For a long time, I always knew I could compete with them,"Lynch said. "Confidence or intimidation was never a problem.

"Those guys know how to pound the pedal and go hard for 40 laps. I could do the same thing for 10 laps. It took me a while to adapt to that level of racing."

The Silver Cup XVrace takes place Tuesday night at Lernerville. Time trials are at 7:15 p.m., racing at 8 p.m. with the winner of the 40-lap feature taking home $30,000.

This race remains one of the highest-paying purses on the Outlaws tour.

And since Lynch won the 2002 race, his work is not complete.

"You have to keep up with those guys in terms of equipment,"he said. "And that's not easy."

Lynch will be running a new car Tuesday, breaking it in at Eldora and Tri-City Speedway over the weekend.

"Ed's the only guy around here who can realistically compete with those guys,"said Kevin Schaeffer of Kittanning, driver of the No. 9 Sprint car at Lernerville. "The Outlaws have the most up-to-date equipment, the fastest, the quickest.

"Ed can approach them that way and he can approach them in driver skill as well."

Lynch leads Schaeffer in the points race at Lernerville this season and has already claimed four features at the Sarver track. His 81 career feature wins here are 15 more than anybody else.

Schaeffer, Carl Bowser of Sarver and Rod George of Kittanning round out the top four in the Lernerville points race. All four will race here Tuesday, as will Dan Shetler of Johnstown, who won his first career Lernerville feature Friday night.

The goals of the local drivers will be a little different on this night, however.

"I didn't even run these Outlaws races for five or six years because my equipment wasn't up to par,"George said. "Now I feel a little better about my motor program and we'll give it a go.

"My goal in an Outlaws race is to finish in the top 10. That would feel like victory lane to me."

George's highest finish in an Outlaws feature was seventh, nearly 20 years ago.

Schaeffer and Bowser just want to make the feature.

"This is my third time running against them and I haven't done that yet,"Bowser said.

Lynch's goal is to win the race, but qualifying will be critical.

"You have to earn yourself a starting spot up front,"he said. "This is the cream of the crop out there. You don't see guys starting 20th and weaving their way through the field."

Aliquippa's Tim Shaffer won last year's Silver Cup race, but suffered a fractured vertebrae at a recent race in Knoxville and is recuperating at home.

Mark Kinser has won the most Silver Cup races with four, but is no longer on the Outlaws circuit. Sammy Swindell has won three Silver Cups, the last coming in 2004, but rarely runs anymore.

"The series is in a bit of transition,"Lynch admitted. "A lot of people hate to see the Kinsers and Swindells leaving — I hate to see it — but time moves on.

"There are a lot of younger drivers looking to establish themselves and keep the tradition going."

Donnie Schatz is the Outlaws' current points leader and has seven wins on the circuit this season. Joey Saldana — Lernerville's fast-lap record holder at 12.334 seconds — is second in points and has four wins this year, as does Jac Haudenschild.

Rounding out the "Mean 15"who will be racing Tuesday are Terry McCarl, Brooke Tatnell, Craig Dollansky, Daryn Pittman, Chad Kemenah, Jeremy Campbell, Justin Henderson, Randy Hannagan, Jason Martin, Brian Carlson, Dion Hindi and Becca Anderson.

Notes: Haudenschild and Steve Kinser have competed in all 13 previous Silver Cup races. ... Swindell has finished among the top 10 in all 11 of his Silver Cup races, including nine top-5 finishes. ... Craig Rankin was the only local driver to qualify in the first Silver Cup race. ... The largest car count to attempt to qualify for the Silver Cup feature was 58 in 1992. ... Five sets of brothers have competed in the Silver Cup:Bobby and Joey Allen, Dean and Kenny Jacobs, Dale and Dave Blaney, Jeff and Sammy Swindell, James and P.J. Chesson.