Apollo native Flick rides hot streak into Don Martin Silver Cup at Lernerville

AJ Flick has been on a tear this season at Lernerville Speedway, and that hasn’t happened by chance.

A year after going winless, Flick and his team went to work over the winter to make improvements, and they seemed to have figured out the right combination.

Flick, an Apollo native and five-time and defending track champion, has won five of the seven sprint car races contested at the Buffalo Township oval this season.

He led a strong local contingent defending their home track against the All-Star Circuit of Champions at the $25,000-to-win Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Wednesday night.

The race ended too late for this edition. More details are on sports.triblive.com.

It was the first time the All-Stars have sanctioned the long-standing race, which previously was sanctioned by the World of Outlaws.

Flick had won four features in a row at Lernerville entering the Silver Cup.

“The car is just a little bit more maneuverable this year,” Flick said. “I can run across more of the race track than I could last year. We were more dependent on bite last year to get the car to create speed. This year we don’t have to rely on the bite.

“We’ve been good on the top, middle and bottom of the track. That’s allowed me to get past race cars quicker and get through lapped traffic quicker. Ultimately, that’s led to more wins.”

The only local race that Flick didn’t win this year he finished second to fellow Apollo native Sye Lynch. The other race was an All-Stars race won by Hunter Schurenberg. Flick also swept all three races of Western Pennsylvania Speedweek, winning at Lernerville, Sharon and Tri-City.

Even though Flick didn’t win at Lernerville last year, he still was consistent enough to accrue enough points to win the championship. That was a silver lining on a tough season overall.

“We we’re fighting some demons last year with our cars,” Flick said. “We went through a stretch in May of 2021, where we were destroying race cars it seemed like every other week. We couldn’t get any momentum built up. We were fixing cars that were junk and racing them instead of buying new stuff.”

Flick said they got a car put back together that was capable of winning again late last season and used the offseason to refocus and rebuild their inventory.

“We knew if we were able to put a car back together that was straight and comfortable that we would be fine,” Flick said. “We went over everything in the winter to make sure it was right on the car and came out of the gates wicked hot.”

Aside from the strong field of All-Star regulars, led by points leader Tyler Courtney, there were some other heavy hitters in Wednesday’s field. Reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson; Brent Marks, who won the PA Speedweek title in Central Pennsylvania last week winning five races; and fellow Central PA standout Logan Wagner led that list.

Flick was hopeful he could continue the momentum he has created in 2022 against a difficult field.

“They’re so good that it’s hard to really put any pressure on yourself,” Flick said. “You kind of expect that they are going to be better than you. I don’t think Lernerville is a particularly tricky racetrack. It’s a typical high-banked 3/8th-mile track, so outsiders can come in and be pretty fast right away.

“There’s not much that gives us a home track advantage. When it comes to big races like this, you just focus on your own program and qualify well. If we put down a good qualifying lap, that sets the rest of your night. If you don’t, then you have to pass the professionals, and that’s pretty tough to do.”