Winchester Speedway
March 31, 2012
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Covert Out-Duels DeHaven in Winchester Season-Opener
Ritter Steers Nichols 11N to LLM Spotlight

by Doug Watson
Winchester, Va.- York Haven Pa.’s Jason Covert, fresh off a Friday night late model win at Pa.’s Williams Grove speedway, was victorious in last Saturday nights season-opening 30-lap late model feature at the Winchester speedway.

By the luck of the draw, Covert drew the pole for the start of the late model feature, sharing the front row with Jamie Lathroum. As the duo took the green flag, Lathroum shot into the race lead. Lathroum’s lead would be short-lived as Covert would assume control of the event on the second circuit. Covert would go on to lead the remaining 28-laps, however, the final five laps of the race had the Winchester faithful on their feet. Late model rookie Trever Feathers hounded Covert for much of the 30-lap grind until a lap-27 spin sent Feathers to the rear. Sixth-starting Ronnie DeHaven Jr. then took up the chase as he and Covert ran side-by-side for the final three laps, with Covert squeaking out the win by a half a car length at the checkered flag.

“That was a close one.” Covert stated as he climbed from his Barry Klinedinst owned, Rocket no.43A. “Ronnie (DeHaven) is a great guy to race with and he raced me clean over the last few laps, I just hope we put on a good show for the fans.” Tire Management played a role in Covert’s winning run. “I could feel the right front tire starting to give up the deeper we got into the race.” Covert said. “It took about five-laps to get some heat in it and we don’t run Hoosiers very often, but it all worked out good for us tonight.” Eighth starting Jeremy Miller came home third, Lathroum settled for fourth and 14th starting DJ Myers completed the top-five. Heats for the 31-cars on hand went to Ronnie DeHaven Jr., Trever Feathers and Kyle Hardy with Stevie Long winning the consolation.

Brad Ritter was the winner of the hotly contested 20-lap limited late model headliner. Bruce Kane lead the first five laps of the race before Andy Anderson took the race lead on lap-six. Anderson’s bid for the win came up short as he retired to the pits with mechanical issues while leading on lap thirteen. Ritter, who had worked his way to second, was the new leader and would repel the late race rush from Bruce Kane to score the popular win. Tanner Kerr collected third, 19th starting Jonathon DeHaven was fourth and former track champion Brian Buckler filled the front five. Heats for the 21 cars went to Anderson and Ritter.

Buddy Wilson drove an inspired race to take top-honors in the 15-lap street stock main. Wilson wrestled the top spot from former Hagerstown speedway champion Mike Warrenfeltz on lap-8 and would then hold off defending Winchester champion Mike Corbin to post the win. David Kaiser would take third, Warrenfeltz settled for fourth and Donnie Kenney completed the top-five. Heats went to Jerry Fifield and Mike Grady Jr.

“Krazy” Kenny Thomas was the winner of the 15-lap enduro stock feature. Thomas took the race lead from Daniel Bowden on lap-seven and would romp home to a convincing win. Jamie Mills was second, Brian Green third, Ray Priest fourth and Danny Holmes rounded out the top-five. Thomas was the heat winner.

In the nightcap 15-lap U-Car feature Kevin Pollard, who had also won the night prior at Potomac, scored his first-ever Winchester feature win in another wild event run for the class. Pollard took the lead on lap-three and would survive a late race challenge from Travis Carroll to score the win. Kevin Oates was third, Tom Paddock was fourth and Justin Katz filled the top-five. Heats went to Tom Paddock, Randy Wilkins and Kevin Welsh.

Late Model
A-Main: 1. Jason Covert 2. Ronnie DeHaven Jr. 3. Jeremy Miller 4. Jamie Lathroum 5. DJ Myers 6. David Williams 7. Joe Leavell 8. Tyler Hershey 9. Kyle Hardy 10. Gary Stuhler 11. Daryl Hills 12. Stevie Long 13. Bo Feathers 14. Kenny Moreland 15. Scott LeBarron 16. Glen Elliott 17. Brian Tavenner 18. Trever Feathers 19. Tony Crim 20. Scott Richwine 21. Roy Deese Jr. 22. Denny Bonebrake 23. Alan Sagi 24. Kenny Pettyjohn DNQ- Jerry Bard, Gerald Davis, Jared Almarode, Brad Omps, Tommy Armel, CS Fitzgerald and Duane Harbaugh.

Limited Late Model
A-Main: 1. Brad Ritter 2. Bruce Kane 3. Tanner Kerr 4. Jonathon DeHaven 5. Brian Buckler 6. Travis Stickley 7. Bubby Tharp Jr. 8. Daniel Snead 9. Tyler Emory 10. Jimmy Richards 11. Butch Chapman Jr. 12. Jacob Burdette 13. Kevin Deremer 14. Kris Eaton 15. Andy Anderson 16. Tom Chaffins 17. Kris Holliday 18. Neil Alexander 19. Don Woodruff 20. Dallas Richards 21. Sam Jenkins

Street stock
A-Main: 1. Buddy Wilson 2. Mike Corbin 3. David Kaiser 4. Mike Warrenfeltz 5. Donnie Kenney 6. Craig Parrill 7. Brian Luttrell 8. Jerry Fifield 9. Dickie Tharp 10. Michael Carter 11. Dave Alley 12. Greg Breeden 13. Dylan Rutherford 14. Mike Grady Jr. 15. Ricky Edmonds 16. Mike Franklin

Enduro stock
A-Main: 1. Krazy Kenny Thomas 2. Jamie Mills 3. Brian Green 4. Ray Priest 5. Danny Holmes 6. Gary Moreland 7. Bill Hangett 8. Jonsey Jones 9. Devon Riley 10. Rodney Miner 11. Daniel Bowden 12. Lenny Weaver

U-Car
A-Main: 1. Kevin Pollard 2. Travis Carroll 3. Kevin Oates 4. Tom Paddock 5. Justin Katz 6. Kevin Welsh 7. Brenda Alexander 8. Joey Strosnider 9. Steve Katz 10. Allen Jones 11. Cody Sweeney 12. Randy Wilkins 13. Steve Fadeley 14. Ronnie Bolstridge 15. Josh Wilkins 16. Jeff Wilkins 17. Rusty Poston 18. Reese Alley 19. Jeff Oster 20. Austin Nichols 21. Justin Anderson 22. Jason Wilkins 23. Alan Dice 24. Michael Pfaff 25. Robert Wilson 26. Kim Breeden 27. Doug Crank 28. Chase Schneider 29. Robbie Moore 30. David Funk Jr. 31. William Riley 32. Larry Lamb 33. Richard Locke 34. David Lock 35. Robert Perry 36. Gene Wilson