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Hagerstown Speedway
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (April 11) - Jason Covert was definitely up on the wheel Saturday night and making the Shootout I Three State Flyers late model event at Hagerstown Speedway his to lose after passing World of Outlaws veteran, Rick Eckert following a lap 11 restart.
"I got to beat that guy (Rick Eckert)," Covert, of York Haven Pa, said. "It's amazing to race with him. He's one of my hero's and he's done a lot for me. I'd rather him or I win, but I'd just as soon I win…he'd say the same thing."
Eckert gave the three time and defending MACS champ just a tiny bit of opportunity and that was all it took. Good bye Rick and all, I'm leaving. Covert later pocketed the $3,000 triumph aboard the Barry Klinedinst owned Rocket late model.
Covert arrived at the rear of the field by lap 19 and was three seconds ahead. He never missed a beat heading through the rear cars and had three between himself and Eckert by lap 23 and continued to lap up to the 14th place car of Ricky Elliott. He remained on full throttle to the checkered and still had a 3.2 second separation on Eckert.
"We just happened to have things go our way tonight," Covert said. "We might come back here and not make the Lucas race. We didn't make it last year. I screw up a lot but Barry gives me a heck of an opportunity to do this. It's great to be here. This is the place to win."
Following an overnight rain providing natural moisture to the speedway, the front cleared out and gave the late models and pure stocks a super fast track. Times in warm-ups and heat races were in the 18 seconds and close to the track record for the first of three Three State Flyer Shootout events to be held at Hagerstown.
Following the late model heats, the top two drew for the dash with Eckert and Covert taking the top two spots. The duo showed ownership during the early laps with Gary Stuhler and Mike Lupfer trailing. Following a lap four restart, Eckert got a good run but Covert was hard on the pedal and closing at a half second a lap before previous weeks winner, Nathan Durboraw came to a stop on lap nine. A subsequent restart occurred the following lap but on 11, Covert was prepared. He stuck his nose under Eckert on the backstretch and didn't look back with the green displayed the rest of the way.
Covert said, "On restarts everyone was running the bottom and getting the top dirty. I wanted to get to the top and get out there earlier to make my speed get going. I couldn't get off the corners. He could drive up off the corners, he had so much traction compared to what I had but on that restart, he moved out just enough to let me get by. These (American Racer) tires fire on restarts."
Behind him, Stuhler trailed by more than five seconds and had Jeremy Miller and Andy Anderson challenging. Miller took the third spot for only lap 30 but Stuhler regained it the next circuit as Anderson took the fourth position on lap 33 as Miller settled for fifth.
Sixth went to Nick Dickson, inaugural winner at the Rock the previous week while J.T. Spence was the Winchester Auto Dealers Exchange hard charger, coming all the way from 17th to seventh. Lupfer ended eighth followed by David Williams and Roy Deese Jr. who started from 18th.
Heats for the 39 entries went to Stuhler, Lupfer, Eckert and Williams while Frankie Plessinger and Alan Sagi were the B main winners.
Darrin Younker of Berkley Springs, WV had things hold together for him to win his second time out in the double point Ernie's Auto Enterprises pure stock special.
"The transmission is about to fall out of it," Younker said. "I was holding it in gear in the turns. I actually had to put it in a gear a couple times. We held on, it was a long one. This is a good way to start off the year."
A three car invert put him on the outside pole as he beat Dean Holmes off the line as Mike Warrenfeltz grabbed third. Warrenfeltz passed Holmes following a lap seven restart while Steve Lowery also got on lap nine. Warrenfeltz trailed by nearly three lengths at the checkered with Lowery, Holmes and previous week's winner Hans Stamberg charging from the rear following getting involved when Tony Stoneberger's transmission detonated on the front stretch on lap seven. Heats went to Stoneberger Younker and Holmes
The upcoming event will be the Duron Paint sponsored night featuring a regular show of late models, late model sportsman and pure stocks plus the second Enduro Dash.
Check the speedway website for any changes in the weather at: www.hagerstownspeedway.com or contact the speedway office at 301-582-0640.
Hagerstown Speedway Results
Shootout I , Three State Flyers Late Models, 35 laps, 39 entries, (Lap Leaders - Rick Eckert 1-11, Jason Covert 12 - 35): 1.Jason Covert; 2.Rick Eckert; 3.Gary Stuhler; 4.Andy Anderson; 5.Jeremy Miller; 6.Nick Dickson; 7.J.T.Spence (Winchester Auto Dealers Exchange Hard Charger); 8.Mike Lupfer; 9.David Williams;10.Roy Deese Jr.; 11.Dan Stone; 12.Austin Hubbard; 13.Tyler Armstrong; 14.Ricky Elliott; 15.Frankie Plessinger; 16.Greg Satterlee;17.Jared Hawkins; 18.Scott LeBarron; 19.Chuck Clise; 20.Dale Hollidge; 21.Devin Friese; 22.D.J.Myers.; 23.Alan Sagi; 24.Chris Harr; 25.Nathan Durboraw; 26.Jamie Lathroum; DNQ -Randy Burkholder, Bo Feathers, Paul Crowl, Rick Hulson, Rusty Sites, Marvin Winters, Doug Stine, Tom Decker, Steve Gibney, Larry Baker II, Jim Yoder, DNS - Darryl Hills, Ronnie DeHaven Jr.
Ernie's Auto Enterprises Pure Stocks, 15 laps, 25 entries (Lap Leaders - Darrin Younker 1-15): 1.Darrin Younker; 2.Mike Warrenfeltz; 3.Steve Lowery; 4.Dean Holmes; 5.Hans Stamberg; 6.Billy Ecton Jr.; 7.Justin Snoderly; 8.Charlie Pensinger; 9.Dustin Proctor; 10.Danny Beavers; 11.Kevin Koontz; 12.Kevin Keefer; 13.Zack Reid; 14.Dave Mikolajski; 15.Bill Ecton; 16.Bobby Franklin; 17.Kenny Dillon; 18.Tim Monn; 19.Wayne Hawbaker; 20.Tony Stoneberger; 21.Jim Snyder; 22.Drew Fitzsimmons; 23.Frank Dibella; 24.Dave Stouffer; 25.Tony Catlett
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