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Hagerstown Speedway
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (June 25) - Under a shining moon one night short of full, Jason Covert, York Haven, Pa, kept his success going in the Three State Flyer events at Hagerstown Speedway. Having won all three events last season, he's now two for three this year after a flag to flag jaunt Friday night to defending his win in the 3rd Annual Red Nininger Memorial in a special two night program with Winchester Speedway. The triumph was his career 75th and 27th behind the wheel of the Barry Klinedinst Rocket late model.
Starting tenth, Hagerstown's Dave Stouffer pulled ahead of Kevin Koontz on the sixth circuit to lead the rest of the way for his career second win in the Ernie D's pure stocks.
Covert's draw put him on the pole for his heat race with the win giving him a draw for the dash where he ended second after starting fifth. Starting outside Roy Deese Jr., Covert seized the lead on the start and didn't look back while continuing to hold the edge over Brian Booze from the second lap. He ended with a 1.677 second margin of victory over Booze.
"We have to thank the Nininger's for everything they've done in racing, Glenn, his dad and everybody," Covert said. "It's an honor to win it twice and have those trophies. That means a lot especially after coming to Hagerstown all those years. I appreciate them having it every year."
While Deese got into the first turn ahead of Covert, Covert looked like he flat footed it around the turns to come off the second turn with an already a sizeable lead. Fifth starting Brian Booze made a fast move on Deese to take over the runner up spot on lap two as he and Covert pulled away from the rest of the field. By a lap nine caution, Covert and Booze had a 5.1 second advantage on Deese.
On the restart, Covert continued to hold a comfortable lead with Deese, Gary Stuhler and Jeremy Miller a distance behind Booze and a final caution come out on lap 23 which erased a two second lead.
On that restart, Covert stretched his lead to 2.5 seconds with five to go and then slowed as Booze began to close, but ended with a strong second place effort.
"When you get out in the lead like that, the guys were telling me, there was no reason to run the tires off the car. I had space on Brian," Covert said.
Deese maintained his hold to third place while Stuhler and Jeremy Miller completed the top five. Sixth went to Andy Anderson with Devin Friese (12th), Nick Dickson (15th), J.T. Spence (20th) and Matt Parks completing the top ten. Heat winners were Deese Jr., Andy Fries, Darryl Hills and Miller while Frankie Plessinger was the B main winner
Fourth starting Kevin Koontz quickly got to the front on the opening lap of the pure stock feature led as Mike Warrenfeltz, involved in a heat race incident with Darrin Younker when Younker's car developed problems, had a flat to bring out the only yellow on lap three. Teenager Koontz led two more laps following the restart as Stouffer had charged to the front and took over and just continued to stretch his lead with each lap until he scored his second career win by 3.281 seconds while Koontz had his career best finish. Charlie Pensinger ended third over Wayne Hawbaker and Steve Lowery. Drew Fitzsimmons and Stouffer won the heats. Fitzsimmons also was the Turner Bowling Centers Hard Charger.
"Mike and Darrin got into it in the heat race and I kind of got lucky I guess," Stouffer said.
Two race nights occur this week with the 410 sprints arriving for night four of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek on Wednesday evening, June 30 along with the EMMR's vintage cars. Warm-ups are at 7:30 p.m.,
The July 4th weekend highlight is the 45th Annual Johnny Roberts Memorial, a 50-lap late model event set for Saturday along with the late model sportsman and pure stocks plus the gigantic fireworks display. Hot laps are at7:00pm. Sunday, July 5th is a designated rain date. 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
Three State Flyers 3rd Red Nininger Memorial Late Models, 35 laps, 35 entries, (Lap Leader - Jason Covert 1-35) 1.Jason Covert; 2.Brian Booze; 3.Roy Deese Jr.; 4.Gary Stuhler; 5.Jeremy Miller; 6.Andy Anderson; 7.Devin Friese; 8.Nick Dickson; 9.J.T. Spence; 10.Matt Parks; 11.Jack Pencil; 12.Mike Lupfer; 13.Alan Sagi; 14.Bryan Bernheisel; 15.James Myers; 16.Tyler Hershey; 17.Randy Burkholder; 18.Rusty Sites; 19.Kenny Pettyjohn; 20.D.J. Myers; 21.Darryl Hills; 22.Frankie Plessinger; 23.Scott LeBarron; 24.Andy Fries; DNQ - Greg Fetters, Matt Murphy, Ronnie DeHaven Jr., Al Shawver Jr., Marvin Winters, Kirk Baker, Tyler Armstrong, Paul Crowl, Jerry Bard, Mike Walls, Tim Murphy
Ernie D's Pure Stocks, 15 laps, 19 entries (Lap Leaders - Kevin Koontz, 1-5, Dave Stouffer Jr.) 1. Dave Stouffer Jr.; 2.Kevn Koontz; 3.Charlie Pensinger; 4.Wayne Hawbaker; 5. Steve Lowery; 6.Drew Fitzsimmons; 7.Kenny Dillon; 8.Hans Stamberg; 9.Bill Ecton; 10.Randy Kline; 11.Kenny Day; 12.Keith Koontz; 13.Eddie Catrell; 14.Mike Kratovil; 15.Tony Catlett; 16..Mike Warrenfeltz; 17.Darrin Younker; 18.Danny Beavers; 19.Brian Miller
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