Winning the heat race from the pole position started out the first night of the double header Steve King Memorial for Glenpool, Oklahoma native Matt Covington. He had a very nice draw to set him on the front row of the heat. Once the green flag dropped, the T&L Foundry Wesmar powered number 95 never looked back collecting the heat race win. Starting 14th in the main of the preliminary event, Matt drove his way up to 10th early in the contest following veteran driver Paul McMahan. After a red flag and a short 2 laps to go, young Covington passed McMahan to bring himself inside the top ten at ninth behind the number 18 of Tony Bruce Jr.
Saturday night was the night for the 10K to win and a needed good draw was what it would take to get a decent starting position. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for Matt and he had to start the heat race at the tail end of the field. Only a lap into the race, Tony Bruce, Jr. had an engine malfunction which slowed the number 18 and Matt, with no place to go, jumped the tire of the number 18 causing a DNF for the T&L Foundry Maxim Chassis sprinter. With the amazing help of the experienced Covington Motorsports team, the car was repaired and was able to make the tail of the “B” main. From the back, Matt drove all the way through the field and up to 4th. Following a red flag, Matt restarted at fourth and with only 2 laps to go, Covington had only one last chance to make the transfer spot. When green flag racing resumed Matt drove hard down into turn one, with an opening on the bottom.Mike Peters ran it in on the top but squeezed down low to drive off, and with Matt hard on the gas coming off turn two, they jump wheels causing Matt to take a wicked barrel roll and bring the evening to a disappointing end!
Not to worry, the Covington Motorsports team will have the car ready to rock for the upcoming ASCS National Speedweeks coming up on the 5th of June in Texarkana, AR. Stay in tune with Matt through the team website, www.mattcovington95.com and a very special thanks goes out to T&L Foundry, C.G. Martin Company, Motorsports Trailers, Pro Shocks, Keizer Wheels, Butler Built Race Seats, Maxim Racing Chassis, Simpson Race Products and Schoenfeld Headers.
- administrator on May 25, 2009
- Article Date: 5/25/2009