From Lonnie Wheatley
Glenpool, OK — (December 12, 2012) — To earn one championship over the course of a year is the end result of hard work, determination, skill and a little bit of luck along the way. To claim two championships in one season is an extremely rare feat in the highly competitive world of open wheel, dirt track racing.
But that’s exactly what Glenpool, Oklahoma, Sprint Car racer Matt Covington accomplished in 2012, as all those long hours in the shop paid off to the tune of both the American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region championship and The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region title.
Now just 23 years old, Covington became only the second driver in American Sprint Car Series history to earn two Regional championships in the same season, the first since Jason Danley earned Midwest and Northern Plains titles in 2009 though Covington’s championship drives came with significantly less Regional overlap than Danley’s 2009 effort.
After opening the 2012 campaign in Arizona at the beginning of March in National competition, the Covington Motorsports Wesmar-powered Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing/T&L Foundry No. 11c Triple-X chassis team hit its stride as Regional action fired off in April.
Covington broke into victory lane for the first of five times in just the second Lone Star Region outing of the season on April 21 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX. Covington went on to add four more triumphs over the course of the year including a Lone Star vs. Sooner score at Devil’s Bowl on May 19, a Lone Star victory at 67 Texarkana Speedway on July 13, a Lone Star vs. Sooner triumph at Lawton Speedway on July 28 and then another Sooner score at Creek County Speedway on September 21.
Covington put the finishing touches on his second consecutive ASCS Lone Star title during the September 8 season finale at Texarkana and then put the clamps on his first ASCS Sooner crown one month later in the season-ender at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway on October 6. Covington took the Lone Star title with a 139-point edge while posting Sooner honors by an overwhelming 314-point differential.
In addition to earning both Lone Star and Sooner championships, Covington also came out atop the inaugural Red River Rumble point charts. Covington topped two of the four legs of the four-race Red River Rumble mini-series that pitted the Lone Star forces versus the Sooner shoes with two races at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, one race at Cowtown Speedway near Fort Worth and one race at Lawton Speedway.
In 25 Regional events over the course of the year, Covington visited victory lane five times while finishing among the top-five on 13 occasions and among the top-ten a total of 20 times. Covington, who celebrated his 23rd birthday just a few weeks ago in November, mixed in a busy slate of National events as well during a successful 2012 to bring the team’s total nights of competition to nearly 60.
Covington closed out the Regional season riding streaks of 29 consecutive ASCS Lone Star Region feature starts and 24 consecutive ASCS Sooner Region feature starts, both of which are series’ best active streaks and date back to the 2011 season. With four of his 2012 victories in Lone Star action, Covington has moved atop the all-time ASCS Lone Star win charts with six triumphs.
After finishing off the 2012 campaign at the prestigious Short Track Nationals at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway and the Western World Championships at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, AZ, the Covington Motorsports team is already busy preparing for the 2013 season. Details regarding the team’s 2013 plans will be announced soon.
A variety of sponsors and marketing partners contributed to the success of the Covington Motorsports team in 2012 and the team looks forward to continued success with their involvement. Those partners include Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing, T&L Foundry, Triple X Chassis, Print Place, Winters, Brodix, C.G. Martin Company, Factor 1 Racing, Outlaw Wings, Pro Shocks, DMI Components, Keizer Wheels, Butler Built Race Seats, Simpson Race Products, GME Steering, Wesmar Racing Engines, Law Offices of Richard Strunks and Schoenfeld Headers.
Merchandise, including t-shirts, hoodies and hats is available at www.mattcovingtonracing.com with payment options through PayPal.
For all the latest on Matt Covington and Covington Motorsports, check out www.mattcovingtonracing.com. Fans can also follow along on Twitter at @mattcovington11 or check out https://www.facebook.com/