By T.J. Buffenbarger
LAKE ODESSA, Mich. (May 8, 2021) – Matt Covington never relented from constant challenges from his front row starting position in route to winning the ASCS Lucas Oil National Tour presented by MAVtv / Great Lakes Super Sprints portion of “Sprint Wars” Friday night at I-96 Speedway.
Covington was quick to praise his crew on how well his car had worked all season leading into their first win of the year Saturday at I-96.
“The car was just a dream to drive,” said Covington. “The car has had great speed all year and it’s made my job easier when I can roll it out of the trailer, pull the wing back a little, and it works well all night. I hope we can keep it up all year long because I think we can be a contender.”
Covington also had to keep up on a track that changed a lot during the main event and ended up being challenging at times while negotiating slower cars.
“The track was challenging. It got thin on the cushion and I struggled a couple of times when the lapped cars were in front of me. The good part was I was out front running my own race and didn’t get to see any of the action behind me.”
Covington’s front row starting position made his journey to victory lane far from easy being under pressure from Blake Hahn for most of the race. Covington split a pair of slower cars on lap 13 and changed his line through turns one and two during the closing stages of the 30-lap feature to hold off Hahn for the victory. The win was Covington’s first of the 2021 season.
Hahn appeared to have Covington lined up to challenge for the lead but slipped off the top of turn three and four which gave Covington enough of an advantage to hold on for the victory. Hahn held on for second with Dylan Westbrook charging from 12th starting position to round out the podium.
Sprint Wars
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVtv / Great Lakes Super Sprints
I-96 Speedway
Lake Odessa, Michigan
Saturday May 8, 2021
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 16W-Chase Ridenour
2. 17B-Ryan Bickett
3. 7C-Phil Gressman
4. 49T-Gregg Dalman
5. 2-Ricky Peterson
6. 17-Jared Horstman
7. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 19-Colby Thornhill
2. 63-J.J. Hickle
3. 16B-Zane Devault
4. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr.
5. 07-Shane Simmons
6. 70-Eli Lakin
7. 11-Joe Conway
8. 88N-Frank Neill
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 85-Dustin Daggett
2. 88-Travis Reber
3. 5T-Ryan Timms
4. 27-Brad Lamberson
5. 24D-Danny Sams III
6. 10S-Jay Steinebach
7. 14-Linden Jones
8. 1-Levi Poortenga
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps):
1. 95-Matt Covington
2. 52-Blake Hahn
3. 5S-Max Stambaugh
4. 24-Kobe Allison
5. 12-Cobin Gurley
6. 84-Kyle Poortenga
7. 16-Gary Fritts
8. 77X-Alex Hill
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps):
1. 1. 28-Scott Bogucki
2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook
3. M1-Mark Smith
4. 27W-Tyler Gunn
5. 8-Justin Ward
6. 31-Mike Astrauskas
7. 23-Seth Bergman
B-Main #1 (12 Laps):
1. 27-Brad Lamberson
2. 5S-Max Stambaugh
3. 2-Ricky Peterson
4. 8-Ryan Coniam
5. 10-Frank Neill
6. 70-Eli Lankin
7. 11-Joe Conway
8. 31-Mike Astrauskas
DNS: 77x-Alex Hill
DNS: 1-Alex Poortenga
B-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 23-Seth Bergman
2. 17-Jared Horstman
3. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
4. 27W-Tyler Gunn
5. 14-Linden Jones
6. 24D-Danny Sams III
7. 12-Cobin Gurley
8. 84-Kyle Poortenga
9. 8-Justin Ward
10. 16-Gary Fritts
11. 10S-Jay Steinebach
A-Main (30 Laps):
1. 95-Matt Covington
2. 52-Blake Hahn
3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook
4. 16B-Zane Devault
5. 63-J.J. Hickle
6. 5T-Ryan Timms
7. 23-Seth Bergman
8. M1-Mark Smith
9. 5S-Max Stambaugh
10. 24D-Danny Sams III
11. 28-Scott Bogucki
12. 49T-Gregg Dalman
13. 19-Colby Thornhill
14. 2-Ricky Petersen
15. 71H-Ryan Ruhl
16. 14-Linden Jones
17. 85-Dustin Daggett
18. 16W-Chase Ridenour
19. 17B-Ryan Bickett
20. 27-Brad Lamberson
21. 88-Travi Reber
22. 7C-Phil Gressman
23. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr.
24. 17-Jared Horstman