LAKE ODESSA, Mich. — Taking the green flag from the pole and never looking back, Matt Covington was unstoppable en route to Saturday’s Sprint Wars victory with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network and Great Lakes Super Sprints at I-96 Speedway.
Stalked in traffic several times by Blake Hahn, the closing laps saw the No. 52 close in for the pass, but a slip over the cushion coming to the white flag was all Covington needed to secure his first victory of the season.
“I felt pressured. I knew Blake was behind me and getting close, and I wasn’t sure because the bottom looked like it was coming in, but the top was good too, but I wanted that one,” Covington explained. “I wanted it really bad, especially for my crew guy, Matthew Howard, he’s been working his butt off, and we’ve been top-five and running up front, but he hasn’t had that taste of victory, so I had to get this for him.”
While tripping over the cushion nearly cost him in the end, Hahn was able to regain his speed and hold on for second, with Dylan Westbrook working the bottom from 12th to complete the night’s podium. Indiana’s Zane Devault was the highest finishing GLSS driver in fourth, with J.J. Hickle moving up from ninth to complete the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[12]; 4. 16B-Zane Devault[4]; 5. 63-JJ Hickle[9]; 6. 5T-Ryan Timms[8]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman[18]; 8. M1-Mark Smith[10]; 9. 5S-Max Stambaugh[19]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III[23]; 11. 28-Scott Bogucki[6]; 12. 49T-Gregg Dalman[16]; 13. 19-Colby Thornhill[7]; 14. 2-Ricky Peterson[21]; 15. 71H-Ryan Ruhl[22]; 16. 14-Linden Jones[24]; 17. 85-Dustin Daggett[2]; 18. 16W-Chase Ridenour[5]; 19. 17B-Ryan Bickett[13]; 20. 27-Brad Lamberson[17]; 21. 88-Travis Reber[14]; 22. (DNF) 7C-Phil Gressman[15]; 23. (DNF) 86-Keith Sheffer Jr[11]; 24. (DNF) 17-Jared Horstman[20]