7/3/2019
Matt Covington
Redemption For Covington at the Fred Brownfield Classic
CG Motorsports-Glenpool, OK (July 3, 2019) Matt Covington achieves redemption at the Fred Brownfield Classic this past weekend at Grey’s Harbor Raceway after Dirt Cup’s heartbreak. Friday night’s effort resulted in a 14th place finish but Saturday night’s outcome lined Matt up to get the feature win and add the Fred Brownfield Classic to his résumé.
Friday night for Covington began with a 5th place starting spot in the heat on a locked down track. After a bad start, he lost two positions. The rough and fast surface proved too difficult to overcome and held Matt in 7th until the checkers, resulting in a trip to the B-main. Heat race behind him, Matt was able to rally from the 12th starting position all the way to 5th and a transfer. During the A feature, Covington battled his way forward from 21st, working inside the top-10 at one point. But progress was put to an end due to a part failure on the front end, causing him to slip back to 14th by the finish.
“Friday night was just one of those nights where you race as hard as you can without having the results to show for it,” commented Matt. “It wasn’t a matter of speed but circumstances. We didn’t have the best draw in the heat, and then we got boxed in behind a slower car. Then, to make matters worse, the track was rough and I just had the car too tight. Once we got bounced around on the start, I wasn’t able to get back forward. We were fast in the B-main though, passing a bunch of cars to transfer, and we were doing the same in the A until that part issue had me battling just to finish the race.”
Saturday set the stage for the Fred Brownfield Classic finale, giving Covington a shot to add his name to the champions’ list of the honored event.
Matt started the night off with a heat race win and pulled the pole position for the redraw.
Winning the dash for the lead into the first two turns, Covington set a quick pace aboard his Shark Engines/Triple X mount with Colton Heath in tow. Covington opened up a sizable lead by the time a caution flew on lap 12. The restart brought a challenge down low by Solwold. Matt quickly closed the door on him by hugging the hub the next couple of corners to remain out front. As the race unfolded, Matt was able to stretch his lead to a near four seconds. He was not challenged again, allowing him to secure his first Fred Brownfield Classic finale and first National Tour win of the year.
“We needed this. Man, we needed this win. I thought we had Dirt Cup in the bag and had a rod bolt let go. Nothing on our engine builder, I tried to take old parts and make them last too long. Mark at Shark Racing Engines definitely stepped our program up,” stated Covington. “We had a great car and I knew, if we could stay out-front, then we would be ok once the rubber came. Jason pressured me on that restart and he showed me a nose so I had to chop him hard. It was for the win, and I knew I wasn’t going to get another chance if he got the run. But it was fun and I’m glad we came out on top. We’ve got a couple wins this year, but the National Tour is tough to get. I’ve run second a lot, and flat out gave a few away, so I was determined not to let that happen here. Mike’s been working hard all trip and I think we are going to take the next week off and celebrate some. We’ll stop by Triple X to do some maintenance, and then head to the Grizzly Nationals to see if we can get some more kisses from the bear in Victory lane. That was one of my favorite races from last year.”
Up next for Matt and the ASCS Lucas Oil National Tour is a two-night stop at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, MT for action on July 12th and 13th.
Matt and his CG Motorsports team would like to thank and mention all partners who have helped make this year and the 2019 season possible. We look forward to the continued relationship throughout the year, along with future seasons to come: Triple X Chassis, A-Rock Materials, Oilfield Equipment and Manufacturing, All-Star Performance, Outlaw Wings, Winters Performance, DMI Components, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Keizer Wheels, PAC Racing Springs, Lucas Oil Racing Products, Factor 1 Racing, Wilwood Brakes, Smith Titanium, Best Graphics, Simpson Race Products, Shark Racing Engines, Huggins Cams, Bob Hurley RV, Eaton Industrial, Hot Rod Powder Coating, Rod End Supply, Maxwell Oil, Schoenfeld Headers, CSI Shocks, KSE Steering, STW Trailer sales, Edison Auto Body, Miller Truck Lines, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Swindell Bleaders, and T&L Foundry.
2019 STATS: Starts-22, Wins-3, Top 5’s-12, Top 10’s-14
ON TAP:
7/12/2019 Gallatin Speedway - Belgrade, MT
7/13/2019 Gallatin Speedway - Belgrade, MT
LIVE RACE COVERAGE: Visit http://www.RacinBoys.com for free, live audio (Select Pay-Per-View video) during the season to catch all the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour events.
MERCHANDISE: New 2019 NOW available. New shirts available on the website at www.mattcovingtonracing.com or at the races on the grandstand side in the Racinboy’s t-shirt trailer along with pit side shirts in the team trailer.
STAY CONNECTED: For all the latest news of Matt Covington during the 2019 season, visit his website, www.mattcovingtonracing.com, like him on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mattcovingtonracing, or follow him on twitter, @mattcovington95.
Submitted By: Eric Covington
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