Barry Klinedinst Motorsports and 2006 Mid-Atlantic Championship Series (MACS) Champion Jason Covert was in action this past Saturday at Hagerstown Speedway for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series (WoO) sanctioned, 26th Annual Conocheague 50.
Covert’s time of 20.245 seconds was good enough for the 28th quickest time out of the 50 cars that signed in. “For some reason we have not been good out of the box, last week with the MACS we got behind early with bad qualifying times. We really need to get better at the qualifying deal if we want to run with these guys. ” Covert said on his early evening struggles.
Covert and his Barry Klinedinst Motorsports/ Pre-Mach, Inc. /Red Wing Shoes/Hershey’s Racing Engines/Baker Carburetion/Bam’s Auto Center/Kuppy’s Diner/Rocket Chassis Monte Carlo started their heat race in the seventh position and was able to race his way up to the third position before a late caution would put him on the rear decklid of WoO regular, Steve Francis. The caution allowed Jason to overtake the multi-time national champion for the second position and move him into the re-draw for the 50-lap main event. WoO officials brought the eight drivers that qualified for the re-draw onto the front stretch to draw their starting position. Covert was the last driver to pull which meant there was only one position left. That position was second, the outside pole.
Up next was the $10,000 to win Conocheague 50. WoO point leader Clint Smith and Covert brought the anxious field to the green with Shannon Babb getting a great start from his second row starting spot to take the lead using the outside lane coming out of turn two. Covert would settle into the third position after the first lap. Jason would ride in third until lap 23 when he would make his move on Smith. Covert got by Smith for second and set his sights on race leader Babb. Covert would pull to within three car-lengths of Shannon on the final lap but was regulated to an extremely strong second place finish.
“It looked like Babb was getting tight across the corner, so I started driving it in the corner harder, ” commented Covert “But it felt like we were skating the whole race because I think we went a little hard on tires, so it was going to take a pretty big mistake for me to get him. We are really happy nonetheless; to run up front with those guys is something any team should be proud of. But man, it would have been awesome to pull it off. ”
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