Jason Covert, who has made a habit of rolling into town and grabbing big money shows, did it again as he wired the field to take the Bedford Labor day 55 Friday night. It is the longest and richest event on the annual Bedford schedule, 55 laps with $5055 going into Covert’s pocket for the run. He became the tenth different winner in the 2012 season at the track. In other action, Chris Chamberlain came from deep in the field to snag the Semi Late event, and Bill Replogle won the Pure Stock race . Mike Lauffer closed out the evening as the leading 2012 winner at Bedford with his seventh 4 Cylinder win.
By running second in the dash, Jason Covert started on the outside front row for the 55 lapper. He jumped into the lead at the start and, although threatened, was never headed. Three cautions for minor incidents dotted the first three laps, and three more followed during the early laps, but Covert zipped away from Scott Haus on every restart.
David Williams roared from the pack to chase down Haus and took over second on lap 15. He looked to be the equal of Covert until his car broke on lap 22. Haus retook the second spot but he was not secure as Greg Satterlee arrived on the scene from his 16th starting spot by lap 23. After seven laps of challenge, Satterlee took second and appeared to be closing on Covert with each passing lap.
Satterlee’s crowd pleasing romp to the front ended as his own car broke on lap 35, bringing out the last caution. On what became the last restart, Covert again shot away from Haus as Haus held off a closing Austin Hubbard. But as Covert encountered heavy lapped traffic with 6 laps to go, Haus closed noticeably. Haus made it cloe but the laps ran off before he made a move as Covert scored the big win
Haus made it close but settled for second at the finish. In Victory Lane it was discovered that Covert’s 43a car had broken a control arm and was extremely difficult to drive the last few laps, but held together for he win. Austin Hubbard’s run forward ended at third although he was challenged the last few laps by Jerry Bard and Jack Pencil. DJ Myers, Gary7 Stuhler, Jim Yoder, Matt Sponaugle and Cory Weaver completed the top ten.
Scvott Haus, Jeff Rine and DJ Myers won the heats. Matt Cosner took the B. Haus won the dash.
In a bit of irony, the event was run under the second full moon of the month, the blue moon. Covert won during both moons, with this victory preceded by a Three State win at sister track Thunder Valley 28 days ago.
Vigi Zucollotto led the first Semi Late lap but Don Wyles took over on lap two. Wyles held off Kerry Molovich lap after lap until Chris Chamberlain entered the picture. Chamberlain and Wyles ran side by side for several laps until Chamberlain inched ahead on lap 13. From that point on, Chamberlain ran on to the win. Wyles was second ahead of Molovich, Greg Hainsey and Zane Weicht. Darryl Whetstone and Wyles won the heats.
Bill Replogle led the duration to get the Pure Stock win. As he ran from the field, a battle roared in his wake. Jarrod Brown chased Replogle for the duration, ahead of a big battle for third. Travis Group held off the herd for that spot, followed by Terry Norris and Justin Michael. Norris and Group won the heats.
Mike Lauffer came from sixth to first on the first lap then ran off from the 4 Cylinder field. Tyler Beckett gave chase for 8 laps but Dave Lanbert got by for second on lap nine. Lauffer was safely ahead by then as he ran to his seventh 4 Cylinder win of the season. Lambert, Beckett, EJ Johnson and Ian Will completed the top 5. Beckett and Will won the heats.
With the point races ended, all the champions were decided. Jack Pencil scored yet another Late Model title, while Zane Weicht, Terry Norris and Dave Lambert were also crowned. Mike Altobelli took the Limited honors in their last event last week./
LATE MODEL 55 LAP.. 1 Jason Covert, 2 Scott Haus, 3 Austin Hubbard, 4 Jerry Bard, 5 Jack Pencil, 6 DJ Myers, 7 Gary Stuhler, 8 Jim Yoder, 9 Matt Sponaugle, 10 Cory Weaver, 11 Andy Haus, 12 Matt Cosner, 13 Scott Lebarron, 14 Matt Parks, 15 Wayne Johnson, 16 Chuck Clise, 17 Greg Satterlee, 18 Jeremy Miller, 19 Devon Friese, 20 David Williams, 21 Mike Altobelli, 22 Dylan Yoder, 23 Jeff Rine, 24 Chad Hollenbeck, 25 Greg Fetters, 26 Steve Campbell DNSEric Zembower, Derek Byler, Matt Howsare, Rick Elliott
SEMI LATE 1 Chris Chamberlain, 2 Don Wyles, 3 Kerry Molovich, 4 Greg Hainsey, 5 Zane Weicht, 6 Jamie Swank, 7 Bob Jay, 8 Vigi Zucollotto, 9 George Beckett, 10Donnie Farlling, 11 Darryl Whetstone, 12 Cody Butterbaugh, 13 Tim College, 14 Taylor Farlling
PURE STOCK 12 LAP 1 Bill Replogle, 2 Jarrd Brown, 3 Travis Group, 4 Terry Norris, 5 Justin Michael, 6 Tim Brown, 7 John Replogle, 8 RT Troutman, 9 Brian Ringer, 10 Brad Feight, 11 Jason Haggerty, 12 Ed Vogel, 13 Ryan Beckett, 14 Bill Kennell, DNS Chad Gambol, Adam Daniels,
4 CYLINDER 12 LAP 1 Mike Lauffer, 2 Dave Lambert, 3 Tyler Beckett, 4 EJ Johnson, 5 Ian Will, 6 Pat Breahm, 7 Phil Best, 8 Ron Valentine, 9 John Diehl, 10 Kyle Beckett, 11 Matt Diehl, 12 Irv Fleegle, DNS Cale Martin, Steve Frederick
