Blake Hahn would have preferred not to wait until November to win his first American Sprint Car Series National Tour race of 2024, but his performance Friday night at Creek County Speedway was worth the wait.
Racing in front of his hometown fans in the Fuzzy’s Fall Fling – the race honoring his late grandmother Wokeeta “Fuzzy” Hahn – the driver of the No. 52 led from start to finish to pick up the 22nd win of his National Tour career.
“Anytime you get to come here and race, it’s a blast for us,” Hahn said. “Not only do we get to run in front of a great crowd, but also our friends and family get to come watch us too. It’s a great night, it’s a good way to start the weekend. I’m really happy to be able to pick up the victory at my grandma’s race here for the Fuzzy’s Fall Fling, really happy about that.”
The win comes three weeks after Hahn started on the pole and led several laps at RPM Speedway before being overtaken by Sam Hafertepe Jr. and settling for second. He found himself in the same position at Creek County after claiming the pole and leading early, but by that point he already believed that this time would be different.
“Throughout the whole night, I just felt a little more confident in the car compared to RPM,” Hahn said. “I just felt like we had a little better car from the beginning of the night. Anytime you can start out on the front row of the Dash and go out and win that, it’s a good sign.”
After sharing the front row with Seth Bergman, Hahn broke away to an early advantage before the spinning car of Brad Bowden on the fronstretch reset the field.
From that point forward, a pattern formed that told the story of the race – Hahn would break away on the restart and begin driving away until another quick yellow put the field back on his rear bumper. Four more cautions for incidents involving Emilio Hoover, Austyn Gossel, Landon Britt and Alex Sewell gave the field plenty of chances at Hahn, but the two-time Series champion was able to fend them off time after time.
On the final restart of the night, Hahn jumped out to a half-straightaway lead after one lap, and that was all he needed to seal the deal and drive home to the checkered flag.
Given the tight confines of the quarter-mile bullring, navigating slower traffic is typically a deciding factor anytime the Series rolls into Creek County. But given the rash of cautions in the middle stages of the race, Hahn spent relatively little time in dirty air, something he said played to his advantage.
“Lap traffic was pretty hairy there, and I caught it in about five or six laps,” Hahn said. “So it didn’t take long after a yellow to get back in lap traffic. You had guys on the top and the bottom both, so it was hard to get around any of them. Anytime it seemed like I got into some really hairy traffic, I had a caution land right in my lap. So it all worked out perfectly.”
The No. 2C of Hank Davis may not have had anything for Hahn, but he was able to move up from his fourth starting spot and around Bergman early to come home second. The result comes one week after he traveled to The Dirt Track at Charlotte to make his World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car debut at the World of Outlaws World Finals, and Davis credited those laps in the 410 for improving his skillset for when it was time to get back in the 360.
“I think the 410 actually helped me hone in on a little craft, because the air is so bad and those guys are so good,” Davis said. “I think I’m just kind of getting the hang of it and just understanding my own racecraft.”
The primary objective for Davis and team in the closing weeks of the season has been bringing home the Owners championship, and with one night to go, TwoC Racing sits just one point behind Hafertepe and Hill’s Racing Team. That means the goal for tomorrow is simple – beat the No. 15H.
“I had to do my job,” Davis said. “That’s what we did. Came here and did our job. Would have liked to win that thing to maybe be ahead of him tomorrow, but the pressure’s on him. He’s the one that’s got one point he’s got to keep. All that is is a position, so if we beat him by one tomorrow, I’m going to be a pretty happy guy.”
Starting on the front row and falling back to third is what most drivers would call a ho-hum night, but not this time for Bergman. Instead, it brought the realization of a lifelong dream – upon signing in for competition on Saturday, he will officially clinch his first National Tour championship.
“It’s a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” Bergman said. “When you’re in the hunt for these things and you’ve been trying to do it for as long as I have, you have as many partners on this race team wanting to see us win, it’s a very big deal. It’s a big deal for me, I’ve been trying to do it for a long time. You get lost in it all, and all I’ve been thinking about lately is how many ways this could go wrong and we could sabotage it this weekend. Just to get through these few nights solid like we have, all the podiums this weekend and to get a win last night.
“It feels amazing. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, but it’s good. It’s really good. For the first time since March, I’m not worried about winning a championship. I know we’ve done it. We can come back tomorrow and just go try to win a race.”
Hafertepe recovered from a crash in the Dash with an eighth to fourth drive, while Matt Covington rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The 2024 ASCS National Tour season concludes on Saturday night with the $10,000-to-win Fuzzy’s Fall Fling finale at Creek County Speedway. Tickets will be available at the track, but if you can’t make it, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 2C-Hank Davis[4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[10]; 6. 17-Zach Hampton[6]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[9]; 8. 22M-Rees Moran[12]; 9. 938-Bradley Fezard[3]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[17]; 11. 1-Sean McClelland[5]; 12. 88-Terry Easum[11]; 13. 15D-Andrew Deal[23]; 14. 47-Dale Howard[21]; 15. 26M-Fred Mattox[20]; 16. 9-Emilio Hoover[13]; 17. 16G-Austyn Gossel[18]; 18. 45X-Kyler Johnson[24]; 19. 83-Sam Henderson[22]; 20. 8-Alex Sewell[15]; 21. 10-Landon Britt[19]; 22. 22-Riley Goodno[16]; 23. 8X-Brad Bowden[7]; 24. 14E-Kyle Bellm[14]
- Bryan Hulbert on Nov 17, 2024
- Article Date: 11/17/2024