Sunnyvale, Texas-Sam Hafertepe Jr and the Plumbfast Racing Team continued their hot streak as they earned a 7th place finish at I-96 Speedway in Michigan.
The Fusion Energy Boost was one of the fastest cars in the 1st warm-up session and 11th overall. Earlier in the night Sam had drawn the #5 pill and the team was hoping to build on their momentum from hot laps.
The team was unable to capitalize on the good draw as Sam timed in a disappointing 13th.
“The car just wasn’t where we needed to be in time trials and we turned in a time we weren’t very happy with”, explained Sam. “We almost caught a break and landed on the pole of one of the heats but Dollansky went out last and knocked us out of the invert”.
In the beginning of the heat race Sam worked the bottom of the race track and was able to draw side by side with Jason Sides for 4th but couldn’t quite make the pass. Hafertepe continued to work the bottom side of the track before trying the top side on the last lap and gaining several car lengths on Sides.
“I think Sides messed up there early and I didn”t realize it”, explained Sam. “As a result I thought the bottom was the place to be because I’d gained so much ground. It took until the last lap for me to realize that I wasn’t running the fastest line”.
The Fusion Energy Boost #15H lined up 13th in the field and Sam was able to steadily work his way forward while running the bottom of the track all of the way around the big half-mile.
The middle stages of the race saw Sam battling intensely with Byron Reed and Craig Dollansky for a top-10 position before Reed took a terrible tumble in turn 3 to bring out a red flag.
As the race wore on Hafertepe continued to steadily move forward and found himself 8th on a restart behind Craig Dollansky and just ahead of Schatz.
Sam made a great restart and was able to slip underneath of Dollansky to take 7th. The trio of Sam, Schatz and Dollansky ran 3-wide into turn 3 with Sam coming out ahead. Hafertepe was able to actually pull away from the pair on the last lap and closed down on Jac Haudenschild for 6th but ran out of time as he crossed the line in 7th.
“We’ve always struggled at this track and slick tracks in general”, said the 3rd year World of Outlaws racer. “I think before tonight the best we had run here was 17th. Fortunately in the last few weeks we seem to have found something for these slick tracks which bodes well for us heading into the hot, summer months”.
The Plumbfast Racing Team is now off to Indiana for a two night show at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
“We are just hoping to keep running like we have”, said Sam. “Kory Miller’s been doing an awesome job here for me and we seem to finally be getting the monkey off of our backs and from everything I’ve heard we should put on a great show”.
FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-The last 4 races have been very successful for the Plumbfast Racing Team both in terms of results as well as in the pocketbook.
“We’ve made almost as much in the last 4 races as we have in the rest of the races combined”, explained Sam. “It’s almost impossible to make a profit out here but to be able to take in that much money is very important for the team. My father spends a lot of money to help me live my dream and anything that I can put back into his pocket and anything I can do to make this easier for him is just so important to me”.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECIEVE SAM”S PRESS RELEASE DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX SEND AN E-MAIL TO: sam15press@gmail.com WITH THE SUBJECT HEADING “SAM”
- administrator on Jun 03, 2009
- Article Date: 6/3/2009