Sam Hafertepe Jr. and The Plumbfast Racing Team had a very successful weekend racing against The World of Outlaws (WoO) as he scored two 6th place finishes. Friday night saw Sam drive a steady race at Pike County before he duplicated his finish the following evening during The WoO's only visit to his home state of Texas at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston.
Friday night at Pike offered very difficult track conditions for the drivers as there were several big holes in the turns and the surface was not in very good shape.
Sam went out early in time trials and laid down the 9th fastest lap.
"I thought we were in big trouble during my time trial run," said Sam. "I told my guys after warm-ups that I couldn't really describe how my car felt other than weird. We made changes but the car really still wasn't that great and I didn't make particularily great laps, but I guess neither did anyone else."
The 9th place time trial placed Sam on the outside of the front row for his heat which he won easily over Lucas Wolfe after getting the jump on the start.
Sam started 9th in the Dash and was able to work his way past Danny Lasoski into the 8th position where he would line up for the feature race.
Hafertepe made a few moves early to get to the front and after some early cautions the Sunnyvale, Texas native had his Lone Star Speedway, Maxim-Fisher running 5th. Sam would hold his top 5 position until a late race red with 6 laps remaining.
"During the red Daryl told me that Joey Saldana was coming on really strong from the back," explained Sam. "We didn't really make any changes to the car and I just hoped we had enough to hold Joey off and hang on to the top 5 spot because I knew we didn't have anything for the front 4 cars."
Unfortunately Saldana got a little better restart and was able to work his way past Sam. Hafertepe ran a steady last couple of laps and brought the car home with a solid 6th place finish.
"Going into the weekend I really didn't expect to run that good," said Sam. "I've raced at Pike before with the ASCS and The Outlaws and to be honest we've never really run good here ever so to be as fast as we were really meant a lot to us."
That evening the team drove through the night for the only race of the year against The Outlaws in Sam's home state at Royal Purple Raceway.
Sam struggled in qualifying and just barely made the inversion cut with the 12th fastest lap.
"The car was actually dynamite in the corners but I was actually struggling and having to turn the car down the straightaway and that killed our time," explained Sam. "I'm sure that cost us at least 2/10ths."
The heat race got off to an exciting start as Sam and his fellow front row starter Joey Saldana made contact entering turn 1 with Joey nearly crashing.
"My guys told me that I needed to be on the top all of the way around in the heat," recalled Sam. "I knew I had to get up there and I had a good jump, I guess Joey had a good run coming off the top and we touched going into turn 1."
Following the contact Sam settled in and drove off to a dominating heat race victory to earn himself the 10th place starting spot in the Dash which is also where he finished it.
"We knew everyone would be single-file on the top so we tried some things to see if we could get around the bottom better," explained Sam. "The car was too tight though so we just couldn't really get anything going."
The feature however was a different story. At the drop of the green flag Sam dropped back to 13th but soon found the top suited his car best and began to take the long way around to work his way back to the front.
Hafertepe began tearing back through the field and was particularily impressive on the top of turns 1 and 2. By the race's halfway point Sam was safely in the top 10 and going for more. At one point in the feature Sam was as high as 5th but started slipping back a little as the bottom of turns 3 and 4 began taking rubber.
"Steve Kinser and Chad Kemenah passed me down there so I figured I should start trying down there," said Sam. "Once we got the red my dad and Daryl told me that I needed to get down there to so I knew where I needed to be."
A restart with a few laps remaining afforded Sam one last chance to move forward and he took advantage of it driving past Kinser with 2 to go and closing on to Kemenah's rear bumper for 7th on the white flag lap. A last lap Jason Meyers spin moved Sam up one position to 6th which was where Sam would finish the feature after applying heavy pressure to Kemenah.
"We are really getting consistent," said Sam following the feature. "I was really worried that based on my past we would struggle here and at Pike so to come out with two 6th place finishes, as well as another one in the finale at Volusia really says a lot about our team this year."
Sam will once again race close to home this weekend as he will compete with the ASCS Gulf South Region in Texas.
"There are 2 $3000 to win shows here in Texas at Beaumont and Battlegound," explained Sam. "We are trying to be at least a little fiscally logical so to tow out to Vegas and run with The Outlaws doesn't really make a lot of sense when there are two good paying races close to home that I feel like we have as good of a chance to win as anybody. We've got everything ready to go and loaded up so hopefully we can give the ASCS guys all they can handle."
Sam would like to thank the following supporters: Plumbfast Mechanical, Lone Star Speedway, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Pancho's Racing Products, Kear's Speed Shop, PPM Titanium Products, GPC Race Products, Butlerbuilt, Infinity Shocks, DMI, Finish Line Machining, Joe Gibbs Racing Oil, Smiley's Racing Products, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Vortex Wings, AFCO Racing Shocks, Simpson Racing Products.
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- administrator on Mar 03, 2011
- Article Date: 3/3/2011