Bryan Hulbert – SUNNYVALE, Texas (June 10, 2019) Bringing his win total on the year to five, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. captured his second ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek title this past week. Despite battling with Mother Nature throughout the five-race series, three on track appearances netted just as many podium finishes, along with a pair of wins in Lawton, Okla. and Salina, Kan.
“I’m really pleased with the speed we gained over this past week. Really, over the past four weeks we’ve started settling in on what our cars like,” commented Hafertepe on his recent performances. “With these new cars we’ve been running, I really thought it was going to take longer to get some wins, but it seems like they’ve been reacting really well to the changes we’ve been making, and everything is starting to click really well.”
Rained out in Amarillo, the action picked up on Tuesday, June 4 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway with a third-place finish after battling with Travis Rilat for the race lead.
“We freed the car up for the feature, and even before I went out, I said I don’t think it matters how much we free it up, it’s not going to be enough. I’ve raced Devi’s Bowl enough, I pretty much know how it’s going to turn out and it was one of those tracks where it got heavy, rough, and technical as the night went on, which doesn’t suit my program at all. We missed a race earlier this year because the tracks were heavy and rough, but with the experience I have around that place, we were able to salvage a good finish.”
Back on a wide slick track the following night at Lawton Speedway, Hafertepe was challenged for a moment during the A-Feature by Scott Bogucki but was able to get back to the top spot before it was all said and done on a track that proved to be tricky and caught several teams off guard.
“We knew what we were looking at, and still weren’t very good for it,” commented Hafertepe on the feel of the car. “Overall, we were good, and the track was more suited to what we like. The one restart where I moved down, I knew I shouldn’t have second guessed myself and we were lucky we were good enough that we could be back around Scott without having to chase him for a bunch of laps.”
Suffering rain again at Creek County Speedway, the team rolled into Salina Speedway on Saturday where Sam was able to hold off several attempts by John Carney II in the closing laps for his first victory at the three-eighths-mile oval. Key to that success was Sam’s ability to move around in the third and fourth turns where most of the field was stuck to the bottom line.
“I went back and watch the race, and in all honesty, I don’t think anybody trusted it out there, and I had been pinching off the bottom of four the entire race until I got to lapped traffic. I would make up a bunch of time on them entering, but they’d just leave me off the exit. Seeing that, I started making the adjustment in the car and because we did lap so many cars, I just don’t think they saw what I saw, and that allowed us to capitalize and get off the bottom where there just wasn’t much left.”
Coming up next for Hafertepe, the team will begin the trek to the Northwest with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network with this weekend landing the team in Aberdeen, S.D. for Brown County Speedway on Friday, June 14 and Rapid City, S.D. on Saturday, June 15 for Black Hills Speedway.
For continued updates on Sam Hafertepe, Jr. log onto http://www.sam15.com and make sure to find him on Twitter (@samhafertepejr). For news on Hill’s Racing Team, log onto https://www.facebook.com/hillsracing/ and on Twitter (@HillsRacingTeam).
2019 Season to Date:
Events: 18; Wins -5 ; Top 5 – 10; Top 10 – 12; Top 20 – 13;
Coming Up:
June 14 – Brown County Speedway (Aberdeen, S.D.)
June 15 – Black Hills Speedway (Rapid City, S.D.)
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011628097506
Website: http://www.sam15.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samhafertepejr
The Sponsors:
Hill’s Racing Team, Townline Variety, Heidbreder Foundation Service, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping, Fisher Racing Engines, Super Shox, J&J Chassis, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Huggins Cams, Champion Oil, The Sparks Family, Lonestar Speedway, Keizer Wheels, XYZ Machining, Simpson Racing Products, CP-Carrillo, KSE Power Steering, FK Rod Ends, BMRS, Allstar Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Vortex Wings, DMI, Wilwood Brakes, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Hwy. 79 Collision.
- Bryan Hulbert on Jun 11, 2019
- Article Date: 6/11/2019