Sam Hafertepe Jr. scored the biggest win of his young career this past weekend as he charged to a comeback victory with The Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour in The Spring Nationals at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. Hafertepe nearly swept the weekend at his home town track as he scored a 2nd place finish in the preliminary feature on Friday night.
Hafertepe rolled off the trailer fast on his opening night as he won his heat race from the pole after he held off a determined charge by Jeff Swindell.
“The track was still slimy so it was kind of hard out there,” said Sam. “Normally when we get out front we kind of take off so for Jeff to stay with us in open air was very impressive and really foreshadowed the rest of the evening.”
The Plumbfast Racing Team was left with a dilemma as they tried to prepare for the feature.
“We were in the first heat race of the evening and the track was still slimy,” said Sam. “We really had no idea what we should do to the car and it left us playing a guessing game. Daryl and I decided that since the car was tight in the heat that the track would come to us so we made very few changes to the car and basically left it how it was for the heat.”
Hafertepe steadily made his way through the field as the green flag dropped in the feature after starting 7th.
“We were still tight in the feature but we weren’t way off or anything,” Sam said. “You had to be really precise and VERY disciplined out there. There was a reason you saw guys like Swindell and Jason Johnson up front and it’s because you really had to run on another level to run up front with the line being so narrow and difficult to hit. Swindell did an incredible job up front and drove an incredibly disciplined race. He was going to be VERY tough to beat.”
The second half of the race saw Johnson and Hafertepe pursue Swindell doggedly through traffic as fans held their breath throughout the intense action. Hafertepe found an opening late in the race to pass Johnson but Jason was able to shut the door.
“I was able to get under Jason exiting turn 2 in traffic but he was already heading down to the bottom of the straightaway,” explained Sam. “I was pretty sure he didn’t know I was there and I knew I was locked in the top 4 for the next night so I got on the brakes. I think if I hadn’t wussied out we’d have gotten Jason there and been in a position to win the feature.”
Sam seem destined to finish the feature 3rd when he was handed a gift coming to the white flag as Swindell blew a left rear tire and spun. The yellow set up a green-white-checker finish but a lapped car separated Johnson and Sam. Johnson took off on the start and by the time Hafertepe cleared the lapped car he had run out of time.
As a result of finishing in the top 4 on the preliminary night Sam was locked into the re-draw for Saturday night’s finale.
“It was really nice to have that pressure off,” said Sam. “Daryl and I were able to take our time getting ready and we’re able to catch up with a lot of friends we don’t normally get to talk to when we’re traveling.”
The re-draw was very kind to Sam for the first time this season.
“We haven’t drawn better than a 7th in our 3 re-draws that we were in this season,” said Sam. “Daryl drew two 8’s and I drew a 7 so we needed to change things up. The smartest move we made all weekend was having my girlfriend Brandi draw our number and sure enough she pulled the 1.”
Sam jumped to the lead in the feature but it soon became evident that he did not have a very good car as he began to drop through the field. At the race’s midway point Sam was back to 5th and facing pressure from the 6th and 7th place cars.
“We had the car way too tight for the feature again,” said Sam. “However the real big issue was that my wing slider wasn’t working and was pushing the wing back all of the way which made the car really hard to drive. I couldn’t hold the bottom and I knew I was in trouble so under the yellow I decided that it was time to go searching.”
On a lap 17 restart Sam drove through the middle and blasted by Wayne Johnson and had pulled side by side with Danny Lasoski for 3rd when Johnson hit an infield tire and brought out the yellow. The following restart saw Sam again blast the middle past Lasoski and 2nd place running Brady Bacon only to have Bacon slow a few seconds later to bring out another yellow.
“Inside the car I was getting very frustrated,” explained Sam. “I figured I had shown Lasoski the line I was using twice and that he was probably going to take it away from me. I was almost positive he would and I thought we’d lost any chance to win the race.”
The restart saw Sam drive into turns 1 and 2 through the middle and much to Sam’s surprise Lasoski had chosen to run only slightly higher than the leader Brian Brown.
“Those two kept on the bottom and left me my line,” said Sam. “We got a nice run and I was able to blow by them. From there on out I just tried to make good laps and the rubber started to lay down which made things easier.”
A late race yellow gave Shane Stewart who had follow Sam’s line into 2nd one last shot to take the win from Sam. Hafertepe had a great restart and pulled away from Stewart over the final laps to score his 2nd career Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour win and second ASCS win of the season.
The victory lane celebration was wild as Hafertepe could hardly contain his emotions.
“This is by far the biggest win of my career,” said the Sunnyvale, Texas native. “My house is 10 minutes from here. I grew up racing here. I always struggled here and we’d never really come close to winning. The last few years of traveling had prevented us from really running here and I honestly wondered if I would ever get a win at my home track. To pull it off in a race of this magnitude against this type of competition says so much about how far my team and myself have come. I’ll never forget this race and to win it after we seemed so out of contention just made it that much more sweet.”
Hafertepe and the team will now take a weekend off to help prepare his family’s Lone Star Speedway for The Lucas Oil Late Model series which will compete at the facility this weekend before they head to Ohio to compete at Attica against The All Star Circuit of Champions.
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, Torco Racing Oils, Smiley's Racing Products, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Vortex Wings, AFCO Racing Shocks, Simpson Racing Products, Quick Sand Express Inc.
If you would like to receive Sam’s press releases send an e-mail to: sam15press@gmail.com
- administrator on Mar 30, 2011
- Article Date: 3/30/2011