2011 has continues to be a deam season for Sam Hafertepe Jr. and The Plumbfast Racing Team as they turned in another strong performance Friday night against The World of Outlaws at Attica and then backed it up Saturday night against The All Star Circuit of Champions at Mercer.
Friday night at Attica saw Sam get off to another fast start as he was one of the fastest of the 57 cars in warm-ups and then backed it up by laying down the 3rd fastest time in time trials.
Dale Blaney raced his was into the Dash through his heat and as a result Sam only had to run in the top 4 in his heat to garauntee a start in the Dash.
Hafertepe immediately worked his way past Greg Wilson and Jessica Zemken and into 2nd where he was running when a caution flew. On the restart Sam worked his way into the lead past Jac Haudenschild but "The Wild Child" charged back around the top to take the lead. Hafertepe then surrendered 2nd to Kraig Kinser and crossed the stripe in 3rd.
"I was just taking it easy out there," explained Sam. "I knew we were in a dash spot and I wasn't going to risk our car. If I went at it really hard with Haud who knows what would have happened and Kraig wanted that spot pretty badly after timing in poorly so I wasn't going to race either guy particularily hard because we had a lot more to lose than they did."
Following the Dash inversion draw Sam found his Lone Star Speedway Maxim-Fisher #15h lining up in the 3rd position. From the drop of the green flag Sam found himself in an intense battle with several cars and unfortunately he got the short end of the stick as he dropped to 6th after losing positions to Donny Schatz and Craig Dollansky.
Sam and the team made several changes to the car for the feature in an attempt to hook up on Attica's tricky surface and in the opening laps of the race the changes didn't appear to pay off. Sam dropped from 6th to 9th in the field until a lap 23 caution changed the complexion of Sam's race.
"I was sitting in the car under the yellow and I was trying to think of what to do," explained Sam. "I wanted to pull the wing back but the front end was already light so I wasn't sure that I should do it but I figured we were going backwards anyway so I decided to put the wing all the way in the trunk and on the restart I couldn't believe how good the car started sticking."
Following the drop of the green flag Sam immediately started working his way through the field. As Hafertepe moved his way forward he soon found himself as part of the meat in an Elite Racing sandwich as he began a torrid battle between himself, Jason Meyers and Stevie Smith. The trio battled furiously for the 4th position with all 3 drivers utilizing all parts of the speedway to their advantage until Smith spun suddenly in turn 4 to bring out a caution with 4 laps remaining.
Hafertepe was able to work his way past Steve Kinser on the restart and into 3rd. Sam appeared to be poised to battle with Craig Dollansky and Donny Schatz for the lead when another caution flew 1 lap later. The caution would be Sam's undoing in terms of having a chance to capture his first World of Outlaws feature win.
"We were being really aggressive on tire pressure," explained Sam. "We probably ran them lower than most of the other teams and when we had such a long yellow I could feel the right rear bleeding off and getting lower and lower. I kept buzzing the tires to try to keep them where they needed to be but they were just a little too low and on the restart I just tried to hold on."
A final restart would allow Tim Shaffer to work his way past Sam but the Sunnyvale, Texas racer was able to cover the last 3 laps and hold on for 4th.
"That was a pretty satisfying race," said Sam following the feature. "Last time were here we ran 5th against The Outlaws and we thought we'd be hard pressed to run better than that but we were pretty good all night and we were able to get the job done."
The following night the team made the decision to skip The World of Outlaws event at I-96 and instead headed to Mercer to take on The All Star Circuit of Champions.
Despite never having seen the track before Sam unloaded fast in warm-ups but a late draw would hurt his chances at a win.
Sam laid down a lap of 14.094 which was far better than anyone around him in time trials but was only good for 11th fastest.
"Honestly, we laid down one heck of a lap," said Sam. "We went out late and no one around us was even close. We ran a 14.0, the problem was that everyone else it seemed like did too. Pittman ran a 14.0 and he was 3rd quick. So even though we were right there, the format buried us."
Hafertepe lined up for his heat race in the 4th position and finished there.
"Pittman got us on the start but we were able to work our way around a car too," said Sam. "As the race wore on we began to track Pittman down but we just ran out of laps."
Sam lined up for the feature event from the 8th position. In the opening laps he was able to work his way around Jessica Zemken for 7th as he settled in on the bottom.
"The track wasn't exactly ideal for passing," said Sam. "Once everyone got in line there wasn't much I could do. You pretty much just got in line, hope someone messed up and missed the bottom and hopefully you could drive under them."
Sam himself slipped up in turns 3 and 4 which allowed Brian Ellenberger to work his way past him but a late race spin by Bob Felmlee would move Sam back up to 7th where he would finish.
Following 2 top 10 runs this weekend Hafertepe will now find himself once again strapped to the frame rails of The Pancho's Racing Products #93 as the team prepares to embark on The Keystone Cup starting at Grandview on Wednesday night.
"I'm really looking forward to running this," explained Sam. "You sit there on The Outlaw tour and you kind of get jealous that those guys in Ohio and Pennsylvania get to run those speedweek races while you're sitting in some truck stop or a Wal-Mart parking lot biding your time and waiting for the next Outlaw race so it's nice to actually be a part of it. I think we've gotten the car better and better every race and I'm hoping that the team will continue to gel like it has because I think before long you're going to see that #93 car up front at the end of the night."
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.
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- administrator on May 23, 2011
- Article Date: 5/23/2011