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Hafertepe Snares Top 10 in Fargo, 12th in Minot

Sunnyvale, Texas-Sam Hafertepe Jr and the Plumbfast Racing Team made up for a disappointing run Friday night at River Cities Speedway with a top-10 effort at Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday night. It was Hafertepe’s second straight top-10 run at the facility that is quickly becoming one of Sam’s favourites. The team followed the run up the following evening at Nodak Speedway with a 12th place run.
The night didn’t get off to the greatest of starts at Red River Valley as the Fusion Energy Boost #15H wasn’t as good as Sam wanted and as a result his warm-up time placed him mid-pack.
Sam along with Chief Mechanic Kory Miller went to work at tuning the #15H and they were rewarded with a lap 16.787 which put Sam just outside of the top 10 in 11th. The qualifying effort would result in a coveted front row starting spot in the heat.
The heat race would prove to be very intense for the Sunnyvale, Texas racer. The top 2 cars earn a direct transfer to the Dash which can lead to some very intense racing for the top 2 positions.
At the drop of the green Sam got a nice run and led the field through turns 1 and 2. Hafertepe put it on the fence while Danny Lasoski ran in 2nd on the bottom. Sam appeared to be cruising to an easy heat race victory when a local car slowed to a stop to bring out the yellow.
The restart saw Sam once again head for the top while Lasoski went to the bottom and was able to sneak past Sam and into the lead. Hafertepe now had to milk every ounce of speed from his car as he was beginning to feel the pressure from 20-time WoO champion Steve Kinser. Kinser like Lasoski before him was running the bottom and on the white flag lap had a run on Sam. Hafertepe, sensing Kinser’s presence switched his line and headed for the bottom in turns 1 and 2. There was nearly contact between the pair but Sam was able to come out ahead and cover the final lap to earn a spot in the Crane Cams Dash.
“You have to make the move I made on the white flag lap”, explained Sam. “That’s one of the differences between most locals and an Outlaw. You have to be willing to change lanes and you have to be willing to take away lanes. I’m sure had the roles been reversed that Steve would have done the exact same thing”.
Despite the great run in the heat Sam would have his work cut out for him as when it came time pull a starting spot number in the Dash the 3rd year WoO racer pulled the dreaded “10” pill.
Any intentions Sam had of making a charge went out the window at the start of the Dash when the car hiked up on the right rear viciously heading into the first corner. Sam gathered the car up and began to chase down Lucas Wolfe but ran out of time. He would have to settle for a 10th place start in the A Feature.
The feature race went non-stop with action all over the speedway. Sam held the 10th position on the opening lap and began pressuring Lucas Wolfe early. Unfortunately Sam’s attempts to pass Wolfe gave Steve Kinser an opportunity to slip past Sam and drop him to 11th. Sam spent the rest of the feature race chasing down Wolfe for 10th while the pair diced through lapped traffic, sometimes going 3-wide.
“It was pretty hairy out there”, said Sam. “They’ve offered a bonus to the locals so they are out there racing each other pretty hard. Most of them stayed on the bottom while the Outlaws ran the top but every now and then you’d come up to a lapped car running the top and you’d have to make some tough decisions a lot quicker than you want to”.
As the laps wound down Sam began to close in on Wolfe and with just a few laps remaining he made a bold move to the top side of the speedway to blast past a lapped car and Wolfe and into the top 10. The rest of the race would end without incident and Sam had himself a 10th place finish.
The team made most of the 4 hour haul from Red River Valley Speedway to Nodak Speedway in Minot, ND during the morning following Saturday night’s race. Sam had suspected that he had a rear end going bad the night before and unfortunately when Chief Mechanic Kory Miller checked it Sam’s fears were realized. Miller along with Sam and crew member Daryl Turford swapped out rear ends, performed routine maintenance and had the Fusion Energy Boost #15H ready to go.
“We’d been seeing hints that the rear might go bad the last few times Kory maintenance the car”, explained Sam. “During the feature at Red River Valley I could smell the rear end going bad and we were fortunate to finish the race because it was just about to give up on us”.
Qualifying appeared to go well for Sam as he set quick time up to that point with a lap of 14.642. The track would get faster through time trials however and Sam would fall down the speed charts and eventually earn the 9th fastest time which put him on the outside of the front row for his heat.
The first start in Sam’s heat was called back when Brian Ellenberger jumped the initial start. Danny Lasoski moved to the pole position. Lasoski got the jump on Sam heading into turn 1 and Donny Schatz was able to duck underneath of Hafertepe as the duo raced through turns 3 and 4. Sam would run the rest of the heat uncontested in 3rd position. As a result of his finish the Fusion Energy Boost #15H was locked into the 11th starting spot for the feature race.
Sam was able to sneak under Jason Meyers coming out of turn 4 on the opening lap of the feature race but 1 lap later the race went yellow. The restart saw Meyers head to the top part of the speedway and drive back around for 10th.
As the race wore on Sam began trying to chase down Sides for 10th. During the midway point of the feature Sides nearly lost control of his car allowing Sam to close up. Sam then got back on the gas but Sides hadn’t quite saved it yet and the two made contact. The pair kept going but Sam lost the 11th position to Lucas Wolfe in the mess.
“Jason made a motion when I hit him”, recalled Sam. “He was giving me a thumbs up because he’d killed the motor trying to gather up his mess and when I hit him it fired his car back up. I thought he was giving me a different signal and I got pretty fired up until I talked to him after the races”.
Hafertepe was able to close back down on Wolfe and following a yellow flag on lap 24 the pair spent 2 laps side by side with neither giving an inch. Wolfe was eventually able to hold on to the spot after working the top side of the track. Sam tried over the final laps to pass the 2008 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year but in the end had to settle for a 12th place finish.
“It was pretty frustrating”, said Sam. “Everyone was so even so even though we were pretty close on the setup it didn’t matter and it was tough to move forward. We did pick up a vibration in the right rear near the end but other than that we were pretty decent”.
The team will now prepare for next weekend’s races in Cameron, MO and Knoxville, Iowa.
FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-Most World of Outlaws fans may not know that Sam attempted to run stock cars a few years back as he competed in 3 ARCA races. During the 2004 season Sam made 3 starts with a best finish of 13th at Nashville Speedway.
“We had a top-5 run going in my first race at Nashville when there was a yellow with just a few laps remaining”, recalled Sam. “The crew chief looked at my Dad and asked him if he wanted to buy another set of tires for the final sprint. My dad decided I was doing a great job and that I might be able to keep the car up front. Unfortunately when everyone got fresh tires they blew by and I dropped to 13th in those final laps”.
Sam’s ARCA career was cut short early however 2 races later when another car spun out of the warm-up lane and directly into Sam’s path. The car was totalled.
“That was one of the hardest hits I’ve ever taken”, said Sam. “Following that crash we decided that the exposure we were getting for my parents investment wasn’t worth it and we decided to focus solely on sprint cars”.
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Support the people who support Sam: Fusion Energy Boost, G-H Plumbing, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, AFCO Shocks, Wings Unlimited and Smiley’s Race Products

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