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CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 11, 2013) – Sam Hafertepe Jr. showcased his speed last weekend at the 7th annual World Finals.
Hafertepe Jr. scored his 28th top 10 of the season on Friday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte to kick off the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season finale, which was taped for a delayed television broadcast by CBS Sports Network.
“I feel really good about our performance,” he said. “Obviously Saturday night wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but we kinda buried ourselves through qualifying. We were still satisfied with the way we performed. It made us feel really good to go in there and run as good as we did. We ended on a really good note with our car and some ideas of things that we were doing.”
With more than 50 competitors on hand for the qualifying only event on Thursday, Hafertepe Jr. timed in sixth quickest for the Friday program and 27 th quickest for the Saturday program.
“We qualified really good the first set and then the track started to go away and we didn’t tighten the car up the second set,” he said.
That put the team in a good position for Friday night, when Hafertepe Jr. finished fourth in his heat race to advance to the main event. After starting on the outside of the seventh row, he began to work toward the front from the time the green flag was waved.
“On the start of the race everybody got tight around the bottom,” he said. “I ran the top for a few laps and picked up two, three, four spots. Once we got going we committed to running the bottom. It was me getting in a rhythm and figuring out exactly what the car was needing to get through the corner.”
Hafertepe Jr. cracked the top 10 in the second half of the event and made a late bid for a top five before finishing eighth, which was two positions away from tying his career-best result at the World Finals.
“We kept pounding the bottom toward the end,” he said. “We were reeling in (Daryn) Pittman, (Jason) Sides and (Cody) Darrah for the next three spots and ran out of time.”
The team returned to the 4/10-mile oval to conclude the season on Saturday. However, Hafertepe Jr. was unable to find any luck and narrowly missed out on the feature.
After starting sixth in the eight-lap heat race, which advanced the top-four finishers to the $12,000-to-win main event, Hafertepe Jr. moved to fifth place and just couldn’t find his way around the fourth-place driver. That sent Hafertepe Jr. to the Last Chance Showdown, which he started seventh.
Hafertepe Jr. quickly picked up a pair of positions and was closing in on the fourth-and-final transfer position when contact with another driver spun him around.
“In the B Main we got a run on the guy in fourth,” Hafertepe Jr. said. “He came off the cushion and he had turned across the race track. He got us in the right front tire. We spun and fell back and really couldn’t make up any spots.”
Hafertepe Jr. kept the car going and he placed 10th in the consolation race.
“I thought we were really fast,” he said. “It’s good to be fast and have a strong run. It gets us pretty confident going into the offseason about good things for next year.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Nov. 8 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 6; Heat race: 4 (3); Feature: 8 (14).
Nov. 9 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 27; Heat race: 5 (6); B Main: 10 (7).
SEASON STATS –
72 races, 4 wins, 11 top fives, 28 top 10s, 38 top 15s, 43 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Jan. 14-18 at the Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, Okla., for the 28th annual Chili Bowl Nationals
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.Sam15.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
APPAREL –
Hafertepe Jr. has t-shirts for sale at his race trailer at every race this year. For his schedule, visit http://www.Sam15.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Lone Star Speedway
A high-banked, 3/8-mile oval located in Kilgore, Texas, Lone Star Speedway was reopened in 2009 by the Hafertepe family. For more information, visit http://www.LoneStarSpeedway.
“Lone Star Speedway is owned by a racing family who wants to make it into a premier facility in the country,” Hafertepe Jr. said.
Hafertepe Jr. would also like to thank Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Smiley’s Racing Products, Fisher Racing Engines, J&J Auto Racing, Pro Shocks by OC Shocks, Fire-Down Graphics, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Vortex Wings, Kear’s Speed Shop, Pancho’s Racing Products, GPC, Joe Gibbs Racing Oils, Zemco Headers, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping and Simpson Racing Products for their continued support.