From Inside Line Promotions
Tulsa, OK — (January, 22, 2014) – Although the 28th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire didn’t end the way Sam Hafertepe Jr. envisioned, he took several valuable lessons from his performance during the premier midget event last weekend at Tulsa Expo Raceway.
“I wasn’t mad about our performance,” he said. “We didn’t make the adjustments that we needed or catch the breaks that we needed. I feel like we have a good idea of where we need to start coming into the race next year.”
Hafertepe Jr. had an ominous start to the event during his qualifying night last Thursday. After starting on the outside of the second row in his heat race, Hafertepe Jr. was spun around on the opening lap. He restarted at the back and powered to a fourth-place finish despite a tight race car.
“We got it a little bit tight in the heat race,” he said. “I felt like we still should have run second or so. We got spun on the first lap and it put us to the back. We just never could get going after that. We got bottled behind a bunch of guys. Nobody really held a line so it was hard to get by those guys.”
Hafertepe Jr. advanced to a qualifier, which he started last – 10th. As the car began to handle better, Hafertepe Jr. charged toward the front and made a last-lap pass for the sixth position. However, it was ruled that he hit a cone on the frontstretch during a restart and was penalized two positions in the results.
“I guess I hit the cone coming down the frontstretch one time,” he said. “I didn’t realize I hit it at all. That hurt us pretty bad for track position.”
Hafertepe Jr. was relegated to start eighth in a B Main, which is when the car came alive.
“I felt like our car was the best it was all weekend in the B Main that night,” he said. “We just kept making improvements on it. We got to the point where we were pretty good.”
Hafertepe Jr. rallied to place third in the consolation and earn a transfer to the 25-lap main event, which he started 21st.
“We wanted to try to make the car a little bit better and I think we got carried away with a few things,” he said. “We got the car so tight we couldn’t really maneuver. We couldn’t really move around.”
Hafertepe Jr. ended with a 20th-place result. It started him fifth in a D Main during Saturday’s finale.
“I figured we’d probably maintain or pass a couple of cars,” he said. “I felt like we weren’t a D Main car, but based on our performance that’s where it put us. I felt like we were a front of a C Main or back of a B Main car based on the speed we had.”
After driving to the runner-up position on the opening lap, Hafertepe Jr. was crashed when the leader spun in the middle of a corner several laps into the D Main. Although Hafertepe Jr. restarted the race, his car was damaged and he ended with a 15th-place finish.
“We got up to second out of turn two right away,” he said. “I think (the leader) got in to the corner a little too hot one time and he looped it and collected us. The front axle was bent up. There’s sometimes things in racing you can’t control.”
Hafertepe Jr. is scheduled to open his sprint car schedule Feb. 6-8 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., for the 3rd annual Bubba Army Winter Nationals with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 16 – Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. – Heat race: 4 (4); Qualifier: 8 (10); B Main: 3 (8); Feature: 20 (21).
Jan. 18 – Tulsa Expo Raceway in Tulsa, Okla. – D Main: 15 (5).
UP NEXT –
Feb. 6-8 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., for the 3rd annual Bubba Army Winter Nationals with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.Sam15.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/