From Bryan Hulbert
Fort Worth, TX — (September 12, 2014) — Mother Nature tried, but a little rain wasn’t enough to stop the opening night of the Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track National Championship as Sam Hafertepe, Jr. picked up his fourth Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour A-Feature win of the season, and sixth overall with the national arm of the American Sprint Car Series.
Along with the $3,000 winner’s purse, Sam also took home Port-a-Cool Cyclone 3000, a Charlie 1 Horse Hat, and a custom painted commemorative Helmet.
His first win at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track, the Sunnyvale, Texas shoe walked to a 5.280 second advantage at the checkered flag, “I’ll tell you what, there isn’t a better car out there than that one right there,” said Hafertepe when asked about his performance. “The last few laps, it got a little edgy coming off of four. I kind of used my tires up because I was driving the dog **** out of that thing, but it was worth it though to get the win tonight.”
Drawing the fourth spot for the night’s 25 lap A-Feature, Hafertepe jumped to third on the start; giving chase to Danny Jennings and race leader Kevin Ramey. Pulling to second on Lap 10, Hafertepe trailed by a half straight-a-way on Ramey as the red flag flew on Lap 13 for Johnny Herrera who went upside down in turn four. Herrera was okay and was scored nineteenth.
Back to green, Hafertepe wasted no time diving to the lead in turn one. Clearing the nose of Ramey’s No. 7m, Kevin dropped to the center line to drive past the Lone Star Speedway No. 15h going into turn three. Swapping lines into the turn, Hafertepe again threw the slide job; this time sticking the cushion for the lead exiting the fourth turn.
Leaving Kevin Ramey, who had been fighting a waning tire since the red flag, the Ft. Worth, Texas driver held off Danny Jennings, but low pressure in the left rear of the No. 7m finally took its toll as the Hoosier shredded entering turn one. Doing a masterful job of keeping the car upright and out of traffic, the caution flew as Kevin came to a rest exiting turn two. Kevin was scored seventeenth.
On the restart, there was no challenge for Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Danny Jennings crossed second for his best finish with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour in 2014. Fresh off a victory at the Jackson Nationals, eighth starting Matt Covington crossed third with Stevie Smith from tenth taking the last pass into Saturday night’s A-Feature. Jason Johnson completed the top five.
Jeff Swindell was sixth with Sean McClelland seventh from thirteenth. Brad Loyet climbed 14 spots to earn the night’s KSE Hard Charger of the Race with Channin Tankersley from twentieth to ninth. Ray Allen Kulhanek completed the top ten.
In the championship battle, Brad Loyet continues to lead with Jeff Swindell and Jason Johnson now tied for second sitting 86 points back. The win moved Sam Hafertepe, Jr. to fourth only 90 points out with the crash costing Herrera a spot to slip to fifth now 121 points back.
The Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track Championship brought 39 drivers for the Friday prelim. Five Heat Races went to Danny Jennings, Scottie McDonald, Jeff Swindell, Aaron Reutzel, and Sam Hafertepe, Jr. A pair of B-Features went to Tim Crawley and Dustin Morgan. Tony Bruce, Jr. took a provisional into the A-Feature.
The Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track Championship continues on Saturday, September 13, 2014 with gates opening at 4:00 P.M. (CT). and races beginning at 8:00 P.M. (CT). For updates and information on events at the Texas Motor Speedway, log onto http://www.texasmotorspeedway.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com
Race Results:
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real
Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track – Ft. Worth, Texas
Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track National Championship
Friday, September 12, 2014
Car Count: 39
SpeedMart Heat Races (8 laps): Winners plus the next 11 highest in Passing Points transfer to the A-Feature.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings[1]; 2. 7M-Kevin Ramey[4]; 3. 33-Zach Chappell[3]; 4. 4-Stevie Smith[7]; 5. 21X-Taylor Velasquez[6]; 6. 19-Patrick Stasa[2]; 7. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[5]; 8. (DNF) 18-Tony Bruce Jr[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Scottie McDonald[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 3. T5-Ty Williams[3]; 4. 3H-Brandon Hanks[6]; 5. 29-Travis Rilat[7]; 6. 05-Brad Loyet[8]; 7. 02-Brandon Long[2]; 8. 2K-John Kelly[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 94-Jeff Swindell[1]; 2. 48-Jake Martens[3]; 3. 93-Dustin Morgan[2]; 4. 17T-Channin Tankersley[4]; 5. 74B-John Carney II[6]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[8]; 7. 11-Roger Crockett[5]; 8. 12W-Dale Wester[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[2]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 4. 17-Blake Hahn[6]; 5. 14-Michael Lang[5]; 6. 55-Brad Queen[3]; 7. 4X-Shawn Petersen[8]; 8. 5-Joe Bob Lee[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera[2]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson[6]; 4. 45-Martin Edwards[4]; 5. 4J-Tim Crawley[5]; 6. 17W-Harli White[7]; 7. 5X-Tyson Hall[3]
Smiley’s Racing Products B-Features (12 laps): Top 3 from each advance to the A-Feature.
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 4J-Tim Crawley[6]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 3. 45-Martin Edwards[3]; 4. 29-Travis Rilat[2]; 5. 19-Patrick Stasa[8]; 6. 74B-John Carney II[4]; 7. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[10]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett[9]; 9. 4X-Shawn Petersen[7]; 10. 12W-Dale Wester[11]; 11. (DNF) 5T-Ty Williams[1]; 12. (DNF) 2K-John Kelly[12]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 17T-Channin Tankersley[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[4]; 4. 21X-Taylor Velasquez[3]; 5. 17W-Harli White[6]; 6. 02-Brandon Long[10]; 7. (DNF) 5-Joe Bob Lee[11]; 8. (DNF) 14-Michael Lang[5]; 9. (DNF) 55-Brad Queen[7]; 10. (DNF) 12-James Mosher[8]; DNS 5X-Tyson Hall
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (25 laps): Top 4 lock into Saturday’s A-Feature.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 1J-Danny Jennings[1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[8]; 4. 4-Stevie Smith[10]; 5. 41-Jason Johnson[7]; 6. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 7. 1-Sean McClelland[13]; 8. 05-Brad Loyet[22]; 9. 17T-Channin Tankersley[20]; 10. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[11]; 11. 23-Seth Bergman[19]; 12. 88-Scottie McDonald[6]; 13. 3H-Brandon Hanks[14]; 14. 17-Blake Hahn[15]; 15. 18-Tony Bruce Jr[23]; 16. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 17. (DNF) 7M-Kevin Ramey[2]; 18. (DNF) 4J-Tim Crawley[17]; 19. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera[12]; 20. (DNF) 93-Dustin Morgan[18]; 21. (DNF) 45-Martin Edwards[21]; 22. (DNF) 33-Zach Chappell[16]; 23. (DNF) 48-Jake Martens[9]
Lap Leader(s): Kevin Ramey 1-13; Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 14-25
KSE Hard Charger: Brad Loyet +14
FSR High Point: Kevin Ramey
Hawk Performance Fastest Lap: Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 14.641 seconds
CSI Rebound: Johnny Herrera
Provisional(s): Tony Bruce, Jr. (BP1)