From Bryan Hulbert
Wheatland, MO — (June 18, 2016) — It was a night of firsts for Sam Hafertepe, Jr. On a cushion fit for a king, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. was unstoppable in his first win at the Lucas Oil Speedway; marking his second victory of the 2016 ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek and Bob Westphal Memorial Cup.
With the pair of wins, four top-fives, and a top-ten every night of the 2016 edition of the ASCS Speedway, Hafertepe scored his first Speedweek Championship with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
Sam’s third win on the season, the Keith Dobbs Motorsports No. 15h traded nearly a half-dozen slide-jobs with Brad Loyet for the race lead. Hafertepe commented on the race by saying, “Oh man, me and Brad [Loyet] had it going. It was a hell of a race. If these fans don’t like that, I don’t know what you’re going to like because that was awesome. Brad raced a hell of a race. I got into him off the fourth turn there, but he knows we’re both going for it and he’d done the same to me. He raced me clean and hard.”
Taking off from fourth, Hafertepe shot the runner-up spot on the opening lap with Matt Covington leading the way. Caution on Lap 2, Hafertepe took full advantage of the restart. Getting the slide on the No. 95, with Loyet following to second, Hafertepe began to run away from the field. Finding traffic working the ninth round, the fast line was the top and the task of passing the slower cars was easier said than done.
With Brad closing the gap, the pair began exchanging slide-jobs. Taking the lead for a moment, Loyet’s time at the top was short lived as the No. 05 slipped the cushion off the second turn, allowing Sam to retake the top spot.
Caution on Lap 12, Hafertepe again pulled away.
Working his Hoosiers on the high side all the way around the Lucas Oil Speedway, traffic again came into play as the field worked past the 15th round. Catching the back bumper of the No. 15h again, the pair resumed their exchange with Loyet again taking the lead, only to have Hafertepe steal it right back at both ends of the track.
Cautions on Laps 25 and 26, the final restart saw Hafertepe run away to a 3.995 second advantage at the drop of the checkered flag.
Loyet’s third podium of the season, Brad ended his Speedweek second in overall standings.
“We had a really, really, good racecar. On the start, we kind of got pinched there by Covington and that let Sam get right by us. But I had a really good car. Lapped traffic was key for me, I think I was a whole lot better that Sam in traffic but those yellows just fell at the wrong time for me. We we’re getting ready to pounce both times but hats off to those guys,” commented Loyet.
Bouncing around the top-ten most of the race, Jonathan Cornell used attrition and restarts to bring the Kiowa Line Builders No. 28 home third, “It’s been a pretty exciting night honestly, just some close racing starting in the Heats and the Qualifiers, but; I fell back a little bit at the start of the Feature. We thought the bottom was going to hang around longer than it did so we set up for it. I kind of talked by Crew Chief out of changing the gear and I wish I would have listened to him. We just didn’t have the MPH or the momentum like these guys on the long runs.”
Logan Forler came from 10th to fourth with Channin Tankersley clawing his way from 17th to fifth; this after winning a B-Feature on three wheels due to contact with an infield tire.
From 14th, New York’s Jason Barney was sixth in his first trip to the Lucas Oil Speedway with Tyler Thomas charging from 20th to seventh. Skipping over the cushion early in the race, John Carney II rebounded to eighth with Seth Bergman ninth. From 21st, Blake Hahn completed the top-ten.
With 42 drivers drawing in at Lucas Oil Speedway, the total number of drivers taking part in this year’s Speedweek was 68 with three winners. Saturday at Wheatland saw five Heat Races going to Matt Covington, Brad Loyet, Chance Morton, Brandon Hanks, and Ray Allen Kulhanek. Qualifiers were topped by Matt Covington, Aaron Reutzel, and Wayne Johnson. B-Mains went to Channin Tankersley and Chance Morton. Provisional starts were used by Kyle Bellm and Evan Martin.
Up next of the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network is the 45th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by Jack in the Box, happening June 23-25, 2016 at the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. The $15,000 to win event is expected to draw close to 60 of the nation’s best drivers. For more information on Dirt Cup, log onto http://www.skagitspeedway.com/.
For continued updates on the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
ASCS National and ASCS Warrior
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, Mo.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Speedweek Finale
Car Count: 42
ButlerBuilt Heat Races (8 Laps, Top 30 in Passing Point advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman[6]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 4. 38-Cody Baker[4]; 5. 86-Tyler Thomas[8]; 6. 44-Jared Sewell[3]; 7. 34-Corey Nelson[9]; 8. 07-Michael Bookout[5]; 9. (DNF) 33-Austin Alumbaugh[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet[5]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 3. 75-Tyler Blank[1]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[8]; 5. 40-Howard Moore[7]; 6. 24L-Lanny Carpenter[3]; 7. 27-Danny Thoman[9]; 8. 3Z-Zach Davis[4]; 9. (DNF) 91-Steven Russell[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton[2]; 2. 28T-Tommy Bryant[6]; 3. 87B-Jason Barney[8]; 4. 17W-Harli White[3]; 5. 3-Raven Culp[7]; 6. 49B-Ben Brown[4]; 7. (DNF) 48-Miles Paulus[5]; 8. (DNF) 75E-Broc Elliott[1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks[3]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 3. 4J-John Carney II[5]; 4. 76-Jay Russell[4]; 5. 4-Evan Martin[7]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[2]; 7. (DNF) 31B-Channin Tankersley[6]; 8. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn[8]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Ray Allen Kulhanek[2]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell[3]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson[4]; 4. 2L-Logan Forler[8]; 5. 42-Andy McElhannon[6]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[5]; 7. 93-Taylor Walton[1]; 8. 2-Mickey Walker[7]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (8 Laps, Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 2. 4J-John Carney II[2]; 3. 05-Brad Loyet[6]; 4. 28T-Tommy Bryant[5]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera[3]; 6. 38-Cody Baker[8]; 7. 86-Tyler Thomas[1]; 8. 42-Andy McElhannon[9]; 9. 40-Howard Moore[7]; 10. 14K-Kyle Bellm[10]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 3. 2L-Logan Forler[3]; 4. 17-Josh Baughman[6]; 5. 76-Jay Russell[8]; 6. 3-Raven Culp[7]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton[4]; 8. 34-Corey Nelson[9]; 9. 87B-Jason Barney[5]; 10. (DNF) 49B-Ben Brown[10]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[2]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell[3]; 3. 66-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[1]; 7. 4-Evan Martin[7]; 8. 17W-Harli White[8]; 9. 27-Danny Thoman[9]; 10. 44-Jared Sewell[10]
BMRS B-Feature(s) (12 laps, top 3 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 31B-Channin Tankersley[9]; 2. 38-Cody Baker[1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[10]; 4. 75-Tyler Blank[2]; 5. 4-Evan Martin[3]; 6. 40-Howard Moore[5]; 7. 93-Taylor Walton[11]; 8. 24L-Lanny Carpenter[8]; 9. 49B-Ben Brown[7]; 10. 34-Corey Nelson[6]; 11. 42-Andy McElhannon[4]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis[12]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton[1]; 2. 86-Tyler Thomas[3]; 3. 3-Raven Culp[2]; 4. 2-Mickey Walker[10]; 5. 27-Danny Thoman[5]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[6]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton[8]; 8. 07-Michael Bookout[11]; 9. 44-Jared Sewell[7]; 10. 17W-Harli White[4]; 11. 48-Miles Paulus[9]; 12. 33-Austin Alumbaugh[12]; 13. 91-Steven Russell[13]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature (30 Laps)
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet[1]; 3. 28-Jonathan Cornell[6]; 4. 2L-Logan Forler[10]; 5. 31B-Channin Tankersley[17]; 6. 87B-Jason Barney[14]; 7. 86-Tyler Thomas[20]; 8. 4J-John Carney II[9]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn[21]; 11. 2C-Wayne Johnson[7]; 12. 38-Cody Baker[19]; 13. 76-Jay Russell[16]; 14. 17-Josh Baughman[3]; 15. 7M-Chance Morton[18]; 16. 45X-Johnny Herrera[15]; 17. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 18. 3-Raven Culp[22]; 19. 84-Brandon Hanks[13]; 20. 66-Ray Allen Kulhanek[8]; 21. 28T-Tommy Bryant[5]; 22. 4-Evan Martin[24]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel[12]; 24. 14K-Kyle Bellm[23]
Lap Leader(s): Matt Covington 1-2; Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 3-30
FSR High Point Driver: Brad Loyet
Hard Charger: Tyler Thomas +13
Provisional(s): Kyle Bellm / Evan Martin