MESQUITE, Texas (March 17, 2017) — Picking up seemingly where he left off in 2016, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. led start to finish to pick up his first win of the season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network in the series opener at the 44th Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals.
“I don’t know how good we really were. I thought I heard him [Henderson] behind me a few times but it may have very well be that we were just over turning it but I’ll tell you what, that car on the restarts was just so good rotating the corner,” commented Hafertepe.
“We had to make big changes after the Heat Race. We just weren’t where we needed to be. Everybody thinks I know this place really well, and I thought I did too but we just had to go to work on the car again and that’s what we did last year. If things weren’t going good, we just went after it and gave the car what we think it needed.”
Giving thanks to his crew, family, and fans Hafertepe followed up saying, “Right now I just have to say that I’ve got Shirley Kears in my thoughts and prayers for everything she’s going through right now and I hope things get better soon.”
Earning the outside of the front row, Hafertepe got the jump of pole sitter, Ryan Roberts, going into the first two turns. Chased by Justin Henderson through the opening laps, the BDS Motorsports No. 1 would get his first chance at the leader with a Lap 5 caution for Wayne Johnson who was having braking issues.
Unable to keep pace with Hafertepe’s Hwy. 79 Collision No. 15h, the field went under the caution again on Lap 11.
Keeping the field at bay once again, the leaders quickly raced their way to the back of the field. Having to carefully time slide jobs through traffic, Henderson with Herrera in tow were able to close, but never able to capitalize as Sam Hafertepe, Jr. sped away to the victory by 1.786 second.
Chasing Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour points for the first time, Justin Henderson crossed runner-up in the NSCHoF No. 1.
“Sam is on a different level here than most so running second to him isn’t bad. I don’t know if we had anything for him. Lapped traffic was difficult but this EMI Chassis, Parker Engine was great. Bryan [Sundby] worked hard all night and gave me a good car and just have to thank BDS Motorsports,” said Henderson of his runner-up result.
With the start of the race key to his success, Johnny Herrera took the race five wide on the opening lap to advance from eight to the final podium step.
“On the start, they left the top wide open. A few guys got tight there and I was able to sneak by and really, it was just a hope and a prayer. I knew we had to get there in a hurry before we fell in line because here, the guys that start up front tend to finish up front. Had I started front row, it would have been a different deal but hats off to Sam. I felt like we had a great car, and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Racing back and forth with Seth Bergman throughout most of the A-Feature, John Carney II captured the final transfer spot into Saturday’s championship feature event with Seth Bergman completing the top-five.
Moving up from 12th, Matt Covington came up to finish sixth with Blake Hahn seventh. Josh Baughman from 13th came up to eighth with Travis Rilat capturing the CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night with a run from 18th to ninth. Advancing from 16th, Brandon Long completed the top-ten. Paring with the Griffith Truck and Equipment ASCS Gulf South Region, Ray Allen Kulhanek was the highest finishing regional driver.
The opening night of the Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals saw 48 drivers draw in for competition. Six Heat Races went to Josh Baughman, Johnny Herrera, Chad Wilson, John Carney II, Ryan Roberts, and Sean McClelland. Qualifiers were topped by Justin Henderson, Blake Hahn, and Wayne Johnson. The night’s B-Mains went to Dustin Morgan and Travis Rilat.
The 44th Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals continues on Saturday, March 18, 2017. For more information, log onto http://www.devilsbowl.com.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven Regional Tours that make up the ASCS Nation and its over 150 nights of racing in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Griffith Truck and Equipment ASCS Gulf South Region
Devil’s Bowl Speedway – Mesquite, Texas
44th Spring Nationals – Night 1
Friday, March 17, 2017
Car Count: 48
ButlerBuilt Heat Races: (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to a Qualifier)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[2]; 2. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[4]; 3. 2-Logan Payne[1]; 4. 17W-Harli White[5]; 5. 29-Travis Rilat[7]; 6. 4-Austin Mundie[8]; 7. (DNF) 51-Caleb Martin[6]; 8. (DNF) 12-Scott Smith[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[2]; 2. 2X-Tucker Doughty[5]; 3. 7-Kaley Gharst[4]; 4. 03-Joe Wood Jr[1]; 5. 57-Jacob Lucas[6]; 6. 88-Scottie McDonald[3]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[7]; 8. (DNF) M1-Mark Smith[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17G-Chad Wilson[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 13M-Chance McCrary[4]; 4. 12W-Dale Wester[2]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson[8]; 6. 45-Martin Edwards[5]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill[6]; 8. 76-Zane Lawrence[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11X-John Carney II[3]; 2. 1-Justin Henderson[1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 4. 99X-Dalton Stevens[2]; 5. 8M-Kade Morton[5]; 6. 84B-Scott Bogucki[6]; 7. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]; 8. 3C-Raven Culp[7]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ryan Roberts[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 3. 07-Michael Bookout[2]; 4. 28-Tommy Bryant[7]; 5. 1J-Danny Jennings[4]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm[8]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee[5]; 8. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks[6]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Sean McClelland[2]; 2. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 3. 02-Brandon Long[3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]; 5. 93-Dustin Morgan[6]; 6. (DNF) 55-Brad Queen[5]; 7. (DNF) 3-Sammy Swindell[4]; 8. (DNF) 6-Dustin Gates[7]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers: (Top 16 in Combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Justin Henderson[2]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 17G-Chad Wilson[4]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera[5]; 5. 11X-John Carney II[6]; 6. 02-Brandon Long[7]; 7. 03-Joe Wood Jr[10]; 8. 17W-Harli White[8]; 9. 13M-Chance McCrary[1]; 10. 12W-Dale Wester[9]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 18-Ryan Roberts[4]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 4. 2X-Tucker Doughty[6]; 5. 1S-Sean McClelland[5]; 6. 44-Chris Martin[2]; 7. 57-Jacob Lucas[8]; 8. 29-Travis Rilat[10]; 9. 99X-Dalton Stevens[9]; 10. 07-Michael Bookout[7]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 7-Kaley Gharst[2]; 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[5]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman[6]; 6. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 7. 28-Tommy Bryant[3]; 8. 14K-Kyle Bellm[9]; 9. 2-Logan Payne[7]; 10. 8M-Kade Morton[10]
BMRS B-Feature: (Top 3 advance to the tail of the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 93-Dustin Morgan[1]; 2. 03-Joe Wood Jr[2]; 3. 14K-Kyle Bellm[4]; 4. 99X-Dalton Stevens[6]; 5. 84B-Scott Bogucki[7]; 6. 57-Jacob Lucas[3]; 7. 2-Logan Payne[5]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee[11]; 9. 4-Austin Mundie[8]; 10. M1-Mark Smith[12]; 11. 3C-Raven Culp[13]; 12. 20G-Jake Greider[10]; 13. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel[9]; (DNS) 1J-Danny Jennings; (DNS) 84-Brandon Hanks; (DNS) 12W-Dale Wester
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat[3]; 2. 28-Tommy Bryant[2]; 3. 17W-Harli White[4]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 5. 88-Scottie McDonald[11]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[7]; 7. 51-Caleb Martin[8]; 8. 45-Martin Edwards[9]; 9. (DNF) 07-Michael Bookout[6]; 10. (DNF) 6-Dustin Gates[13]; 11. (DNF) 12-Scott Smith[15]; 12. (DNF) 13M-Chance McCrary[5]; 13. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill[12]; 14. (DNF) 76-Zane Lawrence[14]; 15. (DNF) 55-Brad Queen[10]; (DNS) 3-Sammy Swindell
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 1-Justin Henderson[4]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[8]; 4. 11X-John Carney II[10]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[12]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 8. 17-Josh Baughman[13]; 9. 29-Travis Rilat[18]; 10. 02-Brandon Long[16]; 11. 03-Joe Wood Jr[19]; 12. 14K-Kyle Bellm[21]; 13. 7-Kaley Gharst[15]; 14. 93-Dustin Morgan[17]; 15. 17W-Harli White[22]; 16. (DNF) 18-Ryan Roberts[1]; 17. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty[3]; 18. (DNF) 17G-Chad Wilson[6]; 19. (DNF) 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek[11]; 20. (DNF) 28-Tommy Bryant[20]; 21. (DNF) 2C-Wayne Johnson[9]; 22. (DNF) 1S-Sean McClelland[14]
Lap Leader(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Travis Rilat +9
FSR High Point Driver: Ryan Roberts
Provisional(s): N/A