WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 23, 2017) – It would seem that Sam Hafertepe, Jr. is unstoppable, as the 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial came to close with the Sunnyvale, Texas driver banking $10,000 in his first career victory in the annual tribute to Jesse Hockett and Daniel McMillin with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“This is probably the toughest race track we’ve had in a while, and I actually ran it too hard, too early,” stated the current National Tour point’s leader.
“When we got into lapped traffic, I should have taken it easier on my right rear, but I just torched that thing. I normally don’t drive like that, but this is the Hockett/McMillin, and it’s $10,000. This race is a big race to win, and it’s one we hadn’t won and I really wanted to. Next one is the Short Track Nationals.”
Rolling to green at the right of Sammy Swindell, the Hwy. 79 Collision No. 15h was in pursuit of the CP-Carrillo No. 3s who paced the low line, while the cushion began coming into play for Hafertepe before the caution blinked on with four laps complete as Aaron Reutzel rolled to a stop with a big puff of smoke from under the hood of the No. 87.
Winding up through turns one and two, Hafertepe railed the wall to Swindell’s back bumper on Lap 5. Swinging wide again as Sammy held the hub, the exit of the fourth turn saw the pass for the lead with six complete.
“Sammy is really good, and he’s a tough competitor so I knew he was going to bring everything he had, but we were able to get the best of him there once we got the top rolling. Once we got by him, I knew we were pretty good to pass Sammy like that.”
Adjusting to the cushion as the pair rushed into traffic, it all nearly came to an end as several cars tangled directly in front of the leaders. Finding a hole, Sam made it through, but Sammy was not as fortunate as the No. 3s spun to a stop; sending Swindell to 16th on the restart with 20 laps to run.
Elevating Wayne Johnson to second with Matt Covington in tow, the defending race winner set his sights on the lead. Taking a slide at it on the restart, the Outlaw Wings No. 2c was denied the position.
Into traffic once more, Hafertepe had built a 10 car length lead, but the slower cars would allow Wayne to close the gap. With a run through Lap 22, Wayne had the momentum off the fourth turn. Blocked as Hafertepe ran the outside of the No. 21k, Wayne tried to follow through but contact with Thomas put an end to Wayne’s night as the front suspension was rendered useless.
Stopped while working Lap 25 for Giovanni Scelzi, who careened the wall in turn four, Hafertepe kept pace over Matt Covington with Johnny Herrera in tow.
To the white flag, Sam’s night nearly came to an end once more with a slip through the cushion in turn two. Recovering before Covington was able to capitalize, the No. 15h crossed the line 1.954 seconds ahead of the T&L Foundry No. 95.
With a slight chuckle on the near mishap, Hafertepe stated, “I was running this thing so hard, I had all but used up my tires and I could barely stay on the race track the last two or three laps, so just lucky to come out of here with a win.”
In a fierce battle on the restart with Johnny Herrera and Sammy Swindell, who had advanced from the tail following the Lap 10 caution, Nebraska’s Jason Martin came up to finish third with Sammy Swindell fourth. Making a run from ninth at the final restart, Jeff Swindell came up to complete the top-five. Johnny Herrera would end up sixth with Brad Loyet seventh. Blake Hahn followed in eighth with Jack Dover ninth, and Derek Hagar tenth.
An overall field of 55 drivers was on hand for the 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial. Event points set the stage for Saturday with Qualifier wins going to Jason Martin, Tony Bruce, Jr., Jack Dover, and Giovanni Scelzi. B-Mains were topped by Miles Paulus and John Carney II. One provisional was used by Harli White.
Coming up next, the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour heads for the $5,000 to win, $500 to start Fall Brawl at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. on Saturday, September 30.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 races across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com. Make sure to like the American Sprint Car Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LucasOilASCS, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LucasOilASCS, and check out our Instagram @LucasOilASCS.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Warrior Region
7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial – Night 3
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Car Count: 53
Event Count: 55
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 2 advance to the A-Feature, remainder to B-Mains)
Qualifying Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, [2]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet, [1]; 3. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 5. 22S-Sean McClelland, [4]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan, [10]; 8. 0-Ned Powers, [8]; 9. 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [11]; 10. 49B-Ben Brown, [12]; 11. 18-Ryan Roberts, [9]; 12. (DNF) 9N-Wade Nygaard, [5]
Qualifying Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [2]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus, [4]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman, [5]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox, [6]; 7. 27-Danny Thoman, [7]; 8. 3Z-Zach Davis, [8]; 9. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [9]; 10. 92J-J.R. Topper, [10]; 11. 44-Jared Sewell, [11]; 12. 21R-Andrew Deal, [12]
Qualifying Race 3 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Jack Dover, [2]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell, [8]; 4. 4-Evan Martin, [5]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [3]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [7]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [10]; 8. 57-TJ Artz, [9]; 9. 93-Dustin Morgan, [6]; 10. (DNF) 2-Kyle Sauder, [4]; (DNS) 9M-Tyler Blank, ; (DNS) 34-Corey Nelson,
Qualifying Race 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks, [3]; 3. 11X-John Carney II, [6]; 4. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 5. 22-Dustin Barks, [5]; 6. 7M-Chance Morton, [8]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 8. 11G-Mike Goodman, [10]; 9. 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [11]; 10. (DNF) 44M-Chris Martin, [7]; 11. (DNF) 12S-Carson McCarl, [9]
BMRS B-Main (Top 3 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee; 2. 8-Alex Sewell; 3. 21-Miles Paulus; 4. 4-Evan Martin; 5. 17-Josh Baughman; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten; 9. 27-Danny Thoman; 10. 77X-Alex Hill; 11. 3Z-Zach Davis; 12. 57-TJ Artz; 13. 85-Forrest Sutherland; 14. 93-Dustin Morgan; 15. 92J-J.R. Topper; 16. 2-Kyle Sauder; 17. 44-Jared Sewell; 18. 12S-Carson McCarl; 19. 21R-Andrew Deal
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11X-John Carney II, [2]; 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [1]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 4. 22S-Sean McClelland, [5]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [10]; 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [18]; 7. 22-Dustin Barks, [6]; 8. 0-Ned Powers, [11]; 9. 81A-Chris Morgan, [9]; 10. 11G-Mike Goodman, [12]; 11. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 12. 49B-Ben Brown, [15]; 13. 18-Ryan Roberts, [17]; 14. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton, [8]; 15. (DNF) 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [14]; 16. (DNF) 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [13]; 17. (DNF) 84B-Scott Bogucki, [4]; (DNS) 44M-Chris Martin,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, [9]; 4. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell, [8]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 7. 05-Brad Loyet, [13]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, [4]; 9. 81-Jack Dover, [11]; 10. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [14]; 11. 11X-John Carney II, [18]; 12. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [10]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee, [19]; 14. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [15]; 15. 17W-Harli White, [23]; 16. 23-Seth Bergman, [22]; 17. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [20]; 18. 21-Miles Paulus, [17]; 19. 8-Alex Sewell, [21]; 20. (DNF) 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [12]; 21. (DNF) 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 22. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks, [16]; 23. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel, [7]
Lap Leader(s): Sammy Swindell 1-5; Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 6-30
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Harli White +8
FSR High Point Driver: N/A
Provisional(s): Harli White