By T.J. Buffenbarger
(June 16, 2023) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. has shown speed at Eldora Speedway at times recently with the Hills Racing Team entry, but that speed has not been present at race time at the Big E since returning to full time 410 sprint car competition.
Friday Hafertepe put a full night together qualifying well, getting through his heat race and into the dash, and was hanging with Rico Abreu at times before Abreu’s flat tire in the main event on Friday in route to his first career Ohio Sprint Speedweek victory.
After failing to make both main events during #letsracetwo back in May at Eldora with the World of Outlaws, this the perfect way to bounce back during the final tune up for the upcoming Eldora Million and Kings Royal.
The emotion of the victory was evident as Hafertepe pounded his top wing in celebration. The question now becomes can Hafertepe duplicate his performance in July? If Hafertepe and the Hills Racing Team duplicate Friday’s performance during the big events next month, they could make some noise near the front half of the field in those crown jewel races.
Even though the results don’t show it, Rico Abreu is still among the top 4-5 drivers I consider the favorites going into the Eldora Million next month.
Abreu is driving with a level of confidence I have not seen out of him since the first Eldora victories of his career. Saturday Abreu was able to move his car around the track while others were locked to the bottom, roll the top and build momentum, and before his left rear tire gave out his car seemed to be getting better as the 30-lap feature rolled on.
Eldora is one Abreu’s favorite racetracks and suits his driving style. With the confidence he is driving with and Ricky Warner spinning the wrenches it will be interesting to see if Abreu, who has become one of the most popular drivers in all of sprint car racing, can land a crown jewel victory.
With high temperatures hovering around 68-70 with cloud cover I’m not sure how much teams learned during the Ohio Sprint Speedweek round at Eldora Speedway that served as the final tune-up for the upcoming Eldora Million.
The track carried a lot of speed all night and was very bottom dominant until the later stages of the feature.
History has shown us that Kings Royal weekend brings very hot and humid weather rather than the cool, dry conditions we experienced on Saturday.
Abreu being able to roll the top while others could not be a surprise. Passing was a premium, but if we see rain at some point during the weekend that could be the case during the weekend at the Million and Kings Royal. I’ll be highly surprised if we see temperature and humidity numbers at the Royal/Million like we did on Friday.