PARK CITY, KS (September 6, 2025) — After three weeks being shut out of Victory Lane, Sam Hafertepe Jr. is back to his winning ways with the American Sprint Car Series.
Hafertepe, the five-time Series champion from Sunnyvale, TX, had previously triumphed over the national 360 Sprint Car series eight races prior at WaKeeney Speedway in August. Since then, he recorded a DNF and two 13th-place finishes among multiple top-five results and underwent team personnel changes in his efforts to reclaim the momentum he had earlier in the summer — that which carried him to a record-tying five-straight Feature wins.
On Saturday night at 81 Speedway, that speed reemerged in full force. Hafertepe muscled the lead away from Iowa racer Cameron Martin on Lap 13 and went untouched in the final 12 circuits around the 3/8-mile oval to collect his 87th career Series victory.
“The car was just dynamite in the Feature,” Hafertepe said. “I could kinda do whatever I wanted to. We haven’t had a car like that in a while. It’s really good to hit that right now because I feel like that’s something we’ve been searching for — to have that little extra edge. I know we’ve been able to win a lot of races, but tonight — the way we won that race, coming from sixth, and how we did it — that’s next level. Our car is next level right now.”
The win marks Hafertepe’s 10th in national ASCS competition this year and the second of his career at 81 after winning the Series’ visit in July 2024. It also counts as his second win of the year in competition with the ASCS Sooner Region, who co-sanctioned the event.
From sixth on the starting grid, Hafertepe had worked his way onto the podium by Lap 3 and began plotting his attack on the two cars left in front of him — Matt Covington and leader Cameron Martin.
When the field was restacked for a restart on Lap 9, Hafertepe flashed the speed of the Hill’s Racing No. 15H once more, driving around the outside of Covington’s No. 95 for second as they crossed under the flag stand.
“The top, honestly, was good for me,” Hafertepe said. “I think the bottom was the better place to be, but I knew that if I could go where they weren’t, I had the opportunity to pass them. That’s my approach every time I race. If I can go where they’re not, I want to take advantage of the open racetrack, and we were able to get by him.”
Three circuits later, Hafertepe caught the rear bumper of Martin and dove to his inside in a bid for the lead in Turns 3 and 4. The Iowa native put up a great fight with Hafertepe, holding his line for in a side-by-side battle for almost an entire lap, but he was unable to escape the clutches of the 39-year-old veteran who slid in front and took the lead away in Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 13.
“He definitely kinda caught me by surprise there, but it was pretty cool to hang with him for a few laps,” Martin said. “Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes through lapped traffic, which let him get away, but I’ll be sure not to let that happen again.”
From there, Hafertepe was untouchable. Despite lots of lapped traffic ahead of him and half the race left to be run, he never worried about a comeback from Martin or issues in getting by the slower cars.
“I knew how good our race car was, and I knew I could keep my tires under me, I could control my throttle really well,” Hafertepe said. “I know if I could do that, and I can feel my grip level still good at the end of the race, I know we’re gonna be in a dominant position.
“That’s what I felt like. You don’t pass lapped cars as fast as we’re passing them and not be way faster than the rest of the field.”
Martin held on to cross the finish line in second place behind Hafertepe for the second time in his ASCS career. At Belleville High Banks in July, Martin was runner-up to Hafertepe for the first time in the Saturday night finale. But he takes them as learning experiences.
“Any time you can race someone of that caliber… Sam is the best 360 race car driver in the world, so being able to go wheel-to-wheel with him is super cool,” Martin said. “Growing up coming to Sprint Car races, I always watched him. To be up front for a few laps there; I knew he’d be coming, but it was pretty cool to lead some.”
Coming from ninth on the starting grid, Blake Hahn crossed the stripe third, banking his third-straight podium finish after his win and third-place run in the doubleheader at Lakeside Speedway Friday night.
“Any time we can start ninth and be on the podium is a good night,” Hahn said. “We’ll take that. Following up from last night, getting the win and running third is definitely something to be proud of. If we can keep this momentum going to tomorrow and continue it out the rest of the season, I think we’ll definitely be able to give Sam a run for his money.”
Kansas native Jason Martin crossed the stripe in fourth while Oklahoma racer Roger Crockett drove from seventh on the starting grid to complete the top five.
ASCS National Tour
81 Speedway
Park City, Kansas
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Qualifying Flight A
1. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.307[5]
2. 36-Jason Martin, 14.346[2]
3. 71-Brady Baker, 14.371[9]
4. 29-Emilio Hoover, 14.403[1]
5. 5-Ryder McCutcheon, 14.417[8]
6. 2-Chase Porter, 14.448[10]
7. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 14.454[7]
8. 88-Terry Easum, 14.549[3]
9. 31-Casey Wills, 14.762[4]
10. 12W-Dale Wester, 15.002[6]
Qualifying Flight B
1. 4-Cameron Martin, 14.013[9]
2. 44-Chris Martin, 14.069[6]
3. 6-Cody Gardner, 14.083[8]
4. 52-Blake Hahn, 14.153[1]
5. 1-Sean McClelland, 14.291[5]
6. 23-Seth Bergman, 14.361[7]
7. 2J-Zach Blurton, 14.627[4]
8. 72-Ray Seemann, 14.927[2]
9. 11H-Rodney Huband, 15.611[10]
10. 3D-Jake Diehl, 16.806[3]
Qualifying Flight C
1. 95-Matt Covington, 14.012[3]
2. 2C-Brekton Crouch, 14.291[4]
3. 10C-Jeremy Campbell, 14.514[6]
4. 42-Caleb Saiz, 14.552[8]
5. 938-Bradley Fezard, 14.637[7]
6. 91X-Jeff Stasa, 14.699[9]
7. B2-Carson Bolden, 14.735[2]
8. 26M-Fred Mattox, 14.843[1]
9. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 15.043[5]
Qualifying Flight D
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14.018[1]
2. 11-Roger Crockett, 14.203[6]
3. 2B-Garrett Benson, 14.465[2]
4. 10-Landon Britt, 14.652[3]
5. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 14.740[7]
6. 7C-Chris Morgan, 14.867[8]
7. 91-Scotty Thiel, 14.873[5]
8. 88C-Brogan Carder, 15.137[4]
9. 65-Kohl Ricke, 15.359[9]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 36-Jason Martin[1]
2. 71-Brady Baker[2]
3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]
4. 2-Chase Porter[6]
5. 29-Emilio Hoover[3]
6. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[5]
7. 88-Terry Easum[8]
8. 12W-Dale Wester[10]
9. 31-Casey Wills[9]
10. 16G-Austyn Gossel[7]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 44-Chris Martin[1]
2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]
3. 6-Cody Gardner[2]
4. 4-Cameron Martin[4]
5. 1-Sean McClelland[5]
6. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]
7. 23-Seth Bergman[6]
8. 72-Ray Seemann[8]
9. 11H-Rodney Huband[9]
10. 3D-Jake Diehl[10]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 2C-Brekton Crouch[1]
2. 42-Caleb Saiz[3]
3. 95-Matt Covington[4]
4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[2]
5. 938-Bradley Fezard[5]
6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[9]
7. 91X-Jeff Stasa[6]
8. B2-Carson Bolden[7]
9. 26M-Fred Mattox[8]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 11-Roger Crockett[1]
2. 2B-Garrett Benson[2]
3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]
4. 10-Landon Britt[3]
5. 91-Scotty Thiel[7]
6. 88R-Ryder Laplante[5]
7. 88C-Brogan Carder[8]
8. 7C-Chris Morgan[6]
9. 65-Kohl Ricke[9]
Honest Abe Roofing Dash (5 Laps)
1. 2C-Brekton Crouch[1]
2. 95-Matt Covington[3]
3. 4-Cameron Martin[6]
4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[2]
5. 36-Jason Martin[5]
6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]
7. 11-Roger Crockett[4]
8. 44-Chris Martin[7]
Smith TI LCS (12 Laps)
1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]
2. 938-Bradley Fezard[4]
3. 23-Seth Bergman[2]
4. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[6]
5. 91-Scotty Thiel[5]
6. 88R-Ryder Laplante[8]
7. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]
8. 29-Emilio Hoover[3]
9. 88C-Brogan Carder[12]
10. 88-Terry Easum[10]
11. 17B-Ryan Bickett[9]
12. B2-Carson Bolden[13]
13. 7C-Chris Morgan[14]
14. 91X-Jeff Stasa[11]
15. 72-Ray Seemann[15]
16. 11H-Rodney Huband[20]
17. 12W-Dale Wester[16]
18. 16G-Austyn Gossel[21]
DNS: 31-Casey Wills
DNS: 26M-Fred Mattox
DNS: 65-Kohl Ricke
DNS: 3D-Jake Diehl
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]
2. 4-Cameron Martin[3]
3. 52-Blake Hahn[9]
4. 36-Jason Martin[5]
5. 11-Roger Crockett[7]
6. 95-Matt Covington[2]
7. 44-Chris Martin[8]
8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]
9. 2B-Garrett Benson[11]
10. 2-Chase Porter[14]
11. 6-Cody Gardner[13]
12. 23-Seth Bergman[19]
13. 2C-Brekton Crouch[1]
14. 42-Caleb Saiz[12]
15. 91-Scotty Thiel[21]
16. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[15]
17. 88R-Ryder Laplante[22]
18. 1-Sean McClelland[17]
19. 10-Landon Britt[16]
20. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[20]
21. 2J-Zach Blurton[23]
22. 938-Bradley Fezard[18]
23. 29-Emilio Hoover[25]
24. 88-Terry Easum[24]
25. 71-Brady Baker[10]