By Jordan DeLucia
SAPULPA, OK (Nov. 15, 2025) โ Fuzzyโs Fall Fling brings the nationโs best 360 Sprint Car drivers to the forefront for one final moment in the spotlight at Creek County Speedway, and it has yet to disappoint.
Saturdayโs season finale for the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) and ASCS Sooner Region featured the crowning of Sam Hafertepe Jr. with a history-making sixth national Series championship, and Zach Daum with his first career national Series Feature win.
Fittingly, the 40-lap main event came down to the two open-wheel veterans, battling it out for the top spot in pursuit of the $10,000 grand prize.
While Hafertepe started inside Row 2 and stayed inside the top-five the entire race, Daum started his march to the front from seventh on the starting grid. By the halfway point, Daum had advanced all the way to third, using his preferred bottom lane around Creek Countyโs 1/4-mile confines.
Out front, Hafertepe was stalking race leader Blake Hahn in lapped traffic and later made the pass on the No. 52 for the lead, slipping by in the middle groove of Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 23.
Now in control of the field, Hafertepe looked to drive away to victory on the top. Behind him was Daum, who took the runner-up spot from Hahn before the caution flag flew on Lap 27. One lap after the restart, Daum took his shot at the lead, pulling up alongside Hafertepe on the bottom down the backstretch and beating the No. 15H back to the flag stand to take the lead on Lap 29.
Hafertepe retook the lead at the line on Lap 30, but Daum came back on the bottom and beat Hafertepe to the line once more on Lap 31. Daum soon began to pull away from the pack and led the field back around to the checkered flag to secure his first career American Sprint Car Series Feature win โ one of the biggest in his career.
โIโm happy to excel at where I feel like my program is,โ Daum, 34, of Pocahontas, IL, said. โHalf-mile guys go run Knoxville and Eldora and those sorts of places, and short track guys go to short tracks. Iโm happy to do this. Iโm happy to win, for one.
โTo drive by the caliber of cars we drove by tonight and have a game plan and stick with it, and read the racetrack all night, I thought I was on top of it.โ
Daum has long been an established name in the open-wheel dirt world for his accomplishments in Non-Winged cars, having won four national Midget championships in his career. Heโs become a contender around the Midwest with the wing on as well, with four wins in MOWA Sprint Car Series competition and the 2021 Series championship. But with only 13 previous national ASCS main event starts and two top-10 finishes to his name, Daum had to give a masterful performance to beat ASCSโs best in their homeland.
Whatโs more โ he made the 450-plus-mile tow from Illinois to Oklahoma to compete in his second Fall Fling with zero crew help. But it paid off in the end.
โI know these wins are a little bit sweeter when you do everything yourself,โ Daum said. โI do the motor maintenance; we build our own engines. We basically do everything in-house. Do it all in-house and go race by yourself; itโs cool. Itโs especially satisfying to me, more than anything.
โYou know that what youโre doing is right. What youโre working toward all week. What youโre trying to accomplish is worth it in the end.โ
While Hafertepe slipped back to third on the final lap, his showing in the event was more than enough to secure an unprecedented sixth national ASCS championship. In hoisting the Emmett Hahn Trophy, he breaks the tie between he and the late Jason Johnson for most national ASCS titles all-time. His team at Hillโs Racing also secure their fifth ownerโs championship after pairing with Hafertepe in 2018.
Six titles puts Hafertepe, 40, of Sunnyvale, TX, above all others in season-long Series history. But that hasnโt satisfied his hunger for domination.
โIโm excited about it and Iโm happy about it, but I donโt know if six is enough for me,โ Hafertepe said. โI donโt know if itโs, โI got to six and Iโm happy and Iโm content.โ We dominated for so long with this series when we ran it thatโฆ even last year, I felt like we dominated and just had bad luck and lost the championship.
โSix is just one more than another guy. In everybodyโs world, the value of six ASCS national championships in this time period might be different to different people. What I take with me is, I beat the best people I could when I raced with them. And thatโs all you can do.โ
Polesitter Matt Sherrell came back on the last lap and overtook Hafertepe to finish second. Kansas native Andrew Deal charged from 11th to finish fourth, while ninth-starting Seth Bergman completed the top five.
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 2. 23X-Matt Sherrell[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal[11]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[9]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 7. 2B-Garrett Benson[1]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[8]; 9. 938-Bradley Fezard[16]; 10. 7F-Joshua Tyre[13]; 11. 36-Jason Martin[15]; 12. 22C-Blake Edwards[19]; 13. 2J-Zach Blurton[26]; 14. 10-Landon Britt[18]; 15. 88-Terry Easum[17]; 16. 21G-Garth Kasiner[6]; 17. 16G-Austyn Gossel[23]; 18. 26M-Fred Mattox[20]; 19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[25]; 20. 50Z-Zach Chappell[12]; 21. 88R-Ryder Laplante[24]; 22. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 23. 31-Casey Wills[14]; 24. 23H-Sam Henderson[22]; 25. 2-Chase Porter[21]; 26. 11A-Kaleb Montgomery[10]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 2-Chase Porter[1]; 2. 23H-Sam Henderson[2]; 3. 16G-Austyn Gossel[4]; 4. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3]; 5. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[18]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[8]; 8. 21H-Levi Hinck[10]; 9. 88C-Brogan Carder[11]; 10. 85-Kyle Bellm[14]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[17]; 12. 8M-Kade Morton[9]; 13. 71-Brady Baker[7]; 14. 6G-Bryan Gossel[12]; 15. 12W-Dale Wester[5]; 16. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[15]; 17. 7M-Chance Morton[13]; 18. 2J-Zach Blurton[16]
C-Main (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Kyler Johnson[2]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell[5]; 3. 52H-Hayden Mabe[1]; 4. 29-Emilio Hoover[7]; 5. 55M-Corey McGehee[3]; 6. 5-Lucas Boxwell[4]; 7. 70K-Henry Rogers[8]; 8. (DNS) 0BS-Weston Gorham
Dash (5 Laps): 1. 2B-Garrett Benson[2]; 2. 23X-Matt Sherrell[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 4. 1-Sean McClelland[9]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 6. 21G-Garth Kasiner[6]; 7. 5D-Zach Daum[10]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 10. 11A-Kaleb Montgomery[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 3. 31-Casey Wills[2]; 4. 938-Bradley Fezard[3]; 5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[7]; 7. 2-Chase Porter[5]; 8. 5-Lucas Boxwell[9]; 9. 23H-Sam Henderson[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 2. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 88-Terry Easum[3]; 5. 88R-Ryder Laplante[6]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[5]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton[7]; 8. 8-Alex Sewell[9]; 9. 0BS-Weston Gorham[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5D-Zach Daum[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 4. 10-Landon Britt[3]; 5. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]; 6. 21H-Levi Hinck[5]; 7. 20I-Kelsey Ivy[7]; 8. 52H-Hayden Mabe[8]; 9. 70K-Henry Rogers[9]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 11A-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 2. 7F-Joshua Tyre[2]; 3. 21G-Garth Kasiner[4]; 4. 22C-Blake Edwards[3]; 5. 71-Brady Baker[8]; 6. 6G-Bryan Gossel[9]; 7. 85-Kyle Bellm[5]; 8. 55M-Corey McGehee[7]; 9. 29-Emilio Hoover[6]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 23X-Matt Sherrell[1]; 2. 50Z-Zach Chappell[2]; 3. 2B-Garrett Benson[4]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox[6]; 5. 12W-Dale Wester[3]; 6. 88C-Brogan Carder[5]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]; 8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[8]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 00:13.299[4]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:13.332[2]; 3. 31-Casey Wills, 00:13.577[1]; 4. 938-Bradley Fezard, 00:13.644[8]; 5. 2-Chase Porter, 00:13.647[3]; 6. 23H-Sam Henderson, 00:13.762[7]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton, 00:13.832[6]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:13.965[9]; 9. 5-Lucas Boxwell, 00:15.853[5]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:13.382[3]; 2. 1-Sean McClelland, 00:13.480[9]; 3. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:13.590[8]; 4. 88-Terry Easum, 00:13.674[1]; 5. 22-Riley Goodno, 00:13.814[5]; 6. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:13.867[4]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton, 00:14.069[7]; 8. 0BS-Weston Gorham, 00:14.128[6]; 9. 8-Alex Sewell, 01:00.000[2]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 00:13.523[9]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum, 00:13.782[3]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, 00:13.797[1]; 4. 10-Landon Britt, 00:13.925[6]; 5. 21H-Levi Hinck, 00:13.985[2]; 6. 16S-Steven Shebester, 00:14.237[8]; 7. 20I-Kelsey Ivy, 00:14.497[7]; 8. 52H-Hayden Mabe, 00:14.706[5]; 9. 70K-Henry Rogers, 02:00.000[4]
Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 21G-Garth Kasiner, 00:13.770[3]; 2. 11A-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:14.232[2]; 3. 7F-Joshua Tyre, 00:14.372[7]; 4. 22C-Blake Edwards, 00:14.378[5]; 5. 85-Kyle Bellm, 00:14.388[6]; 6. 29-Emilio Hoover, 00:14.626[1]; 7. 55M-Corey McGehee, 00:14.878[8]; 8. 71-Brady Baker, 00:14.910[9]; 9. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 03:00.000[4]
Qualifying 5 (2 Laps): 1. 2B-Garrett Benson, 00:13.525[7]; 2. 23X-Matt Sherrell, 00:14.054[8]; 3. 50Z-Zach Chappell, 00:14.086[2]; 4. 12W-Dale Wester, 00:14.107[5]; 5. 88C-Brogan Carder, 00:14.212[6]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox, 00:14.391[3]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:14.551[4]; 8. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:14.712[1]