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Frustrating Season Continues For Hafertepe Jr.
Daryl Turford
Sunnyvale, Texas-A season of frustration continued for Sam Hafertepe as the World of Outlaws (WoO) visited Riverside and Tri-City Speedway this past weekend. A 21st place finish at Riverside combined with a crash at Tri-City were not the results the Plumbfast Racing Team was looking for.
Sam started off the weekend at Riverside and as has been the case lately he was quick early in the night. Hafertepe was 6th fastest overall after warm-ups and following qualifying found himself 6th quick overall with a lap of 11.982.
Sam's luck seemed to be changing for the better when the pole sitter of his heat jumped the first start and moved the Fusion Energy Boost #15H up to the pole for the restart. Unfortunately Hafertepe didn't get a strong start which resulted in Steve Kinser and Terry McCarl sneaking by him on the opening lap. In the early laps it was clear that crew members Chris Strait and Kory Miller had the car dialled in and fast. On lap 5 Sam closed in and was able to get side by side for the transfer spot but couldn't quite pull off the pass for 2nd. From there on out Sam held down 3rd and locked himself into the A Main.
The Sunnyvale, TX racer was determined to have a great run in the A Main but things didn't really go as he planned.
"We got off to a rough start on the opening lap", explained the 3rd year WoO racer. "I was given a right rear on the opening lap, got the car sideways and lost a few positions. Fortunately the guys gave me a great car again and we were able to move a bit back through the field. I really thought we were going to be really good but then the track started to get black slick and our car died off while I everyone else's stayed roughly as good. That really bothers me, our car should have been effected roughly the same as everybody else's when it went slick but we were the only car to drop like a stone. I've never had that happen before and we are going to have to do some work to try to figure out how it happened and why".
From there on out things went downhill for Sam and he dropped back to a disappointing 21st at the finish.
The team loaded up, got the car ready and headed to Tri-City where Sam found himself mid pack after warm-ups in 18th. As had been the case the night before the Fusion Energy Boost J&J timed in the exact same position he had been in warm-ups with a lap of 12.271 causing him to just miss the heat race inversion.
The heat race was a complete disaster. Sam started 5th and needed only to hold his position to lock himself into the feature race. Coming down the front straightaway he and Jeff Bland Jr made contact which resulted in a trip to the work area. Quick work by Miller and Strait got Hafertepe back on the track, restarting last with a used right rear tire.
"I thought we were going to be fine even after that", explained the disappointed driver. "Unfortunately when the race got restarted one of the locals decided he wanted to have a slide job competition with me and that let Daron Clayton get away with the final transfer spot. I was able to close him and Danny Smith down at the end of the race but we spent too much time messing around with that local and I ran out of laps".
The B Main saw the Fusion Energy Boost 15H line up on the outside of the front row and at the drop of the green Sam was gone. Hafertepe ran the top of the speedway and built as much as a 3 second lead in a runaway victory.
Sam lined up for the feature race in 18th but disaster struck on lap 7.
"I had been running the bottom of the track and we weren't really good down there", said Sam. "I decided to try the top and of course on the lap I did it some guys got together and when I got there I had nowhere to go. The crash actually started on the bottom so I thought I would be fine up top but Tatnell came back up the top and I didn't have a chance".
Members from as many as 6 WoO teams tried in vain to fix the car but unfortunately they needed much more than the allotted 2 minutes the WoO affords teams to make repairs in the work area.
"The torsion arm bent back and broke the shock, we got the front wing too and it was giving the guys difficulty when they were trying to get it off", stated Sam. "I figured we might as well just send it to the trailer but the guys didn't give up, unfortunately there was just too much damage. I really do have to thank all of the crews that came to help us".
The Plumbfast Racing Team was supposed to be headed to two of Sam's favourite tracks this weekend however the Friday night show at Husets has been cancelled. The tour will now only race on Saturday night when they hit Knoxville Raceway, Sam's favourite track.
"It's always nice to get to a first class facility like Knoxville", said Sam from his shop in Sunnyvale. "I love putting it on the cushion there and getting my elbows up. I think we're going to be really fast and I can't think of a better place to turn this season around".
FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-Despite Knoxville Raceway being Sam's favourite track it is also home to arguably his biggest heart break in racing.
"I will never forget my qualifying night last year", remembered Sam. "We timed in really well (6th), unfortunately we didn't get out of the heat but we got through the B Main. We lined up 23rd and we knew we'd have to pass a ton of cars to lock us into the field. I was pretty sure everyone would run the bottom so I told my guys we were going to run the top and I was going to drive the crap out of the car".
The race started off fantastically as Sam was able to advance from 23rd to 16th on the opening lap. Sam kept charging forward and found himself running 9th when Brian Brown flipped on the last lap. On the restart Sam moved up to 8th and was passing Tyler Walker for 7th on the final lap through turns 3 and 4, coming to the checkers when the car got away from him and he spun to a stop.
"To this day I still don't know what happened", recalled Sam. "We were so fast and twice that night we came through turns 3 and 4 on the white flag lap safely locked into the Saturday night A Main with a good starting spot and to have that happen was devastating. I probably set a new distance record for steering wheel throwing, I was so devastated".
Support the people who support Sam: Fusion Energy Boost, G-H Plumbing, Keizer Aluminum Wheels and Smiley's Race Products
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