6/27/2016
Sam Hafertepe Jr
Sam Hafertepe Jr. – $15,000 Dirt Cup Champ!
Sam Hafertepe Jr. – $15,000 Dirt Cup Champ!
(Bill W) June 27, 2016 – The 30-hour tow to Washington state was worth it for Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the Keith Dobbs #15H team as soon as the Sunnyvale, Texas driver pulled into Victory Lane with a check for $15,000. Sam put his name on a historic “Who’s Who” list of Dirt Cup winners at Skagit Speedway Saturday night. The team and the ASCS National Series will head south and west in Washington to Grays Harbor Raceway this weekend for a two-night show.
The Dirt Cup normally spans three days, but that was cut to two by Mother Nature. The impact was felt on Friday night. “Friday was a little bit treacherous,” says Sam. “Most of the drivers who crashed were trying to do too much with what the track had to offer. There was only so much you could do. You just kind of had to bide your time. If the guy in front of you messed up, you could take advantage of it.”
He would go from eighth to fifth in his heat and win the Qualifier from the pole. That would put him inside of row five for the feature. He would move himself into the fourth and final lock-in spot for Saturday’s finale. “Realistically, we only passed like two or three cars Friday night,” says Sam. “The wrecks allowed us to get where we got to. The only cars we really passed were Aaron (Reutzel) and Cam Smith. Really, those were the only outright cars we passed. It was tough to pass in the heat races, and we were lucky enough to start on the pole of the Qualifier.”
Track promoter Steve Beitler went to work to assure a good surface for Saturday’s $15,000 to win event. “Steve and those guys worked until about four in the morning trying to get the track smoothed out,” says Sam. “They worked all day Saturday too. I thought even with all the work they were doing, it was going to go back to where it was before. But they definitely proved me wrong, and gave us a hell of a racetrack on Saturday night.”
The bonus of being locked into the feature allowed Sam and the team to check the track surface’s progress all night. “Being locked in allowed us to keep up with the track really well,” he says. “Having raced there quite a bit in the past helped, and gave me an idea of what we might see. We had driven the Rudeen car there six or seven times. We drew the two which was pretty cool. At that place, track position is pretty key, just the way it races. It’s tough to come from the back.”
The team was ready when it came feature time. “We knew we’d be pretty good after our hot lapping session,” says Sam. “The car felt really good. I knew we needed to make a few small changes. In the feature, I don’t think you could ask for any better of a racecar. We were just on a rail around there.”
Sam got out to a big lead, but it was cut in traffic. “We were hiccupped in lapped traffic a little bit,” he says. “Everyone was on the cushion, not unlike last week at Lucas Oil. We attempted some sliders that didn’t work. Just being in that traffic allows guys to catch up to you. By the end of the race, I think we still won by 2.2 seconds, so it was a pretty dominant win and that made us happy.”
The long trip was forgotten in Victory Lane. “Fifteen grand makes it a lot nicer,” says Sam. “It was definitely worth driving thirty hours for! Having driven there before several times was definitely an advantage over a few other guys. Grays Harbor has been good to us too. We’ve never won anything there, but we’ve been solid. I’m confident we’ll have a good racecar again.”
Sam Online
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Twitter: @SamHafertepeJr
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Sam would like to thank Highway 79 Collision Center, the Sparks Family, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Champion Oil, NAPA Auto Parts of Franklin and Sherwin Williams.
Photo: Sam poses in Victory Lane at the Skagit Dirt Cup with third place driver Aaron Reutzel (L) and second place driver Seth Bergman (R) (Lisa Dynes for ASCS Photo)
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Monroe, IA USA
