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Plumbfast Racing Team Struggles At Delaware

Daryl Turford) Sunnyvale, Texas-It was a tough night of racing for Sam Hafertepe Jr and the rest of the Plumbfast Racing Team last night at Delaware International Speedway. The team came into the night coming off a strong weekend at Eldora and were extremely disappointed to not qualify for the feature Tuesday night.

As has been the case lately Sam drew a bad number in qualifying and as more and more drivers put down their qualifying runs the track deteriorated. Hafertepe made a much better second lap than his first which was not good enough to make the inversion and placed him 22nd in the field of 32.

The Fusion Energy Boost 15H started the heat on the outside of the third row meaning that Sam had to gain one spot to make his way into the A Main event. At the drop of the green flag a car that started on the inside of the row in front of him shot straight across the track towards Sam. Hafertepe had to lift abruptly and by the time he had gathered up the mess he was sitting dead last in the field.

A fortuitous caution a couple of laps into the race gave Sam an opportunity to make up for the start and he immediately set his sights on Fred Rahmer and the final transfer spot. As the laps wound down Sam worked the top side of the speedway and with each lap gained ground on the PA Posse legend. On the white flag lap Sam was able to enter turn 3 nearly side by side with Rahmer but unfortunately Hafertepe lost the drag race to the line and had to settle for 6th.

The B Main was another exercise in frustration as Sam gridded 4th and found himself dropping back at the start. As the race wore on Sam began to pressure Curt Michael for 5th and together the pair started to gain ground on Rick Lafferty and the final transfer to the feature. At the end of the 12 lap grind Lafferty was able to hold on while Sam and Michael battled down to the wire with Sam fading late and taking 6th, two spots short of a feature race birth.

“Tonight was incredibly frustrating”, said Sam following the race. “I drove my ass off and it got me absolutely nowhere. I tried high, I tried low, I tried taking it in deep and I tried to go fast by slowing down. It just didn’t seem to matter how hard I tried or how bad I wanted it things just were not going to go our way tonight. We never had a good handle on the track and to be honest we never really did for the rest of the night”.

Sam and the rest of the World of Outlaws now travel into the heart of Posse country with 2 shows on Thursday and Friday at Williams Grove Speedway.

“Chris and Kory have been working their butts off for me”, said Hafertepe. “They had this car looking immaculate for Delaware and I know they are going to give me another great effort at the Grove. Hopefully we’ll get a break or two to go our way and we will see if we can make something happen”.

FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-At the beginning of the 2009 season Sam and 2009 WoO Rookie of the Year contender Brian Ellenberger decided to team up and together they are now brining a souvenir trailer to each and every World of Outlaws race.

“I’m really excited about this”, said Sam. “We’ve wanted to do this for 2 years now but couldn’t really find the right way to set it up. Fortunately Brian came along and I’m really happy that we’ve been able to work something out together. It’s something that everyone benefits from and I hope to see more and more of my shirts walking through the pits on race nights.”

Support the people who support Sam: Fusion Energy Boost, G-H Plumbing, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, AFCO Shocks and Smiley’s Race Products

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