7/3/2018
Sam Hafertepe Jr
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Victorious In Fred Brownfield Classic
(Image Credit: Lisa Dynes)
Bryan Hulbert – ELMA, Wash. (July 3, 2018) Picking up his eighth overall win of the season, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. parked the Hills Racing/Vortex Wings No. 15h at Grays Harbor Raceway on Saturday night to cap off a successful weekend at the Fred Brownfield Classic that included a podium finish in preliminary competition.
Gridding 11th on Friday night, Sam fought his way through the field for a third-place finish. In doing so, Saturday was a much easier task as the team was already locked into the A-Feature with the draw yielding the front row.
“Friday night we were good, but we weren’t as good as we could have been, so we made some changes for Saturday night to get the car a little more balance, and it proved to be the right call. I could tell in our Hot Lap session we had the car to beat,” commented Sam.
“It’s hard to start that far back with these guys as good as they are. With guys like Seth and Jason in front of you, giving up eight spots like that it’s tough but to get in the top-four and get locked in, I knew Saturday would be a good night.”
Unchallenged on Saturday, despite losing the right front shock and brakes, Hafertepe had a little luck play his way as traffic posed very little threat to track position.
“I knew if we got the chance to start up front, we’d have a good chance to win, and we proved that on Saturday night. Luckily the cautions fell right, or we probably would have been in big trouble with the shock coming off and no brakes, but we’ve been finding a little bit more on our car every night and slowly getting better. We’ve had plenty of speed, now we're getting to the point of just trying to perfect everything and get it to where it can be.”
Leaving Elma with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com point’s lead, Sam’s next stop is the third annual Grizzly Nationals at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Mont. on Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7.
“We were good there a couple years ago. Last year we struggled a little bit, but going in, we feel like, with the gains we’ve made this year, all those things will correlate for a better run and hopefully, we’ll get to stand next to the Grizzly Bear.”
For continued updates on Sam Hafertepe, Jr. log onto http://www.sam15.com and make sure to find him on Twitter (@samhafertepejr). For news on Hill’s Racing Team, log onto https://www.facebook.com/hillsracing/ and on Twitter (@HillsRacingTeam).
2018 Season to Date:
Events: 34; Wins -8 ; Top 5 - 19; Top 10 - 20; Top 15 –24; Top 20 –25;
Coming Up: Grizzly Nationals
July 6 and 7 at Gallatin Speedway (Belgrade, Mont.)
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. T-Shirts:
http://www.kevinquirkracewear.com/buy-driver-tees.htm
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011628097506
Website: http://www.sam15.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samhafertepejr
The Sponsors:
Hill’s Racing Team, Townline Variety, Heidbreder Foundation Service, Fisher Racing Engines, Super Shox, Cool Chassis, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Huggins Cams, Champion Oil, The Sparks Family, Lonestar Speedway, Keizer Wheels, XYZ Machining, Simpson Racing Products, CP-Carrillo, KSE Power Steering, FK Rod Ends, BMRS, Allstar Performance, Saldana Racing Products, Vortex Wings, DMI, Wilwood Brakes, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Hwy. 79 Collision.
Submitted By: Bryan Hulbert