July 20, 2024 | By Spence Smithback, ASCS PR

Sam Hafertepe Jr. wires ASCS National Tour at Lakeside Speedway

KANSAS CITY,, Kansas — On a night that began with the overall Quick Time Award, a Heat Race win and a Dash victory, Sam Hafertepe Jr. capped off a perfect trip to Lakeside Speedway Friday by leading all 30 laps of the Feature en route to his second-straight American Sprint Car Series National Tour triumph.

“I feel like my car was phenomenal in the Feature,” Hafertepe said. “I’ve been under the weather all day. I don’t know what I have or what’s wrong with me, just not all there. My car carried me tonight.”

Hafertepe shared the front row with the man he’s chasing in the championship fight, Seth Bergman. The two immediately swapped lanes entering Turn 1 on the opening lap, with Hafertepe ripping the cushion while Bergman rode the bottom. Bergman led briefly down the backstretch, but a bobble in Turn 3 allowed Hafertepe to regain the lead after the opening circuit.

From there, Hafertepe built a half-straightaway lead over the No. 23, but it was erased as soon as the pair caught the back of the field when Tasker Phillips took a tumble on Lap 7.

On the ensuing restart, Bergman again looked to Hafertepe’s inside in the opening set of corners, but was unable to keep pace with Hafertepe exiting Turn 2.

The gap remained fluid for the remainder of the race, with Bergman coming within striking distance on multiple occasions in lap traffic. The point leader jumped the cushion in Turn 1 with 11 to go though, and that was all Hafertepe needed to pull away to a one-second advantage, which he held onto for the remainder of the race.

If battling through illness wasn’t enough, Hafertepe’s car was also experiencing issues throughout the Feature.

“What really hurt us was our throttle was hanging,” Hafertepe said. “That was not allowing me to roll the throttle as good as I usually could through the curb. It made us get super tight a couple of times, and I think when that would happen, Seth would probably reel us back in.”

After a pair of fifth-place runs at Batesville Motor Speedway and Tulsa Speedway, Bergman’s runner-up effort was his first podium finish since his win at Tri-State Speedway on June 15. While Hafertepe’s win allowed him to close in, Bergman’s lead in the standings remains a healthy 127 points entering Saturday’s event at 81 Speedway.

“I feel like I really left everything out there,” Bergman said. “I did everything I could, short of just being reckless and driving through the side of him, which that’s not my style. Did everything I could, found a lane in traffic I thought I was going to be able to use with him, but he was smart enough and heard me, maybe saw the nose wing and he got down there. I was good enough to win, for sure. He just never made a mistake.”

Knoxville Raceway regular Austin McCarl came out on top of a fierce battle with Hank Davis in the closing stages of the race to take the third spot in his first National Tour start of the year.

“That kid did a really good job finding the moisture down there in 1 and 2 and getting by me, I had a really fun race with him,” McCarl said. “Sam and Bergman did a great job, they’re definitely the two top dogs on the ASCS I’d say. We’ll take it, it’s like a 15-year-old motor under that thing that I think runs pretty decent.”

Davis came home in the fourth spot to collect his eighth top five in nine starts with TwoC Racing, while Blake Hahn rounded out the top five, one spot short of his season-best of fourth.

The Hard Charger Award went to Landon Britt, who drove from 13th to ninth for his second-career top 10 in National Tour action at Lakeside.

UP NEXT: Race teams will make the three-hour trip southwest to 81 Speedway in Wichita, where the season continues on Saturday night. Tickets will be available at the gate, while those unable to make it to the track can catch every lap live on DIRTVision.


RESULTS

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 3. 88M-Austin McCarl[4]; 4. 2C-Hank Davis[3]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[8]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[6]; 8. 21-Gunner Ramey[11]; 9. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 10. 98P-Miles Paulus[7]; 11. J2-John Carney II[9]; 12. 77-Jack Wagner[14]; 13. 22M-Rees Moran[17]; 14. 09-Matt Juhl[15]; 15. 15D-Andrew Deal[12]; 16. 55B-Brandon Anderson[18]; 17. 31-Casey Wills[20]; 18. 2J-Zach Blurton[21]; 19. 88-Terry Easum[23]; 20. 91-Michael Day[24]; 21. 938-Bradley Fezard[22]; 22. 2-Chase Porter[16]; 23. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[10]; 24. 45X-Kyler Johnson[19]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 2-Chase Porter[1]; 2. 22M-Rees Moran[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[4]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]; 5. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]; 7. 938-Bradley Fezard[6]; 8. 91-Michael Day[11]; 9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]; 10. 6G-Bryan Gossel[13]; 11. 88-Terry Easum[8]; 12. 32D-Daryn Langford[12]; 13. (DNS) 73-Samuel Wagner; 14. (DNS) 88K-Jordan Knight; 15. (DNS) 111-Chad Frewaldt

Dash (5 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 3. 2C-Hank Davis[3]; 4. 88M-Austin McCarl[4]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 98P-Miles Paulus[1]; 3. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[3]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal[2]; 5. 09-Matt Juhl[7]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson[6]; 7. 938-Bradley Fezard[10]; 8. 88-Terry Easum[8]; 9. 73-Samuel Wagner[5]; 10. (DNS) 111-Chad Frewaldt

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 3. J2-John Carney II[3]; 4. 88M-Austin McCarl[4]; 5. 77-Jack Wagner[7]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 7. 16G-Austyn Gossel[6]; 8. 2J-Zach Blurton[8]; 9. 32D-Daryn Langford[9]; 10. 88K-Jordan Knight[10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 3. 2C-Hank Davis[4]; 4. 21-Gunner Ramey[2]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[6]; 6. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 7. 2-Chase Porter[5]; 8. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 9. 91-Michael Day[10]; 10. 6G-Bryan Gossel[8]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:15.157[9]; 2. 98P-Miles Paulus, 00:15.432[7]; 3. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:15.576[3]; 4. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips, 00:15.664[1]; 5. 73-Samuel Wagner, 00:15.772[10]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 00:15.876[8]; 7. 09-Matt Juhl, 00:15.962[2]; 8. 88-Terry Easum, 00:16.028[6]; 9. 111-Chad Frewaldt, 00:16.128[5]; 10. 938-Bradley Fezard, 00:16.351[4]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 88M-Austin McCarl, 00:15.273[7]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:15.283[5]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, 00:15.373[2]; 4. J2-John Carney II, 00:15.402[6]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:15.737[3]; 6. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:15.820[8]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner, 00:15.868[9]; 8. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:15.941[10]; 9. 32D-Daryn Langford, 00:20.222[1]; 10. 88K-Jordan Knight, 03:00.000[4]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 2C-Hank Davis, 00:15.248[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, 00:15.282[4]; 3. 21-Gunner Ramey, 00:15.438[9]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, 00:15.480[10]; 5. 2-Chase Porter, 00:15.557[6]; 6. 10-Landon Britt, 00:15.668[8]; 7. 22M-Rees Moran, 00:15.680[3]; 8. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 00:16.208[5]; 9. 31-Casey Wills, 00:16.304[2]; 10. 91-Michael Day, 00:16.422[7]


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SHADREN TURNER OUTGUNS KARRICK 

By Rick Staley

KANSAS CITY, Kans. -- With a race for the ages, USRA B-Mods would take to the track and entertain with a side-by-side battle for the win. Tim Karrick #1K, Jon Sheets #8S and #68 Kerry Davis would win their perspective heat races to set the field for the green flag. Sheets and Davis would battle side by side for the front until Karrick would hit the boosters and fly by both to take the lead. Karrick would hold the top spot until the closing laps as #56 Shadren Turner would start to flex his muscle and challenge Karrick. Karrick and Turner would run multiple laps swapping the lead and running side by side on the smooth racing surface. Turner would make the move and slip past Karrick and pick up the feature win with Karrick placing second on the night. Sheets and Davis would battle it out for position with Sheets third and Davis a solid fourth place showing. Stephen Clancy #12C would have another consistent night racing his way to fifth as the checkers flew.


USRA B MODS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 56-Shadren Turner[4]; 2. 1K-Tim Karrick[1]; 3. 8S-Jon Sheets[2]; 4. 68-Kerry Davis[3]; 5. 12C-Stephen Clancy[7]; 6. 49-Patrick Royalty[5]; 7. 1-Kyle Henning[6]; 8. 50C-Josh Mclaughlin[16]; 9. 311-John Baker[9]; 10. 9-Don Marrs[11]; 11. 447-Kenny Prince[12]; 12. 8C-Cami Bruner[13]; 13. 97-Ron Hartford[18]; 14. 36A-Travis Alexander[14]; 15. 5ER-Kevin McGinnis[17]; 16. (DNF) 36-Brian Andrews[10]; 17. (DNF) 26M-Gary Myers[20]; 18. (DNF) 47-Tyson Lanfermann[8]; 19. (DNF) 42-Sam Florence[15]; 20. (DNF) 33B-Derek Birkinsha[19]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 1K-Tim Karrick[6]; 2. 1-Kyle Henning[3]; 3. 311-John Baker[4]; 4. 36-Brian Andrews[5]; 5. 8C-Cami Bruner[7]; 6. 50C-Josh Mclaughlin[1]; 7. 33B-Derek Birkinsha[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 8S-Jon Sheets[2]; 2. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[1]; 3. 49-Patrick Royalty[7]; 4. 9-Don Marrs[4]; 5. 36A-Travis Alexander[6]; 6. 5ER-Kevin McGinnis[3]; 7. (DNF) 26M-Gary Myers[5]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 68-Kerry Davis[2]; 2. 56-Shadren Turner[5]; 3. 12C-Stephen Clancy[6]; 4. 447-Kenny Prince[1]; 5. 42-Sam Florence[4]; 6. 97-Ron Hartford[3]



PURE STOCKS

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 25-Tim Billings[2]; 2. 6-John Snyder[1]; 3. 712-Geoff Harvey[9]; 4. 98-RIchard Jameson[10]; 5. 38-Steven Corning[8]; 6. 403-Darrin Christy[11]; 7. 66A-Landon Brown[13]; 8. 07-JOE DICKEY[12]; 9. (DNF) 61-Joe Sowers[6]; 10. (DNF) 105-Clint Hedge Jr[4]; 11. (DQ) 15-Ed Noll[5]; 12. (DQ) 7-Marshall Jewett[7]; 13. (DQ) 15E-Eddy Noll[3]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 25-Tim Billings[1]; 2. 6-John Snyder[6]; 3. 15-Ed Noll[5]; 4. 38-Steven Corning[3]; 5. 712-Geoff Harvey[7]; 6. 403-Darrin Christy[4]; 7. 66A-Landon Brown[2]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 15E-Eddy Noll[1]; 2. 105-Clint Hedge Jr[4]; 3. 61-Joe Sowers[3]; 4. 7-Marshall Jewett[5]; 5. 98-RIchard Jameson[6]; 6. 07-JOE DICKEY[2]