Creek County, Tri-State (OK) Up Next for American Sprint Car Series
Photo by Emily Schwanke
CONCORD, N.C.—The American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) heads back to its homeland of Oklahoma for back-to-back events at Creek County Speedway and Tri-State Speedway, Friday and Saturday, June 13–14.
Creek County — the home track of ASCS — hosts the national 360 Sprint Car series for the 34th time in track history on Friday, June 13, in the fifth annual Don Swope Classic. The event, co-sanctioned by the ASCS Sooner Region, is run in memory of the late Don Swope — a dear friend of ASCS founder Emmett Hahn and the family and crew that put on the marquee Chili Bowl Nationals and Tulsa Shootout events.
The following evening, the Series heads east to Pocola, OK, for a visit to Tri-State Speedway. The 3/8-mile oval, located near the Oklahoma–Arkansas border, welcomed the Series in June of last year, ending an 18-year absence of national 360 Sprint Car racing at the track. Seth Bergman took the checkered flag that night en route to his first national ASCS championship. This weekend, the National Series stars collide with the ASCS Sooner Region challengers to battle for a $4,000 grand prize.
Tickets for both events will be sold at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:
KING OF THE CREEK — Through 33 Series events contested at Creek County, nobody has won more than Sam Hafertepe Jr.
The five-time Series champion from Sunnyvale, TX, scored his first ASCS win at the track on opening night of the 2016 edition of Fuzzy’s Fall Fling, and has scored subsequent victories in 2018, 2019, as well as two of the three Series events held there last season. Hafertepe won the ASCS Speedweek event there in June before taking the checkers again in the finale of Fuzzy’s Fall Fling last November.
Hafertepe and the Hill’s Racing Team are headed into the weekend with momentum from their third Series victory of the year last Saturday at Texarkana 67 Speedway in which they got the best of Blake Hahn and Matt Covington in a thrilling, back-and-forth battle around the Arkansas oval. The No. 15H team now leads the points standings by 76 over Covington.
BOUNCE BACK — After three consecutive results outside the top-five, defending Series champion Seth Bergman returned to competitive form at Texarkana with a fourth-place finish in the main event.
Bergman, originally from Snohomish, WA, encountered mechanical failure at Paducah International Raceway in May and suffered a DNF, then posted back-to-back eighth-place finishes three weeks later in Kansas at Salt City Speedway and Dodge City Raceway Park. These results left him fifth in the points standings and still without his first podium finish at the national level this year.
However, his fourth-place finish in Texarkana boosted him into fourth-place in the points standings, where he now sits 119 points behind leader Hafertepe.
Looking back at his championship-clinching 2024 season, Bergman posted strong results at both tracks he visits this weekend — winning the ASCS Speedweek event at Tri-State in June, and posting finishes of second, third, and fourth in the three Series events contested at Creek County.
HOMETOWN HERO — When it comes to Creek County, few drivers know how to get around its 1/4-mile confines like Blake Hahn.
The two-time Series champion from Sapulpa, OK, has won in a Winged 360 Sprint Car, a Non-Wing 360 Sprint Car, and a Midget at the track with several different sanctioning organizations. This includes six ASCS regional Feature wins and two on the national circuit, two Non-Wing Sprint Car wins with the USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series, and two wins with the POWRi National Midget League.
The most recent of Hahn’s Creek County wins came in March, when he topped the opening night of the ASCS Sooner Region schedule. Hahn also scored his first career (points-paying) ASCS National win last November on opening night of the Fuzzy’s Fall Fling.
MATT IS BACK — Matt Covington has found his competitive stride once again with the American Sprint Car Series, posting three top-five finishes and one win in his last five starts.
The multi-time ASCS regional champion from Glenpool, OK, nearly scored a second win of the season Saturday at Texarkana, leading the opening 18 laps before falling back to finish third. Still, he showed renewed competitiveness in the No. 95 car, which has seeded him second in the points standings — 76 points back of Hafertepe.
This weekend, Covington heads to two Oklahoma venues he’s had past success at, winning a Sooner Region show at Creek County in 2012 and another at Tri-State in 2019.
REGIONAL RINGER — Creek County is a home track for five-time ASCS Sooner Region champion Sean McClelland, and he’s made a habit of winning there in his 25-plus-year career.
The 50-year-old from Tulsa, OK, has won a total of nine Sooner Region races at the track in his career, and in 2023 scored his first ASCS National win at Creek, topping Chance Morton and Jordon Mallett for his second career win on the national circuit and first since 2006.
McClelland last raced with the National Series in April at Salina Highbanks Speedway, running third to Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr.
THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE
WHEN AND WHERE
Friday, June 13 at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, OK
Saturday, June 14 at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, OK
TRACK FACTS
• Creek County — Semi-banked, 1/4-mile oval
• Tri-State — Semi-banked, 3/8-mile oval
• Creek County Track Record — 11.057 seconds set by Wayne Johnson on Oct. 28, 2022
• Tri-State Track Record — 14.212 seconds set by Sam Hafertepe Jr. on June 15, 2024
ON THE INTERNET
X — @ASCSRacing
Instagram — @ascs_racing
Facebook — @AmericanSprintCarSeries
YouTube — @AmericanSprintCarSeries
DIRTVision — DIRTVision.com (Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month)
CURRENT CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (8/34 Races)
1 Sam Hafertepe Jr. (727pts)
2 Matt Covington 651pts (–76)
3 Blake Hahn 647pts (–80)
4 Seth Bergman 608pts (–119)
5 Kyler Johnson 579pts (–148)
6 Jordon Mallett 576pts (–151)
7 Jason Martin 564pts (–163)
8 Zach Blurton 562pts (–165)
9 Austyn Gossel 552pts (–175)
10 Landon Britt 536pts (–536)
FEATURE WINNERS (4 Drivers):
Justin Peck, Sam Hafertepe Jr. (3 wins)
Matt Covington, Zach Blurton (1 win)
FEATURE LAPS LED (6 Drivers)
Justin Peck (65 laps)
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (61 laps)
Matt Covington (48 laps)
Zach Blurton (25 laps)
Brian Brown (15 laps)
Blake Hahn (1 lap)
QUICK TIME AWARDS (6 Drivers)
Matt Covington (2 awards)
Emerson Axsom, Austin McCarl, Kyler Johnson, Seth Bergman, Roger Crockett (1 award)
HEAT RACE WINNERS (19 Drivers)
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6 wins)
Justin Peck, Matt Covington, Blake Hahn (3 wins)
Scotty Thiel, Whit Gastineau, Seth Bergman (2 wins)
Hank Davis, Chris Martin, Cole Macedo, Emerson Axsom, Austin McCarl, Sean McClelland, Caleb Saiz, Bradley Fezard, Garrett Benson, Bryan Gossel, Jake Bubak, Jordon Mallett (1 win)
DASH APPEARANCES (30 Drivers)
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (7 appearances)
Blake Hahn, Matt Covington (5 appearances)
Justin Peck, Kyler Johnson, Whit Gastineau, Seth Bergman (3 appearances)
Austin McCarl, Emerson Axsom, Scotty Thiel, Danny Dietrich, Cole Macedo, Brady Bacon, Daison Pursley, Garrett Benson, Jordon Mallett (2 appearances)
Hank Davis, Jordan Thomas, Scotty Thiel, Chris Martin, Brian Brown, Sean McClelland, Caleb Saiz, Chance Morton, Bradley Fezard, Zach Blurton, Bryan Gossel, Austyn Gossel, Jake Bubak, Roger Crockett (1 appearance)
SMITH TITANIUM LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWN WINS (7 Drivers)
Blake Hahn, Emerson Axsom, Tyler Clem, Kyle Clark, Bryant Wiedeman, Jason Martin, Harli White (1 win)
HARD CHARGER AWARDS (7 Drivers)
Brady Baker (2 awards)
Austin McCarl, Emerson Axsom, Blake Hahn, Landon Britt, Jordon Mallett, Jason Martin (1 award)
PODIUM FINISHES (14 Drivers)
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (6 podiums)
Justin Peck, (3 podiums)
Brian Brown, Matt Covington, Blake Hahn (2 podiums)
Emerson Axsom, Cole Macedo, Austin McCarl, Seth Bergman, Sean McClelland, Jason Martin, Zach Blurton, Austyn Gossel, Kyler Johnson (1 podium)
2025 SCHEDULE + WINNERS
Race Number. Day, Date / Track / City, State / Winner (Total Wins)
Thu, Jan. 30 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Justin Peck (1)
Fri, Jan. 31 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Justin Peck (2)
Sat, Feb. 1 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Justin Peck (3)
Sat, April 12 / Salina Highbanks Speedway / Salina, OK / Sam Hafertepe Jr. (1)
Sat, May 10 / Paducah International Raceway / Paducah, KY / Matt Covington (1)
Fri, May 30 / Salt City Speedway / Hutchinson, KS / Zach Blurton (1)
Sat, May 31 / Dodge City Raceway Park / Dodge City, KS / Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2)
Sat, June 7 / Texarkana 67 Speedway / Texarkana, AR / Sam Hafertepe Jr. (3)
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