Hafertepe Jr. Earns Second-Straight Don Swope Classic Victory at Creek County
Photo by Emily Schwanke
SAPULPA, Okla.—Sam Hafertepe Jr. is one of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the country anywhere he goes, but nowhere does that ring true more than Sapulpa, OK.
Friday night was Hafertepe’s eighth appearance at Creek County Speedway since the start of 2024 and his fifth win during that span. Three of those have come against the American Sprint Car Series, including back-to-back editions of the Don Swope Classic.
The five-time Series champion led the field to green thanks to his Honest Abe Roofing Dash victory and edged in front of Sean McClelland to slot into the early lead. The ASCS Sooner Region points leader held strong in second ahead of the National Tour travelers in the opening laps until Blake Hahn slipped by on the bottom and into the runner-up position.
Hahn has 1.8 seconds to make up to Hafertepe when he got to second on Lap 6, but that margin was washed away when Brady Baker went over the banking in Turn 1 to bring out the first caution of the night two laps later.
Hafertepe wasn’t going to give Hahn the opportunity to pounce though, as he nailed the restart and immediately put a second between himself and the field.
Another yellow came out two laps prior to halfway for the spinning car of Austyn Gossel, giving Hahn and the rest of the frontrunners another shot at Hafertepe. After spending most of the first half on the cushion in the same lane as Hafertepe, Hahn went low on the restart to try and counter the No. 15H but had nothing for him.
Hahn’s next mission was to put himself in position to capitalize on any slip-ups by Hafertepe once he caught slower traffic, which comes into play quickly around the tight 1/4-mile. There were no such mistakes though, as Hafertepe sliced and diced his way through the field while keeping his nose clean and Hahn behind him.
Hafertepe looked to have the trophy in the bag until two to go, when Baker took a tumble to set up a dash to the checkered flag. One more solid restart by Hafertepe put him out of reach for Hahn to try a Hail Mary, and he rode the cushion for two more circuits on his way to his sixth Series win of 2025.
While Hahn was never able to take over the top spot, Hafertepe admitted he was close enough to keep him on his toes all race long.
“Honestly, it was kind of the most worrisome race I’ve ran, Blake’s so good around here,” Hafertepe said. “I started to get tight in a lot of areas, beating the hell out of the wall down the back chute. I was like ‘man, if I keep doing that, Blake’s going to get by us, we’re going to knock the ladder out or something.’ At this place, you can’t ever count Blake out, he’s so good here. He’s a smart racer, and I just knew at the end, I was like ‘man, I’m going to slow down a little, try not to get tight.’ I don’t know if it was better or not, but we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
Hahn’s runner-up effort was his third-straight National Tour podium at Creek County dating back to his win on the opening night of last November’s Fuzzy’s Fall Fling, and he believes he was only a few well-placed lap cars away from two wins in three starts.
“Feel like we had a really good car maybe to contend for the win, just didn’t have the lap traffic fall exactly how I needed it to,” Hahn said. “These races are won through traffic, to be able to get to traffic, you’ve got to be able to roll through them good. I just got caught up by a couple guys and was able to let Sam get away from me there. With the track being so top-dominant, it was just really hard to get by.”
Matt Covington drove from seventh to third for his third podium of the year as he continues to try to make 2025 the sixth multi-win season of his career with the Series.
“We were good in the Feature, the car was pretty comfortable,” Covington said. “I didn’t like seeing Blake go to the bottom on the last restart because that’s kind of where I wanted to be, I had passed some cars down there. It’s tough to beat the 52 and the 15H about anywhere we go, so we’re not complaining with third.”
Alex Sewell was the highest-finishing Sooner Region regular in fourth, while Kyle Clark came home fifth for his second National Tour top five.
UP NEXT: The American Sprint Car Series heads east for the next two stops of the season at Windy Hollow Speedway (Friday, July 25) and Benton Speedway (Saturday, July 26). Tickets for Windy Hollow are available in advance by clicking here, while tickets will be available at the gate on Saturday at Benton.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
ASCS NATIONAL TOUR 360 WING SPRINT CAR RESULTS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[4]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark[12]; 6. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 7. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 8. 8R-Ryker Pace[9]; 9. 71T-Christopher Townsend[10]; 10. 88R-Ryder Laplante[18]; 11. 17W-Harli White[8]; 12. 88-Terry Easum[16]; 13. 45X-Kyler Johnson[19]; 14. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 15. 15D-Andrew Deal[21]; 16. 16G-Austyn Gossel[24]; 17. 29-Emilio Hoover[20]; 18. 2J-Zach Blurton[11]; 19. 42-Caleb Saiz[25]; 20. 17-Connor Lee[17]; 21. 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; 22. 36-Jason Martin[23]; 23. 71-Brady Baker[22]; 24. 5S-Danny Smith[14]; 25. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]
Smith TI LCS (12 Laps): 1. 17-Connor Lee[1]; 2. 88R-Ryder Laplante[4]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]; 4. 29-Emilio Hoover[2]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[11]; 6. 71-Brady Baker; 7. 42-Caleb Saiz[5]; 8. 7F-Joshua Tyre[12]; 9. 91-Michael Day[7]; 10. 55M-Corey McGehee[9]; 11. 12W-Dale Wester[10]; 12. 36-Jason Martin[8]; 13. 22C-Blake Edwards; 14. 31-Casey Wills[6]
C-Main (8 Laps): 1. 22C-Blake Edwards[1]; 2. 71-Brady Baker[3]; 3. 14R-Jake Nail[2]; 4. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]; 5. 88C-Brogan Carder[7]; 6. 92-Brendon Wiseley[4]; 7. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[9]; 8. 33-Justin Patocka[6]; 9. (DNS) 23X-Matt Sherrell
Honest Abe Roofing Dash (5 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[4]; 5. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 6. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 8. 17W-Harli White[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Garrett Benson[1]; 2. 16S-Steven Shebester[4]; 3. 8R-Ryker Pace[2]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox[7]; 5. 88R-Ryder Laplante[9]; 6. 31-Casey Wills[5]; 7. 29-Emilio Hoover[3]; 8. 22C-Blake Edwards[8]; 9. 88C-Brogan Carder[10]; 10. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 3. 71T-Christopher Townsend[3]; 4. 88-Terry Easum[7]; 5. 17-Connor Lee[2]; 6. 91-Michael Day[8]; 7. 12W-Dale Wester[5]; 8. 33-Justin Patocka[6]; 9. 14R-Jake Nail[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell[4]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton[3]; 4. 10-Landon Britt[1]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 6. 36-Jason Martin[7]; 7. 15D-Andrew Deal[5]; 8. 71-Brady Baker[9]; 9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 9$-Kyle Clark[5]; 4. 5S-Danny Smith[3]; 5. 42-Caleb Saiz[6]; 6. 55M-Corey McGehee[7]; 7. 7F-Joshua Tyre[8]; 8. 92-Brendon Wiseley[9]; 9. (DNF) 23X-Matt Sherrell[2]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 16S-Steven Shebester, 00:12.488[6]; 2. 2B-Garrett Benson, 00:12.525[2]; 3. 8R-Ryker Pace, 00:12.576[3]; 4. 29-Emilio Hoover, 00:12.588[7]; 5. 31-Casey Wills, 00:12.695[4]; 6. 5-Ryder McCutcheon, 00:12.696[10]; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox, 00:12.935[5]; 8. 22C-Blake Edwards, 00:13.019[8]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:13.049[1]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder, 00:13.112[9]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:12.405[9]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, 00:12.444[2]; 3. 17-Connor Lee, 00:12.497[1]; 4. 71T-Christopher Townsend, 00:12.597[3]; 5. 12W-Dale Wester, 00:12.780[5]; 6. 33-Justin Patocka, 00:12.845[7]; 7. 88-Terry Easum, 00:12.935[6]; 8. 91-Michael Day, 00:12.953[8]; 9. 14R-Jake Nail, 00:13.089[4]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 8-Alex Sewell, 00:12.502[8]; 2. 10-Landon Britt, 00:12.609[7]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 00:12.790[5]; 4. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:12.833[6]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:12.916[9]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:12.944[1]; 7. 36-Jason Martin, 00:12.980[3]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:13.118[4]; 9. 71-Brady Baker, 00:13.168[2]
Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:12.679[8]; 2. 17W-Harli White, 00:12.709[9]; 3. 23X-Matt Sherrell, 00:12.758[7]; 4. 5S-Danny Smith, 00:12.826[2]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark, 00:12.965[1]; 6. 42-Caleb Saiz, 00:13.071[3]; 7. 55M-Corey McGehee, 00:13.234[4]; 8. 7F-Joshua Tyre, 00:13.323[6]; 9. 92-Brendon Wiseley, 00:13.441[5]
ASCS NATIONAL TOUR CURRENT STANDINGS
Points Updated: July 18, 2025
Pos # Competitor Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr Sunnyvale, TX 1410 - 6 10 11 12
2 52 Blake Hahn Sapulpa, OK 1270 -140 1 6 8 12
3 95 Matt Covington Glenpool, OK 1252 -158 1 6 10 12
4 36 Jason Martin Liberal, KS 1151 -259 0 4 6 11
5 71 Brady Baker Alexander, AR 1065 -345 0 1 5 9
6 45X Kyler Johnson Quinter, KS 1062 -348 0 2 3 9
7 2B Garrett Benson Concordia, MO 1052 -358 0 0 4 9
8 2J Zach Blurton Quinter, KS 1051 -359 1 1 3 11
9 16G Austyn Gossel Fort collins, CO 1033 -377 0 1 1 9
10 17W Harli White Lindsay, OK 1027 -383 0 1 2 9
11 10 Landon Britt Memphis, TN 1023 -387 0 0 3 9
12 88 Terry Easum Broken Arrow, OK 952 -458 0 0 1 8
13 88R Ryder Laplante Calera, OK 951 -459 0 0 3 8
14 23 Seth Bergman Snohomish, WA 702 -708 0 2 4 6
15 88C Brogan Carder Sioux Falls, SD 701 -709 0 0 0 3
16 14 Jordon Mallett Greenbrier, AR 686 -724 0 0 5 6
17 10C Jeremy Campbell Wichita, KS 463 -947 0 0 0 4
18 1X Bryant Wiedeman Colby, KS 461 -949 0 2 2 4
19 2 Whit Gastineau Moore, OK 419 -991 0 1 2 5
20 7C Chris Morgan Topeka, KS 409 -1001 0 0 0 2
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CONN OUTSMARTS COMPETITION ON WAY TO USL VICTORY AT CREEK COUNTY SPEEDWAY
By John Rittenoure
KELLYVILLE, Okla. - Friday’s Ortco, Inc. United Sprint League presented by Same Day Auto Repair main event at Creek County Speedway was more like a game of cat and mouse as six lead changes in the 30-lap feature captured everyone’s attention. Tanner Conn and Craig Carroll swapped the lead throughout the race, but with three laps remaining Conn made the final pass and came away with a victory.
“That was a really fun and clean race between us,” Conn said of his battle with Carroll. “You never want to go backwards when you start on the pole. I can’t thank Tanner, Ashley and Nick (Newton) enough for giving me a great car and the opportunity. That was a fun race.”
Conn led the first 13 laps before Carroll made his first move. Carroll edged slightly ahead on lap 14 but that only lasted 2 laps. Conn was back in front on lap 16 then Carroll pulled ahead on lap 20. Laps 23-25 belonged to Conn with Carroll sneaking across the scoring loop first on lap 26. The last lead change came on 27 with Conn getting the top spot.
At one point midway through the race Conn jumped the cushion which allowed Carroll to take advantage.
“Sometimes it is better to have a little bit of luck and we definitely had that tonight after the poor pill draw for the heat,” said Conn who drew a 50 and started seventh in his heat. “We had a good redraw and just thankful we were able to hold on to it.”
The victory allowed Conn to take away the points lead from Johnny Kent (886-883). Kent started 20th and climbed into third on lap 24 to salvage what started off very uncharacteristic for Kent.
“I was never doubtful we could get up on the wheel, I was a little doubtful after the way our night started if we would get from the back to the front tonight,” Kent of his finish.
A handling mishap in his heat race had Kent up on two wheels. Kent went to the pits and finished last and losing valuable points.
“We got really tight off of (turns) 3-4 and when we came off of four it snapped and went left,” Kent said of his loss of control. “I thought something broke in the frontend. I jumped a tire and came to the pits.
“We just came back, put our heads together, and did something different for the feature. I tried to be patient getting through there. Just bidding our time and that is what we did.
“It is not about how you start, but how you finish.”
The night had several yellows and Kent was worried he might run out of fuel.
“I started running out of fuel with two to go,” he said. “It was getting really close.”
United Sprint League
Creek County Speedway - Kellyville, Oklahoma
July 18, 2025
Morton Excavating A-Feature (30 Laps): 1. 6-Tanner Conn[1]; 2. 24C-Craig Carroll[3]; 3. 55-Johnny Kent[20]; 4. 24H-Ty Hulsey[10]; 5. 79-Tim Kent[13]; 6. 53-Brett Wilson[4]; 7. 8R-Ryker Pace[2]; 8. 50-Cody Whitworth[8]; 9. 45-Tyler LaPointe[6]; 10. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[14]; 11. 5X-Cooper Cottrell[11]; 12. 6T-Cameron Hagin[7]; 13. 21P-Mike Ables[12]; 14. 7F-Joshua Tyre[9]; 15. 21-Jeremy Wickham[16]; 16. 5B-Brock Cottrell[5]; 17. 97-Kevin Cummings[19]; 18. 98-Ryan Padgett[17]; 19. 69-Greg York[15]; 20. 5F-Sandy Rushing[18]
Speed Stix Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8R-Ryker Pace[4]; 2. 45-Tyler LaPointe[1]; 3. 5B-Brock Cottrell[5]; 4. 7F-Joshua Tyre[6]; 5. 21P-Mike Ables[7]; 6. (DNF) 5F-Sandy Rushing[2]; 7. (DNF) 55-Johnny Kent[3]
Kent Fireworks Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Tanner Conn[7]; 2. 6T-Cameron Hagin[1]; 3. 24H-Ty Hulsey[2]; 4. 79-Tim Kent[4]; 5. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[6]; 6. (DNF) 98-Ryan Padgett[3]; 7. (DNF) 97-Kevin Cummings[5]
H&R Auto Glass Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24C-Craig Carroll[2]; 2. 53-Brett Wilson[3]; 3. 50-Cody Whitworth[4]; 4. 5X-Cooper Cottrell[5]; 5. 69-Greg York[1]; 6. 21-Jeremy Wickham[6]
Lap Leaders: Tanner Conn 1-13, 16-19, 23-25, 27-30; Craig Carroll, 14-15, 20-22, 26.
Margin of victory: 0.529.
2025 Winners: 3/22 - Steven Shebester, Red Dirt Raceway; 4/11 - Johnny Kent, Tulsa Speedway; 4/12 - Johnny Kent, Creek County Speedway; 4/25 - Tyler Edwards, Creek County Speedway; 6/14 - Ty Hulsey, Lawton Speedway; 7/18 - Tanner Conn, Creek County Speedway.
2025 Top 10: 1. Tanner Conn 886; 2. Johnny Kent 883; 3. Ty Hulsey 851; 4. Ryker Pace 825; 5. Tim Kent 824 ; 6. Cameron Hagin 796; 7. Craig Carroll 774 ; 8. Brock Cottrell 753; 9. Cody Whitworth 746; 10. Brylee Kilmer 743.
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Duvall Electric USRA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 52-Chad Davis[2]; 2. 77-Kendall Shultz[4]; 3. 17-Brandon Dean[5]; 4. 39-Ho Dean[7]; 5. 24F-Ben Frey[3]; 6. 12-Eric Redman[1]; 7. 97-Tyler Lacy[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Eric Redman[1]; 2. 52-Chad Davis[3]; 3. 77-Kendall Shultz[2]; 4. 24F-Ben Frey[7]; 5. 17-Brandon Dean[4]; 6. 97-Tyler Lacy[5]; 7. 39-Ho Dean[6]
NOW600 Dwarf Cars
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 22-Justin Foltz[1]; 2. 38-Jimmy Forrester[6]; 3. 7F-Kody Schander[7]; 4. F4-Chandler Foltz[3]; 5. 63F-Brett Fuller[2]; 6. 27-Jeff Pense[15]; 7. X15-Larry Pense[8]; 8. 32-Daniel Abrams[11]; 9. 21-Erica Abrams[9]; 10. 40-Jeremiah Johnson[13]; 11. 03-Tim Kapke[14]; 12. 96-Jason Miles[4]; 13. 19F-Neil Patchin[12]; 14. 3T-Trey Hobbs[5]; 15. (DNS) 77F-Braden Fode; 16. (DNS) 39-Rex Johnson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. F4-Chandler Foltz[2]; 2. 96-Jason Miles[4]; 3. 3T-Trey Hobbs[6]; 4. 21-Erica Abrams[1]; 5. 39-Rex Johnson[3]; 6. 32-Daniel Abrams[5]; 7. 19F-Neil Patchin[8]; 8. 27-Jeff Pense[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Justin Foltz[6]; 2. 38-Jimmy Forrester[2]; 3. 63F-Brett Fuller[7]; 4. X15-Larry Pense[5]; 5. 7F-Kody Schander[8]; 6. 40-Jeremiah Johnson[1]; 7. 03-Tim Kapke[3]; 8. 77F-Braden Fode[4]
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