Sam at Knoxville (Chuck Stowe Images)
(Bill W) August 1, 2017 – Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the Keith Dobbs #15H team are ready for the Knoxville 360 Nationals this week after a fourth and second place finish last weekend. The ASCS National point leader ran fourth Saturday night at Knoxville, before finishing second Sunday at the Mason City Motor Speedway in northern Iowa. The Sunnyvale, Texas native will qualify on Friday for the 360 Nationals.
Coming out 28th in his group, Sam timed in tenth quick at Knoxville Saturday. “We missed the gear a little bit in time trials, or we may have been a little better,” he says. “But the whole night was a learning night for us and we gained from that.”
He would win his heat after starting inside row two. “Our goal for the heat was to win it, and we were able to do that,” says Sam. “That put us in a good spot for the feature. I knew we’d probably have to run the bottom. (Joe) Beaver runs the top quite a bit. We were able to get a good start and get to the bottom. I hit my marks really well in one and two on the last lap, and we were able to win it.”
Sam started inside row four for the main event. “Early on, I knew if we hit the bottom well, we would be in good shape,” he says. “Sure enough, Terry (McCarl) kind of led the way through there and I kind of followed him through. The next thing I knew, we were running one, two.”
The lead pair stayed that way most of the way, until Brian Brown moved by Sam into second. “We were really good early, but the track got slicker,” says Sam. “We weren’t as good at the end. I felt like the restart when (Brian) Brown blew up, we would have a shot at Terry and slide him into one. I just totally missed my mark. Sliding across the racetrack took momentum out of my sails and allowed Ian (Madsen) to get by us. We were bombarded by (Seth) Bergman and Tim Kaeding. We fell back to fifth, but we were able to get back together and come home fourth. All in all, it was a good night. We learned a lot, and we should be coming into the 360 Nationals as one of the cars to beat.”
In Mason City Sunday, it was evident early that the track would be one-lane. Sam started third in his heat. “I wouldn’t say we got lucky, but things went our way,” he says. “We started in the second row of the heat, and got by one car to get second. We followed the leader the rest of the way.”
The feature was shortened from 25 to 20 laps, with Sam drawing a starting spot inside row two. “We thought after they worked on the track a little that it would be better for the feature,” he says. “Unfortunately, we started off with rubber and we fell into third. We followed them around for twenty laps. Matt (Covington) lost a motor and we ended up second. Some nights are like that, and you take what you can get.”
The team is ready for this weeks’ big event, and hopes to take home their second $15,000 check of the season. “We’re doing some final preparations here for Knoxville,” says Sam. “We’re working on some small details with the car, and we hope that it will make us a little bit faster. We’ll be ready for Friday.”
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Sam would like to thank Highway 79 Collision Center, the Sparks Family, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Champion Oil, NAPA Auto Parts of Franklin and Sherwin Williams, FK Rod Ends, 21R Youth Racing League, Huggins Cams, CP Carrillo, Callie’s, Vortex Wings, Simpson Racing Products, Kinsler Injection, Barnes Oil Systems, DMI, Fisher Racing Engines, Moose Blocks, J&J Auto Racing, KSE, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Photo: Sam at Knoxville (Chuck Stowe Images)
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Monroe, IA USA