Sam won with the NRA Sprint Invaders Saturday at Eldora (Mike Campbell Photo)
Bryan Hulbert - ROSSBURG, Ohio (April 23, 2018) It wasn't the weekend that Sam Hafertepe, Jr. had originally planned for, but the end result was a dominating victory with the K&L Ready Mix National Racing Alliance (NRA) Sprint Invaders at Eldora Speedway to notch his first win of the 2018 season.
"It was pretty awesome. The car was really good, but at the same time there were still things we could have done to be better," commented Hafertepe of the win.
While victory was the final result, the weekend start at Attica Raceway Park with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions where an issue with the engine sidelined Sam before he was ever able to qualify.
"Once we figured out we weren't going to be able to run, we decided to just head to Eldora and run with Alex [Hill] and obviously it was good."
Starting the night by setting a new track record with a time of 13.440 seconds, breaking the previous record of 13.895 set by Tim Allison on April 13, 2002, the inversion put Hafertepe fourth in the first Heat Race lineup.
"In the Heat Race, we took the lead going into turn one and it was game over at that point, then we drew the one for the feature and once we got going, I never heard or saw anyone the whole time. I knew as fast as we caught lapped traffic, and as fast as we were getting by them, that we had to be putting some distance on the guys behind us."
Despite slowing for a caution with six laps to run, Hafertepe was still able to pull away to a 3.529-second advantage at the checkered flag.
"The car was really good, and we think it could have been even better. We had clean air on the restart and that let us pull away, but we still feel like we could have been faster. We have our notes to work with, and we'll work from there."
Up next for Hafertepe is Paducah International Raceway on Friday, April 27 with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com. A track that Sam is somewhat familiar with, he has good confidence going into the Friday showdown.
"We ran there two or three times with the Outlaws, so I feel good going in. We've run decent there. I wouldn't say great, but having been there and knowing what we're going to, I feel confident about what we're going to see."
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: 12; Wins -1 ; Top 5 - 4; Top 10 - 5; Top 15 -7; Top 20 -8;
Up Next:
April 27 - Paducah International Raceway with Lucas Oil ASCS
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