Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Dominates American Sprint Car Series’ Return To Thunderbird Speedway

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – MUSKOGEE, OK – Returning to Thunderbird Speedway for the first time in 22-years, the name going into the record books is Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Leading start to finish in Sunday’s 25-lap feature, the win is Sam’s first of the season and 59th overall with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.

“I was kicking myself after last night, and I told myself going into tonight that I wasn’t going to lose this one,” stated Sam, who saw his run Saturday cut short after tangling with an infield tire.

“The early stages, we were really good. I could tell we were picking off cars way quicker than a lot of other guys could. I hated to see the caution there at the end with three to go because that puts everyone back on your bumper, but I knew if I could get a good start and get back up top, we’d be good.”

Pulling to nearly three seconds at times through traffic, the No. 15h was chased from the start by Wayne Johnson. Pulling the advantage down to nearly a second at times, Wayne took a couple of shots at the lead on restarts but would, unfortunately, see his night end early when his car rolled to a stop on Lap 23.

Putting the Hills Racing/TrueNorth.bet No. 15h on the cushion through the closing laps, Hafertepe pulled the field by over two seconds to become the season’s sixth different winner. As Sam pulled away, the race for second came down to the final lap between Jason Martin and Dylan Westbrook. Fending off the No. 47x, Martin posted his first podium finish of the season. Dylan Westbrook crossed third.

Chased by Blake Hahn until Lap 22, the night turned south when a shower of sparks poured out from behind the No. 52. Twelfth starting, Garet Williamson would take advantage for the fourth-place finish while Brandon Anderson completed the top five.

Tim Crawley crossed sixth, with Chance Morton moving from 11th to seventh. Sean McClelland made it to eighth, followed by Landon Crawley in ninth for his first top-ten finish with the National Tour. Whit Gastineau from 17th made up the top ten.

The Sunday showdown saw 24 drivers on hand. The overall quick qualifier was Wayne Johnson at 18.091-seconds to establish the track record. SCE Gaskets Heat Races numbered three, with wins going to Wayne Johnson, Sam Hafertepe, Jr., and Blake Hahn. Every driver in attendance advanced to the A-Feature.

The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network is Friday, June 17 at Texarkana 67 Speedway in Texarkana, Ark., and Saturday, June 18 at Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La.

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Sooner Region
Thunderbird Speedway (Muskogee, Okla.)
Sunday, May 29, 2022

Car Count: 24

The Driver’s Project Group Qualifying

The Drivers Project Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 18.091[1]; 2. 36-Jason Martin, 18.278[4]; 3. 24-Garet Williamson, 18.309[6]; 4. 87-Sean McClelland, 18.482[8]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 18.489[5]; 6. 10-Landon Britt, 18.817[7]; 7. 22M-Rees Moran, 19.347[3]; 8. 91-Justin Fine, 20.225[2]

The Drivers Project Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley, 18.266[5]; 2. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 18.351[8]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 18.450[1]; 4. 2-Whit Gastineau, 18.460[2]; 5. 95-Matt Covington, 18.778[6]; 6. 50Z-Zach Chappell, 19.008[3]; 7. 8M-Kade Morton, 19.045[4]; 8. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 19.400[7]

The Drivers Project Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 18.722[6]; 2. 187-Landon Crawley, 18.919[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, 18.926[7]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton, 19.070[8]; 5. 90-Lance Norick, 19.269[5]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox, 19.302[2]; 7. 10P-Dylan Postier, 19.646[4]; 8. 2D-Dylan Opdahl, 20.139[1]

SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 16 in combined Qualifying and Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)

SCE Gaskets Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[4]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[3]; 3. 87-Sean McClelland[1]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[2]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[6]; 6. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 8. 91-Justin Fine[8]

SCE Gaskets Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 3. 1X-Tim Crawley[4]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 5. 2-Whit Gastineau[1]; 6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[8]; 7. 50Z-Zach Chappell[6]; 8. 8M-Kade Morton[7]

SCE Gaskets Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]; 3. 7M-Chance Morton[1]; 4. 187-Landon Crawley[3]; 5. 26M-Fred Mattox[6]; 6. 90-Lance Norick[5]; 7. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[8]; 8. 10P-Dylan Postier[7]

A-Feature

FloRacing A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[6]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[12]; 5. 55B-Brandon Anderson[8]; 6. 1X-Tim Crawley[7]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton[11]; 8. 87-Sean McClelland[10]; 9. 187-Landon Crawley[9]; 10. 2-Whit Gastineau[17]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[21]; 12. 26M-Fred Mattox[14]; 13. 17B-Ryan Bickett[15]; 14. 10P-Dylan Postier[24]; 15. 2C-Wayne Johnson[4]; 16. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 17. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 18. 50Z-Zach Chappell[20]; 19. 8M-Kade Morton[23]; 20. 90-Lance Norick[18]; 21. 22M-Rees Moran[16]; 22. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[19]; 23. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 24. 91-Justin Fine[22]

Lap Leader(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1-25
Hard Charger: Kyler Johnson +10
Quick Time: Wayne Johnson, 18.091 (NTR)
High Point Driver: Wayne Johnson
Provisional(s): N/A

Carney II Sweeps ASCS Southwest/POWRi Desert Weekend At Vado Speedway Park

VADO, NM – Going back-to-back at Vado Speedway Park, El Paso’s John Carney II took the Verville Racing owned No. 01 back to Victory Lane Sunday night in the weekend matchup between the ASCS Southwest Region and POWRi Desert Wing Sprint Series.

Taking off from third, Carney was the chaser for the first 13 laps to Jesse Baker. Getting the point on Lap 14, John proceeded to pull away by 7.082-seconds at the finish for his ninth career ASCS Southwest Regional score.

Jesse Baker held on for second while Caleb Saiz finished third. Don Grable and Dylan Harris made up the top five. Arizona’s J.T. Imperial made it to sixth from 12th with Royal Jones crossing seventh. Lorne Wofford, Brett Becker, and Rick Ziehl completed the top ten.

The next event for both series will see the matchup head for Aztec Speedway in Aztec, N.M. on Friday, June 10, and, Saturday, June 11

POWRi Desert Wing Sprint Series would like to thank all the amazing series sponsors including SmartestSeller.com, Jackson Compaction, Baker Auto-Diesel, Performance Plus Racing Engines, Ortega’s Appliance, Gibson Photography, Mosher Racing, Grady’s Press Trailers, Derek Neil Schaefer’s Specialized Lubricants, Hal Burns Truck and Equipment, XXX Race Chassis, DMI, and CSI Shocks.

Race Results:

ASCS Southwest vs POWRi Desert
Vado Speedway Park (Vado, N.M.)
Sunday, May 29, 2022

Car Count: 22

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[2]; 2. 45X-Don Grable[1]; 3. 01-John Carney II[7]; 4. 7-Lorne Wofford[6]; 5. 12J-Josh Grady[3]; 6. 6-Logan Calderwood[4]; 7. 116-Vance Wofford[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Jesse Baker[2]; 2. 1HA-Caleb Saiz[1]; 3. 4-Tuesday Calderwood[4]; 4. 22K-Joey Klemish[5]; 5. 72D-Derrick Black[3]; 6. 3V-Jim Vanzant[6]; 7. 10-George Zills[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Brett Becker[4]; 2. 1-Dylan Harris[3]; 3. 131-Royal Jones[5]; 4. 19-Wes Wofford[2]; 5. 75X-JT Imperial[7]; 6. 7X-Troy Treharn[1]; 7. 14-Cody Sickles[6]; 8. 25-Mike Marquez[8]

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 01-John Carney II[3]; 2. 22-Jesse Baker[1]; 3. 1HA-Caleb Saiz[6]; 4. 45X-Don Grable[8]; 5. 1-Dylan Harris[5]; 6. 75X-JT Imperial[12]; 7. 131-Royal Jones[7]; 8. 7-Lorne Wofford[10]; 9. 2B-Brett Becker[4]; 10. 20Z-Rick Ziehl[2]; 11. 12J-Josh Grady[14]; 12. 6-Logan Calderwood[17]; 13. 7X-Troy Treharn[19]; 14. 4-Tuesday Calderwood[9]; 15. 22K-Joey Klemish[11]; 16. 10-George Zills[18]; 17. 3V-Jim Vanzant[16]; 18. 72D-Derrick Black[15]; 19. 25-Mike Marquez[22]; 20. (DNF) 14-Cody Sickles[20]; 21. (DNF) 116-Vance Wofford[21]; 22. (DNF) 19-Wes Wofford[13]