News Director 
Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – KNOXVILLE, IA – A slide for the lead, then working to the hub of the Knoxville Raceway, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. captured the opening night of the 32nd annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.
The third time the driver of the Hills Racing Team No. 15h has stood in Victory Lane at the famed half-mile in 360cid competition, the win was Sam’s 60th with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“Tonight, we had a really good racecar, and the guys just kept working all night long. We weren’t good in Time Trials, we weren’t good in the Heat Race, but we turned the wick up in the Feature and really got going,” stated Hafertepe.
“I have to thank Miles Hill. Without him, none of these guys could be out here working for us, and this equipment we have it’s unbelievable.
Chasing Thomas Kennedy at the start, the No. 21k paced the opening six revolutions while Hafertepe moved from fourth to the runner-up spot on Lap 5. Quickly reeling in Kennedy, the No. 15h shot to the lead with seven in the books.
Slowed with 13 laps to run as Alex Vande Voort came to a stop just off the front straightaway after contact that damaged the rear suspension, Hafertepe brought the field back to green and began putting distance on the field as the race from second through fifth was all over the track with Garet Williamson taking the spot from Kennedy.
Tracking down the No. 24w with seven to run, Giovanni Scelzi rushed to second and began trying to run down Hafertepe.
With traffic helping to bring the No. 15h back into view, there was no catching Hafertepe, who found the checkered flag waving with 1.906-seconds to spare. Giovanni Scelzi, in second, was joined by Aaron Reutzel, who grabbed up the third spot on Lap 17. Garet Williamson slipped to fourth, with early race leader Thomas Kennedy, in fifth.
Bouncing in and out of the top five, Missouri’s Ayrton Gennetten ended up sixth, followed by Chase Randall from 11th. Matt Juhl, in eighth, was followed by Cory Eliason, with Parker Price-Miller moving from 16th to tenth.
The opening night of the 32nd annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank saw 51 of the scheduled 53 teams checking in. The Driver’s Project Quick Qualifier was Shane Golobic at 16.299-seconds; however, his night would end violently on Lap 1 of his Heat Race. Shane was ok. SCE Gaskets Heat Races were won by Giovanni Scelzi, Chase Randall, Parker Price-Miller, Corey Day, and Devin Kline. The C-Feature win went to Ryan Leavitt, with Austin McCarl topping the BMRS B-Feature.
The 32nd annual 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank continues on Friday, August 5, with cars on track starting at 6:45 P.M. (CDT).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa)
32nd annual 360 Knoxville Nationals
Thursday, August 4, 2022
Car Count: 51
The Driver’s Project Qualifying (2 Cars, 2 Laps)
Qualifying: 1. 17W-Shane Golobic, 16.299[6]; 2. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, 16.332[2]; 3. 83H-Justin Henderson, 16.349[11]; 4. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 16.491[20]; 5. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 16.577[14]; 6. 75AU-Tyler Blank, 16.657[1]; 7. 95-Matt Covington, 16.658[3]; 8. 71-Cory Eliason, 16.700[39]; 9. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 16.733[12]; 10. 22X-Riley Goodno, 16.757[7]; 11. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 16.767[24]; 12. 24W-Garet Williamson, 16.774[42]; 13. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, 16.778[23]; 14. 88-Austin McCarl, 16.786[28]; 15. 36-Jason Martin, 16.791[16]; 16. 09-Matt Juhl, 16.799[17]; 17. 9-Chase Randall, 16.847[47]; 18. 53D-Jack Dover, 16.893[5]; 19. 14-Corey Day, 16.958[26]; 20. 20-Anthony Macri, 16.997[8]; 21. 55T-McKenna Haase, 16.998[32]; 22. 26-Zeb Wise, 17.010[41]; 23. 11M-Parker Price Miller, 17.078[50]; 24. 5A-Alex Vande Voort, 17.079[22]; 25. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 17.093[4]; 26. 44-Chris Martin, 17.100[19]; 27. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 17.102[27]; 28. 23-Devon Dobie, 17.130[10]; 29. 10P-Dylan Postier, 17.147[13]; 30. 7C-Devin Kline, 17.165[25]; 31. 7M-Chance Morton, 17.191[36]; 32. 70-Calvin Landis, 17.203[37]; 33. 17-Matt Allen, 17.243[18]; 34. 26H-Scott Bogucki, 17.259[48]; 35. 13V-Seth Brahmer, 17.274[21]; 36. 9G-Ryan Giles, 17.291[49]; 37. 53-Joe Beaver, 17.342[38]; 38. 35-Skylar Prochaska, 17.361[51]; 39. 24N-Nathan Mills, 17.423[43]; 40. 45-Rusty Hickman, 17.494[29]; 41. 22W-Aaron Werner, 17.525[15]; 42. 2-Alex Pettas, 17.537[9]; 43. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 17.570[44]; 44. 22-Ryan Leavitt, 17.842[46]; 45. 4H-Cody Hansen, 17.862[40]; 46. 19-Wes Wofford, 17.871[30]; 47. 6C-Logan Calderwood, 17.984[33]; 48. 9M-Ricky Montgomery, 18.071[31]; 49. 10-Landon Britt, 18.159[35]; 50. (DNS) 42-Sye Lynch, NT; 51. (DNS) 2P-Chase Porter, NT
SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 4 to A, Next 4 to B, Next 2 to C)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 2. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 3. 09-Matt Juhl[3]; 4. 55T-McKenna Haase[2]; 5. 9G-Ryan Giles[8]; 6. 75AU-Tyler Blank[5]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton[7]; 8. 19-Wes Wofford[10]; 9. 22W-Aaron Werner[9]; 10. (DNF) 17W-Shane Golobic[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Chase Randall[3]; 2. 26-Zeb Wise[2]; 3. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[1]; 4. 24W-Garet Williamson[4]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 6. 53-Joe Beaver[8]; 7. 70-Calvin Landis[7]; 8. 6C-Logan Calderwood[10]; 9. 2-Alex Pettas[9]; 10. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11M-Parker Price Miller[2]; 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[4]; 3. 71-Cory Eliason[5]; 4. 83H-Justin Henderson[6]; 5. 35-Skylar Prochaska[8]; 6. 53D-Jack Dover[3]; 7. 23-Devon Dobie[1]; 8. 55B-Brandon Anderson[9]; 9. 9M-Ricky Montgomery[10]; 10. (DNS) 17-Matt Allen
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[3]; 2. 8-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 4. 5A-Alex Vande Voort[2]; 5. 88-Austin McCarl[4]; 6. 10P-Dylan Postier[1]; 7. 26H-Scott Bogucki[7]; 8. 24N-Nathan Mills[8]; 9. 22-Ryan Leavitt[9]; 10. 10-Landon Britt[10]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Devin Kline[1]; 2. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[6]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 4. 20-Anthony Macri[3]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[2]; 6. 22X-Riley Goodno[5]; 7. 45-Rusty Hickman[8]; 8. 42-Sye Lynch[10]; 9. 13V-Seth Brahmer[7]; 10. 4H-Cody Hansen[9]
Superior Steering Wheel C-Feature (Top 4 advance to the B-Feature)
C Feature (8 Laps): 1. 22-Ryan Leavitt[3]; 2. 13V-Seth Brahmer[2]; 3. 22W-Aaron Werner[1]; 4. 2-Alex Pettas[4]; 5. 4H-Cody Hansen[6]; 6. 9M-Ricky Montgomery[5]; 7. 10-Landon Britt[7]; 8. (DNS) 17W-Shane Golobic; 9. (DNS) 3P-Sawyer Phillips; 10. (DNS) 17-Matt Allen; 11. (DNS) 2P-Chase Porter
BMRS B-Feature (Top 4 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 88-Austin McCarl[4]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 3. 53D-Jack Dover[5]; 4. 22X-Riley Goodno[3]; 5. 35-Skylar Prochaska[14]; 6. 75AU-Tyler Blank[1]; 7. 7M-Chance Morton[9]; 8. 23-Devon Dobie[7]; 9. 45-Rusty Hickman[16]; 10. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 11. 22-Ryan Leavitt[21]; 12. 10P-Dylan Postier[8]; 13. 55B-Brandon Anderson[17]; 14. 42-Sye Lynch[20]; 15. 13V-Seth Brahmer[22]; 16. 6C-Logan Calderwood[19]; 17. 22W-Aaron Werner[23]; 18. 19-Wes Wofford[18]; 19. (DNF) 26H-Scott Bogucki[11]; 20. (DNF) 2-Alex Pettas[24]; 21. (DNF) 24N-Nathan Mills[15]; 22. (DNF) 9G-Ryan Giles[12]; 23. (DNS) 70-Calvin Landis; 24. (DNS) 53-Joe Beaver
A-Feature
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 3. 8-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 4. 24W-Garet Williamson[2]; 5. 21K-Thomas Kennedy[1]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[6]; 7. 9-Chase Randall[11]; 8. 09-Matt Juhl[10]; 9. 71-Cory Eliason[5]; 10. 11M-Parker Price Miller[16]; 11. 20-Anthony Macri[13]; 12. 88-Austin McCarl[21]; 13. 83H-Justin Henderson[8]; 14. 26-Zeb Wise[15]; 15. 14-Corey Day[12]; 16. 36-Jason Martin[9]; 17. 22X-Riley Goodno[24]; 18. 44-Chris Martin[18]; 19. 95-Matt Covington[22]; 20. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[19]; 21. 7C-Devin Kline[20]; 22. 55T-McKenna Haase[14]; 23. 53D-Jack Dover[23]; 24. 5A-Alex Vande Voort[17]
Lap Leader(s): Thomas Kennedy 1-6; Sam Hafertepe, Jr, 7-20
Hard Charger: Austin McCarl +9
Quick Time: Shane Golobic 16.299-seconds
High Point Driver: N/A
Provisional(s): N/A
