BILLINGS, Mont. – Battling down the final feet of Saturday’s Battle At Big Sky Speedway, Blake Hahn held off the hard-charging No. 15h of Sam Hafertepe Jr. for his second Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series win of the season.
Hahn held off Hafertepe by .090 seconds for his sixth career ASCS National Tour victory.
“We really needed this. Since Dirt Cup, we’ve really been struggling,” noted Hahn. “I just can’t say enough about this team for sticking with me. Our sponsors, just everyone who keeps us going; thank you.”
Taking the lead from Roger Crockett in traffic on the sixth lap, the No. 11 held the runner-up spot until lap 13 with Hafertepe, from ninth, closing quickly on Hahn to battle for the lead.
All over the No. 52 with the pair locked in high-speed chess through lapped traffic, Hahn made several close moves to get distance on Hafertepe, but could not shake the Hills Racing No. 15h.
Several times looking at the top spot, Hahn kept point as the race stopped on Lap 18 for a crash that saw Kory Wermling flipping violently down the front straightaway. Collecting fourth running John Carney II in the chaos, both drivers were unharmed but done for the night.
To the green following the closed red, clean air was to Hahn’s benefit with the No. 52 putting substantial distance on the field. Back into slower traffic in less than five laps, Hahn would be forced to vacate the cushion, allowing Hafertepe to start cutting away at his advantage.
Cleared of slower traffic with two laps to run, the top two ran nose to tail, with Hafertepe going for the lead as the pair raced to the white flag. On the slower car of Robbie Price on the closing lap, Hahn rolled the bottom of the final two turns to protect the slide, but that move allowed Hafertepe to rip the lip of the Big Sky Speedway.
Sliding off the bottom at the apex of the fourth turn, the pair swapped lines to the front straightaway with inches to spare, but the move was just enough to scrub off enough of Hafertepe’s momentum at the drop of the checkered flag.
On the race to the checkered flag, Hahn said, “When you have Sam [Hafertepe] coming after you for the lead, you can’t make a mistake. You have to be defensive, and traffic made it tough to do that. I saw Sam’s nose and I just drove it in hard and really, I didn’t know if I needed to go to the top in three and four or not.
“I decided to protect the bottom and really, that was probably the wrong choice, but luckily we were able to drag him down the front straightaway.”
Hafertepe leads the tour standings by 91 markers coming out of the Battle at Big Sky Speedway. Earning his 88th career podium finish, the No. 15h was trailed to the line by Roger Crockett, who struggled to clear the lapped cars that were woven through the restart on lap 18.
Battling the final five laps with Matt Covington, Jordon Mallett and Harli White, the No. 95 of Covington crossed fourth with Jordon Mallett fifth.
Rolling through the field from 15th, Harli White was the night’s Hard Charger in sixth.
Canada’s Kelly Miller was seventh with Scott Bogucki making a huge rebound after suffering a flat tire that sent the No. 28 to the work area while the field re-fired on lap 18.
Ned Powers made up five spots to finish ninth, with Robbie Price completing the top 10 as the final car on the lead lap.
The finish:
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [9]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [1]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [12]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett, [3]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [15]; 7. 2JR-Kelly Miller, [5]; 8. 28-Scott Bogucki, [10]; 9. 0-Ned Powers, [14]; 10. 21P-Robbie Price, [8]; 11. 77X-Alex Hill, [6]; 12. 0J-Jeremy McCune, [19]; 13. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [18]; 14. 77-Damon McCune, [17]; 15. 11M-Mindy McCune, [22]; 16. 3-Jordan Milne, [13]; 17. 38B-Bryan Brown, [7]; 18. 35M-Cody Masse, [21]; 19. 1M-Willie Hernandez Jr, [16]; 20. 33-Robert DeHaan, [11]; 21. J2-John Carney II, [4]; 22. 9K-Kory Wermling, [20].