LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The 34th edition of I-30 Speedway’s COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires kicked off Friday night with Jordon Mallett and Sam Hafertepe Jr., racing to victory lane in the evening’s twin 20-lap features.
While Mallett emerged from a spirited battle with Derek Hagar to capture his first Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour win in the first 20-lapper, reigning event champion Hafertepe, solidified his status as an odd-on favorite with a convincing triumph in the second 20-lapper.
Hagar and J.J. Hickle secured positions in Saturday night’s Pack Building Materials Dash for Cash as well and a top-three row position at worst for the $10,041-to-win, 41-lap STN championship feature event.
After a pair of aborted starts for an Austin Wood turn two spin and then a third turn flip, Mallett gunned into the lead at the outset of the night’s first 20-lapper with Hagar and Canada’s Dylan Westbrook in hot pursuit.
Hagar kept the pressure on and used traffic to his advantage to take the lead away from Mallett on the 12th circuit as he vied for a third consecutive STN preliminary win aboard the No. 9jr entry.
Westbrook challenged Mallett for the runner-up position, but the young shoe got busy and soon turned the tables on Hagar in traffic to recapture the lead with a handful of laps to go aboard the Water for Christ No. 14 machine.
Mallett kept Hagar at bay in the closing laps of the frenzied feature with Westbrook settling for the show position as Matt Covington and Miles Paulus filled out the top five.
“I thought it was going to be kinda boring out there, just out front and minding my own,” Mallett explained. “I knew it would get dicey in lapped traffic and you can’t ever count Derek, he’s such a good driver. I’m just glad we were able to get that back.”
After posting the only qualifying lap in the 11-second bracket of 11.987-second for the night’s quickest overall time, Hafertepe flexed his muscle with a dominant win in the second of the Twin 20s for his 58th career Lucas Oil National Tour feature win aboard the Townline Variety/Heidbreider Foundation Service No. 15h.
“We had an awesome car all night long, that’s actually the best car that we’ve ever had here,” Hafertepe said.
Gridding the feature field outside the front row, Hafertepe gunned ahead of fellow front row starter Hickle at the drop of the green flag and never looked back en route to his fourth career STN preliminary feature triumph.
The action in his wake was compelling with 1998 STN champion Tim Crawley holding off two-time event winner Blake Hahn for the runner-up position until the halfway mark. Power steering woes soon brought Crawley’s run to a premature end, bringing about a caution that set the stage for a seven-lap dash to the checkered.
With a handful of lapped cars separating himself from his pursuers, Hafertepe, Jr., dashed on to take the win by a healthy 6.979-second margin Hahn and Hickle diced for the coveted runner-up position.
Hickle emerged with the position in the closing rounds as Hahn settled for third. Dustin Gates worked his way from ninth to fourth with Chris Martin rounding out the top five.
The finishes:
First Feature (20 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 14-Jordon Mallett (1), 2. 9jr-Derek Hagar (2), 3. 47x-Dylan Westbrook (4), 4. 95-Matt Covington (5), 5. 98p-Miles Paulus (7), 6. G6-Cody Gardner (6), 7. 22s-Slater Helt (14), 8. 21r-Gunner Ramey (3), 9. 5L-Eric Lutz (9), 10. 1z-Justin Zimmerman (11), 11. 24w-Garet Williamson (17), 12. 26-Marshall Skinner (15), 13. 87-Jason Barney (12), 14. 21b-Brandon Hinkle (19), 15. 91a-Ernie Ainsworth (16), 16. 16w-Ryan Ruhl (13), 17. 13-Chase Howard (10), 18. 44-Jason Howell (20), 19. 1s-Joey Schmidt (16), 20. 27w-Austin Wood (8).
Second Feature (20 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (2), 2. 63-J.J. Hickle (1), 3. 52-Blake Hahn (3), 4. 6-Dustin Gates (9), 5. 44m-Chris Martin (5), 6. 3-Howard Moore (7), 7. 0b-Eric Baldaccini (11), 8. 30-Joseph Miller (10), 9. 74-Tucker Boulton (16), 10. 10L-Landon Britt (8), 11. 17b-Ryan Bickett (17), 12. 12-Tony Bruce, Jr. (13), 13. 42p-Preston Perlmutter (18), 14. 0z-Landon Crawley (14), 15. 3g-Paxton Gregory (20), 16. 91x-Michael Day (6), 17. 12m-Greg Merritt (19), 18. 0c-Tim Crawley (4), 19. 11-Roger Crockett (12), 20. X-Charlie Louden (15).