KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Rolling into Lakeside Speedway to take on the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network on Tuesday night, Sam Hafertepe Jr. proved he hasn’t lost his touch.
Hafertepe traded blows in traffic with Dylan Westbrook before parking in SawBlade.com Victory Lane at the Road To Knoxville.
“It was fun racing with Dylan. I think on open track, we were going to run one/two regardless,” stated Sam of the race with his Hills Racing teammate.
Going 25 non-stop laps, Hafertepe’s win is the first of his career at Lakeside Speedway, his 56th with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, and the eighth consecutive year he has won a National Tour A-Feature.
Hafertepe used the Tuesday event as a shakedown session for the upcoming My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. Gridding the field seventh, Sam rolled into second on lap seven.
In pursuit of teammate Dylan Westbrook, lapped traffic brought the Nitro 54 Variety No. 47x within striking distance on lap 14.
Taking point on the following lap, traffic was not done with the leaders as Westbrook shot back into the lead two laps later. Putting a half straightaway on Hafertepe, that lead was quickly taken away as Westbrook found himself on the brakes trying to avoid running over a slower car.
Hafertepe led to the checkered flag, finishing 1.945 seconds ahead of Westbrook.
“It’s tough for Dylan because when I got to him, he hadn’t seen anyone the entire race, so it’s hard to gauge if the top or bottom was better,” Hafertepe said. “If he stayed low, I was screwed because it was a tick better. You could use the top to get around lapped cars if you needed to. Once I got to him, and he started searching, I knew we’d have a chance at getting the win.”
Rolling up from eighth, Blake Hahn made it to third with J.J. Hickle in pursuit from ninth. Slipping back to eighth during the mid-point of the event, Ryan Timms rebound to finish fifth. The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 4. 63-JJ Hickle[9]; 5. 5T-Ryan Timms[5]; 6. J2-John Carney II[1]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[15]; 8. 4W-Jamie Ball[2]; 9. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; 10. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 11. 77-Jack Wagner[12]; 12. 2-Chase Porter[19]; 13. 19G-Wes Wofford[6]; 14. 21-Gunner Ramey[21]; 15. 19-Colby Thornhill[13]; 16. 22S-Slater Helt[16]; 17. 7B-Ben Brown[11]; 18. 88-Travis Reber[14]; 19. 73-Samuel Wagner[18]; 20. 92J-JR Topper[23]; 21. 7-Brodrick Nickens[24]; 22. (DNF) 18W-Lorne Wofford[17]; 23. (DNS) 35-Jason Shultz; 24. (DNS) 3Z-Zach Davis; 25. (DNS) 11-Austin O’Neal; 26. (DNS) 77X-Alex Hill