ROSSBURG, Ohio — Rico Abreu may have been the man to beat, but Sam Hafertepe Jr. came out on top, winning on night seven of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket at Eldora Speedway.
The victory, Hafertepe’s first 410 sprint car triumph at The Big E, secured the Texan a $12,000 payday, clinching the top spot on lap 20 when Rico Abreu surrendered the lead by visiting the work area.
A flat tire led to Abreu’s misfortune, but Hafertepe ultimately capitalized, racing the final circuits unchallenged for his third-ever Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory.
Starting from the outside-pole position, Abreu earned the initial jump and led the first 19 circuits over Hafertepe, that until caution flags waved on lap 20 for a stopped Cale Thomas. Under caution, Abreu’s left rear tire went flat causing him to go to the work area; the rest is history.
Buddy Kofoid would chase Hafertepe to the final Whistle Stop event checkers, followed by Brent Marks, Anthony Macri and Tyler Courtney.
Abreu poweredwer back to eighth.
“This one goes out to Miles Hill. He’s stuck by us through some pretty rough times, but I’m glad things are starting to pay off,” Hafertepe, driver of the Hill’s Racing/Cigar Port No. 15H sprint car, said. “Just super excited for our team. Obviously, Rico [Abreu] had it in the bag, but we were able to hang with him there at the beginning. His misfortune led to my fortune. Hopefully this gives us some great momentum moving forward.”
With only one round of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket remaining, the top two in the standings, Zeb Wise and Tyler Courtney, respectively, are only separated by four markers.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 55-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 19M-Brent Marks[7]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri[6]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[5]; 6. 26-Zeb Wise[11]; 7. 13-Justin Peck[8]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 9. 29-Sye Lynch[15]; 10. 35-Zach Hampton[9]; 11. 5T-Travis Philo[13]; 12. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[12]; 13. 69K-Lance Dewease[14]; 14. 97-JJ Hickle[26]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson[23]; 16. 23-Zeth Sabo[22]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee[19]; 18. 2L-Logan Forler[16]; 19. 45-Tim Shaffer[21]; 20. 81-Lee Jacobs[18]; 21. 4-Chris Windom[25]; 22. 1-Nate Dussel[24]; 23. (DNF) 49X-Cale Thomas[10]; 24. (DNF) 101-Cody Maroske[20]; 25. (DNF) 11-Cory Eliason[4]; 26. (DNF) 11K-Kraig Kinser[17]