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Sunnyvale, Texas-The past weekend was one of frustration for the Plumbfast Racing Team and Sam Hafertepe Jr. A terribly handling race car at US 36 Raceway resulted in a disappointing 22nd place finish and then a tired motor at Knoxville resulted in an 18th place finish.

In an effort to try to improve the team and dial in their J&J chassis a little better the team decided to head down to the shop of one of the greatest mechanics in sprint car history, Kenny Woodruff to prepare for the weekend events. The team spent the week at Kenny’s shop in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma preparing both the primary and back up cars in preparation for the race at US-36. Woodruff decided to help the team for the weekend and headed for the track with the team.

The new combination proved to be quick right out of the box as Sam emerged from warm-ups with the 4th fastest time on the tiny, high-banked speedway.

Sam was able to keep up the speed from warm-ups as he clocked in with a lap of 11.048 which was good enough for 7th quick and put him on the outside of the front row for his heat.

Sam and pole sitter Kraig Kinser led the field through turns 1 and 2 at the start of his heat race with Kraig getting the advantage. Hafertepe tried to drive under Kraig in turns 3 and 4 but lost momentum which allowed Jac Haudenschild to try a slide job on Sam in turns 1 and 2. There was nearly contact between the two drivers and Sam had to move above the cushion to keep off the R19. Sam lost the 3rd position to Jason Sides as he tried to gather the car back up. For the rest of the race Sam would hammer the top side of the speedway, he was unable to pressure Sides for 3rd but was never challenged.

Sam lined the Fusion Energy Boost #15H J&J 11th for the 40 lap main event but an opening lap tangle with Donny Schatz in turn 3 resulted in Sam spinning and restarting at the tail of the field.

It was clear that Sam was fighting an ill-handling race car as he spun again. During the yellow he headed to the pits where crew members Kory Miller and Daryl Turford worked at trying to fix the handling. Miller made a torsion bar adjustment and sent Sam back out.

On the restart Hafertepe was able to move forward a few spots but again on the next yellow headed pitside where the team changed a shock and sent him back out.

Sam was able to move forward steadily but was still fighting an ill-handling car. He had just passed Wayne Johnson and Tim Kaeding and was pressuring Gary Brazier when he spun out of turn 4. At that point Sam called it a night and headed to the pits and called it a night.

“That was one of the worst handling cars I’ve ever driven”, said Sam. “It seemed like no matter what we did we couldn’t fix it. We decided that night to bring our Maxim chassis down from upstairs and run it at Knoxville”.

The following night at Knoxville the team had the Maxim chassis down but they were racing with a tired motor.

In warm-ups the car was a little tight on corner entrance and was only 34th fastest. The team decided to change the left front torsion bar and the car handled flawlessly for the rest of the night.

Hafertepe laid down a lap of 15.230 in time trials which was good enough for 20th quick, just outside of the heat race inversion.

“The car was the best I’ve ever had here”, said Sam. “We were pretty down on power though and that cost us what could have been a great qualifying run”.

Sam lined up inside the 3rd row in his heat. He made a good start and on the 2nd lap was able to work his way into 4th. Hafertepe would hold the position and earn a direct transfer to the A Main.

Sam was able to gain a couple of positions in the early stages of the race after starting 19th. As the race wore on he chased Craig Dollansky. Together the pair past a few cars as Sam had a pretty uneventful race eventually crossing the line in 18th.

“I was actually fairly happy with the run”, said Sam. “This was the best car I’ve ever had here and I think once we get the Fisher motor back in this car the guys are going to have to contend with us once again”.

The team has once again headed to the Keizer Aluminum Wheels shop in Orange City, Iowa.

“We love heading to Orange City”, said Sam. “The Huisman’s know how to take care of us really well. It’s just unfortunate to see Wade hopping around on one leg these days because I was hoping to take him to school on the golf course at some point this week”.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SAM’S PRESS RELEASE SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR E-MAIL PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL TO: sam15press@gmail.com

Sunnyvale, Texas-It was a frustrating night for the Plumbfast Racing Team at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND this past Friday night. Sam Hafertepe Jr and his Fusion Energy Boost #15H appeared to be salvaging a difficult night with a top-10 finish when a late race spin cost the team a good finish.

Hafertepe and the team came into the night’s racing very prepared having spent the week going over the car at the Keizer Aluminum Wheels shop.

“Wade and everyone at Keizer treat us like kings when we are there”, explained Sam. “Those guys take care of us so well and definitely know how to have a good time, I always look forward to visiting them.”

Unfortunately all of the hard work didn’t seem to pay off as Sam was a disappointing 17th in warm ups. The lack of speed continued through time trials as Hafertepe could only muster another 17th place time in qualifications.

“The car just wasn’t right”, said Sam. “It was leaning over on the right rear really hard and it seemed like we chased that all night”.

The problems continued through the heat race but Sam was able to improve 1 spot on the initial start and was able to stay with the lead pack throughout the contest to earn himself a spot directly into the A Feature with a solid 5th place finish.

Hafertepe began the feature from the 16th starting spot and was able to move forward 3 positions on the opening lap. The good start would not last however as it was clear that Sam was fighting an ill-handling car and he began dropping through the field.

Sam began searching around and adjusting his driving to suit the track conditions and soon began to work his way back through the field. Hafertepe began an intense battle with locals Mark Dobmeier and Wade Nygaard along with Outlaw regular Lucas Wolfe that would see the foursome swap positions frequently as Sam ran the bottom for all it was worth.

As the race wore on Sam would establish himself in 13th and began to close in on Brian Ellenberger before he spun. Hafertepe moved into the top 10 on lap 21 and began to chase down ‘The Wild Child’ Jac Haudenschild.

Jac ran his customary high line while Sam continued trying to make the track smaller and smaller, sometimes doing wheelies as he worked his way through the infield. Hafertepe began closing in at first but a couple of good laps by Haudenschild saw him pull away. Sam continued plugging away however and eventually closed the gap on him when the yellow flag flew.

Sam continued pressuring Haudenschild on the restart but on lap 30 disaster struck as the Fusion Energy Boost #15H did a lazy spin in turns 3 and 4.

Hafertepe would restart in 16th and actually worked his way back up to 13th but he was passed on the final lap and had to settle for 14th.

“Tonight just never went our way”, said the frustrated youngster. “We are definitely getting better though because tonight we were able to deal with it and if I hadn’t spun we’d have taken a car that had no business being in the top 10 and put it there. The car just kept getting over on the right rear and it finally bit us there at the end. I think I have a pretty good idea what our problem is though so tomorrow Kory (Miller) and I will go through the car and we should be really good when we get to Fargo.”

FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-Despite the slow start to the season Sam is starting to show just how far he has come this year. In what many thought was a breakthrough year for Sam last year he was able to score 4 top 5 finishes. 2009 has already seen the Sunnyvale, Texas native take home 3 top 5 finishes and it appears as though more are on the way.

“It really makes me feel good to see us becoming a consistent top-5 threat”, said Sam. “Our top-10’s aren’t really where we want them to be but the top 5’s show that we can definitely be fast when we are on. Hopefully we’ll start getting a little more consistent out here and we’ll start to really pile up the numbers”.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SAM’S PRESS RELEASE SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR E-MAIL PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL TO: sam15press@gmail.com

Support the people who support Sam: Fusion Energy Boost, G-H Plumbing, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, AFCO Shocks, Wings Unlimited and Smiley’s Race Products

Sunnyvale, Texas-Sam Hafertepe Jr and the Plumbfast Racing Team had high hopes heading into this past weekend’s races at Lawrenceburg Speedway but unfortunately the team was not able to keep up the momentum it had been building in the previous weeks as they came home with 23rd and 13th place finishes.

Sam’s first ever laps at Lawrenceburg were fast ones as the Sunnyvale, TX racer was the fastest in the first warm-up session over Joey Saldana and Brooke Tatnell.

Hafertepe was the first driver to take a lap in time trials however Sam’s effort came to an abrupt end when he stopped on the race track almost immediately after taking the green flag. A power steering line blew and drenched the cockpit with fluid. Sam and crew member Kory Miller were able to fix the problem before time trials ended which allowed Sam to take the Fusion Energy Boost #15H out for 1 time trial lap. Hafertepe crossed the line with a lap of 12.333 which was good for 23rd position.

Sam lined up for his heat race outside of row 3 and 1 position out of a direct transfer to the A Feature. On the initial start Sam was racing into turn 1 when front row starters Craig Dollansky and Todd Kane got together which resulted in Dollansky spinning and a complete restart.

Sam attacked the topside of turns 1 and 2 to power by Danny Lasoski for the 3rd position on the next start and began to set his sights on a Dash position. Lap after lap Hafertepe flirted with disaster on the rough cushion and soon began closing in on Todd Kane. On lap 6 Sam tried ducking under Kane exiting turn 2 but gave up too much momentum which allowed Lasoski to slip back by just as the red flag flew for a wreck on the front straightaway.

The final 4 laps saw another yellow but the race from there on out the race was relatively uneventful for Sam as he brought the Fusion Energy Boost #15H J&J home in 4th to qualify for the A Feature.

The Plumbfast Racing Team went into the feature race hoping for a repeat of Attica the week before when Sam was able to charge from deep in the field to a top 5 finish however at the drop of the green flag it was obvious that history would not repeat itself.

“Earlier in the week while we were at Kears I had Kory and Daryl pull our J&J back down because we’d found some things with our other car and I wanted to see if they would translate to the J&J”, explained Sam. “Unfortunately what we were doing on the other car didn’t translate over to the J&J and we couldn’t really get dialled in all night”.

The handling issues were not the only thing Sam was dealing with in the feature.

“A few laps into the feature the motor started acting funny”, recalled Sam. “We weren’t running very well so I pulled off to not hurt it too bad, I think we did drop a valve though”.

Sam was credited with a disappointing 23rd place finish.

That evening Sam, Kory and Daryl went to work not only changing motors but also switching cars. The team’s effort was rewarded the following day as Sam came out flying in his warm up session as he turned in the 2nd quick lap with a time of 12.551.

Time trials saw Sam lay down a lap of 12.673 which left Sam on the bubble for the heat race inversion with 7 cars remaining. Sam survived the first 6 cars but Joey Saldana knocked Sam out of the heat race inversion on the very last time trial run which meant that instead of starting on the pole for his heat that the Fusion Energy Boost #15H would grid in 5th.

Former Plumbfast Racing crew chief Sammy Swindell made a wild move to advance from 8th to 4th on the opening lap of the heat which dropped Sam to 6th. Hafertepe was able to close on Kraig Kinser and twice attempted slide jobs but was unsuccessful as he finished 6th.

Sam lined up for the A Main inside of row 7 and was able to work his way past Brian Ellenberger and Steve Kinser in the early laps before Kinser was eventually able to return the favour.

As the race wore on Sam settled into the 12th position chasing Terry McCarl. Sam had been working the bottom all the way around the track but 10 laps in Sam began to run the top in 1 and 2 and began to reel in the cars in front of him with Swindell in hot pursuit.

“I had been running the bottom but the guys in front of me started to get away”, explained the Sunnyvale, Texas racer. “I figured if I didn’t start trying to find somewhere else to run that we might start going backwards. Fortunately I found the top and we were able to get going pretty good”.

At the lap 21 mark Sam and Swindell were all over the tail tanks of Kraig Kinser, Terry McCarl and Jac Haudenschild. Sam tried to duck under Haudenschild and that allowed Swindell to get a run on him. There was contact between the 2 and Swindell got sideways but both drivers were able to gather up their cars and continue on.

The yellow flag flew on lap 26 for Joey Saldana and on the restart Sam was able to get past Jac Haudenschild and had a run on Kraig Kinser going into turn 3 for 9th. Unfortunately there was contact between the two which resulted in a left rear flat for Kinser and a right rear flat for Sam.

Miller and Turford went to work on replacing Sam’s tire with help from members of the TSR and Carnahan teams. They had to work fast as they would not receive the benefit of the 2 minute rule as the race was past halfway. The tire was replaced quickly and Sam was able to return to the field at the back of the lead lap cars.

Sam didn’t have many laps but he was able to get past Kinser and Chad Kemenah on the restart. Hafertepe then set his sights on Brian Ellenberger for 12th and was hounding him through the final laps but could never quite pull off the pass as he crossed the line in 13th.

“Kory and the guys did a great job getting the tire changed”, said Sam. “Sometimes you can get pretty down in those situations but the guys never gave up and as a result we were able to actually gain a few positions at the finish”.

The Plumbfast Racing Team is now headed back to Sunnyvale, Texas for the week as they prepare for two nights at Dodge City Raceway next weekend which will be televised on SpeedTV.

FUSION ENERGY BOOST FAST FACT-Fusion Energy Boost had been a great deal of help over the past few seasons but throughout everything Sam’s family has been behind him all of the way.

“My Mom and Dad are incredibly supportive”, explained Sam. “They don’t always get to come to all of the races but they get to as many as they can. It’s quite common for my mom and dad to make 20+ hour races and it really means a lot to me when they come watch and I always try to do my best for them”.

Every now and then Sam’s parents also like to surprise him.

“It was pretty funny at Eldora”, recalled Sam. It was Mother’s Day weekend and I’d taken the time to buy my Mom some flowers. I had arranged to have them sent to our house. I didn’t know they were planning to surprise me by showing up at Eldora and sure enough they did. So the flowers showed up in Dallas but my Mom was in Ohio, sometimes you just can’t win”.