Sam Hafertepe Jr. went where no one else was willing to go and charged to the $11,000 to win Canadian Sprint Car Nationals victory this past Saturday night at Ohsweken Speedway. Hafertepe who had not participated in the opening two preliminary nights put his Lone Star Speedway, Maxim-Fisher #15h crewed on by an all-Canadian crew on the top side of the speedway and worked the perilous top side to perfection as he drove to a dominating victory over a stout field of 30 cars.
Many drivers, teams and fans in attendance thought it was odd when Sam and The Plumbfast Racing Team pulled into The Ohsweken Speedway on Thursday night and then proceeded to unload but not race. The following night the trailer door remained closed while the rest of the competitors competed in twin features.
"We made the conscious decision not to race for several reasons," explained Sam. "The first reason was a financial one in that the races just did not pay enough for us to justify unloading but we also wanted to save our equipment and more importantly, not show anyone how good we were. We wanted the fast teams thinking they were getting everything there was to get out of their cars and not show them that we had a little more."
Hafertepe served notice immediately on Saturday night that he would be a contender to win as he laid down the 2nd fastest lap in warm-ups and then blistered the speedway in time trials to set quick time by just under 4/10ths of a second.
The Sunnyvale, Texas native drew the 6 for his heat race invert and as a result Sam had to line up on the outside of row 3 in his heat race.
The heat race would be a battle of epic proportions between Sam and 2-time Canadian Sprint Car Nationals champion Steve Poirier. Poirier and Hafertepe charged to the front with Poirier getting to the lead first running the bottom of the speedway. Sam immediately attacked the top side of the speedway and with just 2 laps remaining edged ahead of the Quebec racer. Hafertepe would hold a slight lead over the final 2 laps to take the hard-fought victory and earn him a starting spot in the top 6 for the feature event.
"Not a lot of people in the US have heard of Steve Poirier but he gave me a heck of a race," said Sam. "He was very, very fast and I had to drive the car right on the edge to beat him but fortunately we got it done."
The 6 heat race winners were put in a draw that saw each driver give someone else the number they drew. Sam drew the 3 and gave it to Jared Zimbardi. Zimbardi was the last driver to draw a number and was left with the 6 which he had to give to Sam.
Sam and his all-Canadian crew of Daryl & Peter Turford along with John Watson began preparing Hafertepe's ride for the 35 lap grind.
"Daryl is my regular crew guy and his father Peter along with family friend John Watson usually help me when I race in the area," explained Sam. "For them this was such a huge race and I knew they were going to do everything they could to make sure the car was perfect for the A Main."
The green flag dropped and following a cross-over move in the first set of turns Sam had worked his way into 4th behind Shane Stewart who had won the previous 2 nights of action. Sam worked his way underneath Stewart in turns 3 and 4 and then fought for a few laps once again with Poirier before finally working free and setting his sights on the front running Alain Bergeron and Jamie Collard.
As the leaders worked the bottom side of the speedway Sam attacked the top side of the speedway and began reeling in the leaders. On lap 12 Sam made the winning pass on Collard who had just taken the lead from Bergeron and began to work lapped traffic.
"I knew from watching the past 2 nights that most of the field would be on the bottom," explained Sam. "I knew if we could work up top that no one else would be up there and we would have clear sailing."
Sam began tearing into lapped traffic and immediately set himself apart from the pack as he put car after car in the 30 car field a lap down. The top side was incredibly perilous but very fast. Sam’s night nearly came to an end on lap 25 as he drove the car off the end in turns 3 and 4 but he calmly gathered up the race car and continued in the lead.
"There was no cushion up there so running up there was really risky," explained Sam. "There really wasn't much to hit but the car was perfect so we could do it. That one lap there though I just missed my line a little wee bit and we went off the end but fortunately I'd built a big enough gap that we still had a bunch of lapped cars behind me."
The race's only caution flew on lap 28 and gave Collard and Wayne Johnson one last shot at Hafertepe.
Sam covered the remaining 7 laps with ease, even moving down in turns 3 and 4 to take a very popular victory.
"I didn't drive the car as hard on the final laps," explained Sam. "I knew we probably had a big lead because the car was absolutely perfect so I just took it easy and if anyone pressured me I would have turned up the wick another notch or two."
Hafertepe and the team are now spending a few more days in Canada before they will head back across the border to take on The Outlaws at Eldora and Lernerville Speedway.
"We're going to hit a Blue Jays game," said Sam. "Daryl and Pete took me on a tour of Toronto. They took me up the CN Tower and we ate at Gretzky's and The Old Spaghetti Factory so we might as well finish it up properly with a Jays game. Fortunately they're playing The Angels who are battling with my Texas Rangers for a play-off spot so it's actually a game that matters to me. We'll take off the next morning and see if we can't get ourselves another win with The Outlaws."
Sam would like to thank the following supporters: Plumbfast Mechanical, Lone Star Speedway, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Pancho's Racing Products, Kear's Speed Shop, PPM Titanium Products, GPC Race Products, Butlerbuilt, Infinity Shocks, DMI, Finish Line Machining, Torco Racing Oils, Smiley's Racing Products, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Vortex Wings, AFCO Racing Shocks, Simpson Racing Products, Quick Sand Express Inc.
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