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Hafertepe Jr. Spins Out of Top 10, Recovers for 14

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

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