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Hafertepe Heats Up in Florida

As the temperatures in Florida heated up so did Sam Hafertepe Jr. and The Zemco Racing Team this past weekend at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida. 3 nights of racing with The All Star Circuit of Champions saw Sam earn 3 top 10 finishes including 2 in the top 5 as Sam and The Zemco team continued to improve. The strong weekend also helped propel Sam from 6th in All Star National Points to 4th.

The Zemco team opened the weekend Thursday night with their strongest time trial of the week and a 3rd overall effort. The heat race was nearly a disaster however as Sam dropped back to 7th on the start. Fortunately however Sam was able to drive by Cap Henry out of turn 2 early and then under Cole Duncan in turn 4 to earn a starting position in the dash.

Hafertepe drew the 4th place starting position in the dash and was able to cross under Tim Shaffer and into 3rd. Sam would hold steady the rest of the way to secure a feature starting position inside the 2nd row.

Following a failed attempt to start the race the 2nd attempt went off without a hitch but Sam could not hold the bottom entering turn 1 and gave up the 3rd spot to Shaffer.
Sam held down the 4th spot for the rest of the feature in a largely single-file procession due to the tacky race surface. Lapped traffic proved to be quite hairy for the leaders and on several occasion Sam was able to nearly pass Shaffer while on other occasions lapped traffic nearly cost Sam the 4th spot. In the end however Sam crossed the line comfortably in 4th for his first top 5 finish of the season.

“I was really happy with the night as a whole,” explained Sam. “We were pretty tight because of the surface but in general my guys gave me everything I needed to be fast tonight and that’s all you can ask for. It sounded like other than in lapped traffic we didn’t really have a lot of pressure from behind so I think we can comfortably say we finished where we should have.”

Sam turned in another impressive time trial run at Ocala on Friday night as the Sunnyvale, Texas native timed 5th fastest overall. Some early race drama between the front row starters caused Sam to get a terrible start but once he got settled in Hafertepe was able to comfortably hold off David Gravel and transfer to the A Main.

“The front row starters got pissed off at each other and started banging wheels with each other and trying to take out each other’s front ends,” explained Sam. “They got moved into the row in front of me and on the start the guy in front of me didn’t take off. It really set me back but fortunately we still got through and into the dash.”

As has been the case in every dash draw with The All Stars this year Sam pulled the 4 pill but a nice start saw him move underneath Fred Rahmer and into the 3rd place where he would eventually finish.

Sam was able to make a clean start in the feature and settled into the 3rd position behind Dale Blaney and Daryn Pittman. Once again traffic would play a major role and on two separate occasions Hafertepe was able to pull The Zemco Maxim-Rider alongside of Pittman in the feature but could not quite complete the pass.

“Daryn and I had a pretty good battle all through the feature,” said Sam. “I think he had a smaller tire on the left rear than us so our cars were a little different. To be honest I think he was a little faster than us and traffic seemed to play in our favor but not quite enough that we were able to take advantage of it. We’re definitely pleased with 3rd though.”

The Zemco team was hoping to build on their strong Thursday-Friday performance in the finale but a disappointing time trial run set the team back slightly.

“We went out during the wrong time in time trials all 3 nights at Ocala and it finally bit us,” said Sam. “We ran a really good lap for when we went out in time trials but the track got faster and faster and by the time things had played out we were 10th fastest.”

The feature field was greeted with the most racey surface they had raced on all week and as a result drivers were able to run both high and low in turns 1 and 2. Early in the event Sam utilized the top side of the speedway and was able to move forward steadily through the field until once again he was on the tail tank of Pittman for the 6th position.

For much of the race Sam tried high and low to work his way around Pittman and was able to pull side by side with him down the back stretch but couldn’t quite complete the pass. It wasn’t until just 3 laps remained in the event that Sam was able to make a power move to the inside of Pittman exiting turn 4 and take 6th. The final 3 laps saw Sam run down Greg Hodnett and Fred Rahmer for 4th and 5th but The 2007 Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year ran out of time and crossed the line in 6th.

“I tried to race Daryn pretty clean throughout the race,” said Sam. “I finally saw an opportunity at the end and we touched a little bit but he was already loose and sliding so I don’t think it effected him very much. I was really happy with how we closed out the weekend and was really pleased with the effort put forth by Tommy Carl, Ryan Hand, Sean Michael and Daryl Turford. We are really getting along and I think people are starting to see the results we knew we could achieve. I’m really looking forward to getting to Pennsylvania where I can really lean on the guys and their knowledge of the local tracks.”

The Zemco team has since returned from Florida but Sam is now busy preparing for some upcoming races against The World of Outlaws.

“Kevin Rudeen and I are once again teaming up in 2012,” said Sam. “As of right now we are planning on running Vegas, Perris and Tulare with The Outlaws and we’ll see where things go from there. I know the team is really excited about finally hitting the track and I’m really excited about getting there.”

Sam and The Zemco Racing Team would like to thank the following supporters: Zemco Speed Equipment, Zemco Headers, Zemco Tool & Die, Recchione Auto Body, Rider Racing Engines, Penske Shocks, Butlerbuilt, BMRS, Maxim Chassis, Moose Blocks, Arts Radiator, DMI, Spectro Oils, All Pro Heads, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Simpson, Smith Precision Products, MPD, Jakes Golf Carts, Raace Foundation, Baps, CMC, Wings Unlimited and Kelly Racing Fuels

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