KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Thursday night at Lakeside Speedway was all about Sam Hafertepe Jr. as the driver of the Hills Racing/Heidbreder Foundation No. 15 dominated the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
Leading flag to flag for his third National Tour score of the season and 61st since 2010, the win makes Hafertepe the first repeat winner with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series in eight appearances at the Kansas oval.
“It’s fun to get on big tracks like this where we can get on the wall and race like that,” said Hafertepe. “We’re still working on the car. We were trying a left rear shock package tonight that is different from what we normally run, but luckily, we were able to work out front and get the win, but we still have some work to do when we’re not in clean air. We always want to be better, and without Miles [Hill] and everyone who helps us, we couldn’t do this.”
Battling through the opening lap with Matt Covington, the No. 15h found his stride quickly to begin pulling away. Into traffic in the first seven laps, Hafertepe was quick to move on the slower machines as the battle for second began to pick up between Matt Covington and Dylan Westbrook.
Able to work back to silver on the No. 47x, the race for second turned into a three-car battle with the No. 24 of Garet Williamson into the mix. The race was stopped when Westbrook flipped on lap 20.
Restarting at the last fully completed lap, the green flag waved with 19 laps in the books.
Using slower cars in the lineup to his advantage, Hafertepe was quick to run away as the race for second picked up where it left off, but with a new contender as Jason Martin pursued the position.
Hafertepe raced to a 7.513-second advantage at the finish. Garet Williamson came out on top of the race for second, making the pass on Covington on lap 23.
Jason Martin, Covington and Wayne Johnson rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 24-Garet Williamson[5]; 3. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson[11]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[6]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[12]; 8. 27B-Jake Bubak[19]; 9. 44-Chris Martin[13]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[16]; 11. 98P-Miles Paulus[9]; 12. 1X-Tim Crawley[8]; 13. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 14. 55B-Brandon Anderson[7]; 15. 187-Landon Crawley[15]; 16. 2-Chase Porter[17]; 17. 53-Joe Beaver[14]; 18. 10P-Dylan Postier[22]; 19. 21-Gunner Ramey[23]; 20. 10-Landon Britt[21]; 21. 16-Dustin Clark[18]; 22. 17F-Chad Frewaldt[20]; 23. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]
Keyword: It’s All Hafertepe At Lakeside