LITTLE ROCK — Sam Hafertepe Jr. says he’s forgotten any past experience that might have given him an advantage at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway.
But he knew enough to win Thursday night’s opening preliminary feature at the 23rd annual Comp Cams Short Track Nationals.
On a slick, dicey track, Hafertepe held off 1990 STN champion Sammy Swindell of Bartlett, Tenn., in the closing laps to take the victory and secure a spot in tonight’s $15,000-to-win main event.
“You got to race hard out here with all these good cars,”said Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, Texas. “That’s what we came here to do. To beat such a good field of cars, that shows how well we’ve been running here lately.”
Hafertepe raced at I-30 several times a year while on the American Sprint Car Series in 2003-2006, but has rarely done it since becoming a touring member of the World of Outlaws in 2007.
“We had pretty much forgotten everything we had learnedhere in the past,” he said. “We’re doing stuff a lot differently now than we were then anyway. We did come out here for practice [Wednesday night], and we felt like we had a pretty good car.”
Polesitter Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla., took the lead at the green flag. But Hafertepe, who started fourth, passed Bacon for the lead on the outside of turn four on the second lap.
Despite slick conditions inturns three and four - and a treacherous cushion on top of turns one and two - Hafertepe extended his lead throughout the middle portions of the 25-lap race.
But Swindell closed the gap as Hafertep entered lapped traffic in the final five laps, advancing to the leader’s rear bumper when Hafertepe bicycled on the turnone cushion in the 22nd lap.
Swindell passed Hafertepe onthe low groove of turn two on the following lap. But Hafertepe returned the favor by diving back underneath him in turn three to regain the lead and held on for the victory by .393 seconds over Swindell.
“I know I was still in a transfer spot, but I was going to do whatever it took to win,” said Hafertepe, whose best finish is a second at Williams Grove, Pa., in 65 World of Outlaws starts this season. “I don’t get a chance to win a lot of races with the guys I race against most of the time. I wanted this one.”
“I gave him too much room and he got back by,” said Swindell, the Outlaws champion in 1997, 1982 and 1981. “I wish I could have shut the door, but he did a good job.”
Swindell and third-place finisher Greg Wilson of Benton Ridge, Ohio, also secured spots for tonight’s main event.
Bacon finished fourth and Darren Stewart of Bixby, Okla., who started 10th, took fifth.
Oklahoma City’s Wayne Johnson, the 1997 STN winner who nearly lost his foot in a crash at Elma, Wash., in July, finished sixth and Jonathan Cornell of Sedalia, Mo., was seventh. Tim Shaffer of Aliquippa, Pa., twotime defending STN champion Tony Bruce Jr. of Liberal, Kan., and Channin Tankersley of Highlands, Texas, rounded out the top 10.
Short Track Nationals
Thursday night’s preliminary feature race results from the 23rd annual Comp Cams Short Track Nationals at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway with finishing position, driver, hometown, starting position in parentheses and laps completed. The top three finishers secured spots in tonight’s main event: 1. Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, Texas (4), 25 2. Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, Tenn. (3), 25 3. Greg Wilson, Benton Ridge, Ohio (8), 25 4. Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Okla. (1), 25 5. Darren Stewart, Bixby, Okla.
(10), 25 6. Wayne Johnson, Oklahoma City (2), 25 7. Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, Mo. (5), 25 8. Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, Pa.
(14), 25 9. Tony Bruce Jr., Liberal, Kan.
(7), 25 10. Channin Tankersley, Highlands, Texas (12), 25 11. Gary Wright, Hooks, Texas(13), 25 12. Jason Johnson, Eunice, La.
(17), 25 13. Aaron Reutzel, Clute, Texas (16), 25 14. Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, Mo.
(17), 25 15. Joe Wood Jr., Oklahoma City (18), 25 16. Claud Estes Jr., Godley, Texas (6), 25 17. Brian McClelland, Broken Arrow, Okla. (20), 24 18. David Gravel, Middlebury, Conn. (11), 24 19. Kyle Hirst, Loomis, Calif.
(9), 5 20. Eric Baldaccini, Keller, Texas (19), 5 Lap leaders - Bacon 1, Hafertepe 2-25.
HEAT RACES FIRST HEAT 1, Bacon; 2, Baldcaccini; 3, Lewis Jenkins Jr.; 4, Hull; 5, Don Young.
SECOND HEAT 1, Swindell; 2, Cornell; 3, Eric Lutz; 4, Sherman Davis; 5, Ray Allen Kulhanek.
THIRD HEAT 1, Mike Hess; 2, Gravel; 3, Curtis Evans; 4, Tankersley; 5, Chris Williams.
FOURTH HEAT 1, Stewart; 2, Jan Howard; 3, J.Johnson; 4, Bruce;
5, Wood.
FIFTH HEAT 1, Bacon; 2, W.Johnson; 3, Estes; 4, John Carney II; 5, Jerod Roller.
SIXTH HEAT 1, Hirst; 2, Koty Adams; 3, Andy Shouse; 4, McClelland; 5, Anthony Nicholson.
SEVENTH HEAT 1, Hafertepe; 2, Reutzel; 3, Wright; 4, Shaffer; 5, Marshall Skinner.
QUALIFYING RACES FIRST QUALIFIER 1, Bacon; 2, Wilson; 3, Shaffer; 4, Baldaccini;
5, Jenkins.
SECOND QUALIFIER 1, W.Johnson; 2, Wood; 3, Hirst;
4, Stewart; 5, Jason Martin.
THIRD QUALIFIER 1, Cornell;
2, Hafertepe; 3, Gravel; 4, Kulhanek; 5, Nicholson.
FOURTH QUALIFIER 1, Bruce;
2, McClelland; 3, Tankersley; 4, Estes; 5, Howard.
FIFTH QUALIFIER 1, Hull; 2, Swindell; 3, Reutzel; 4, Wright;
5, Carney.
Sports, Pages 29 on 10/30/2010