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Hafertepe's Debut in Zemco Car Results in Speed an

Sam Hafertepe and The Zemco Racing Team had a frustrating season opening weekend at Screven Motor Speedway with The All Star Circuit of Champions. The John and Pee Wee Zemaitis owned sprinter started off the weekend slow but through steady improvement became one of the fastest cars by the weekend’s end but unfortunately the team was not rewarded in the final results.

Sam kicked off the season with a disappointing 19th place effort in time trials and was unable to move forward in his heat race as he started and finished 7th.

“Ever since we’ve unloaded we’ve been struggling to get right rear stick,” explained Sam. “We kept making steady improvements throughout the week but at that point we were still struggling to come to grips with the car.”

The first noticeable signs of improvement came when Sam rocketed off the outside of the front row to race past pole sitter Danny Lasoski to take a dominating win in the B Main.

Despite starting the feature in 19th Hafertepe was determined to move forward. The initial start saw Sam nearly blast into the top 10 as he worked the top side of the speedway to perfection only to have his efforts nullified by a yellow.

Once the race was underway Sam was able to steadily move through the field and around the race’s halfway point he was racing in the 12th position in a torrid battle with Fred Rahmer and Danny Smith.
Rahmer was using the whole track to run the bottom which was making passing the veteran difficult. As the race wore on the pair battled back and forth. As they entered turn 1 on lap 28 the pair made contact which resulted in Sam executing a wild spin and coming to a stop.

“I ran Fred pretty clean lap after lap,” said Sam. “As we went into turn 1 with 2 to go he fed me a right rear. I was pretty unhappy about it but we actually had a civil conversation about it the next day. Nothing really got resolved but Fred knows if he’s going to run me like that thats how I’m going to race him.”

Fortunately when Sam spun he was the second last car on the lead lap and was able to restart in 13th.

The final two laps of the feature were wild as Sam tried to work his way forward by blasting the top. On the final turn of the final lap Sam found himself 3-wide with Jason Sides and Rahmer. Hafertepe emerged 2nd from the 3-wide and crossed the line to finish the feature in 11th half a car length behind Sides.

The following night showed just how much The Zemco Speed & Fabrication 1 had improved as Sam blistered the field for quick-time in time trials.

“I think our time trial performance really said a lot about this whole team,” stated Sam. “I feel that with Tommy Carl, Ryan Hand, Sean Michael and Daryl Turford in my corner that our team more than stacks up against any team in sprint car racing. These Zemco cars are built absolutely beautifully and when we rolled out slow on the practice night and then weren’t fast no one got down.
We just kept creeping up on it and finally got rolling.”

Sam improved 1 position in his heat race from 6th to 5th to safely lock him into the re-draw for the feature and pulled the 4th place starting position.

Unfortunately a problem with the right rear bleeder killed the handling on The Zemco car and Sam slipped to 6th.

Undaunted the team went to work and put a very good car under The 2007 Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year. Sam made a remarkable start to the race and was able to clear Cody Darrah and Fred Rahmer before pulling side by side with Terry McCarl for 3rd at the start-finish line. As the pair raced towards turn 1 McCarl crowded Sam and the pair made contact sending Sam up the track.

Despite a mangled W link from the contact Sam was able to settle back into 6th.

“I had a good run on Terry and was side by side with him when he just slammed into me,” explained Sam. “Terry hit us so hard on the left side of the car that he tore up our W link on the right side of the car. I guess that’s how he wants to race that’s how he’s going to get raced.”

Sam was able to recover and continue in 6th. Hafertepe soon disposed of Cody Darrah and set his sights on NASCAR star Tony Stewart and the 4th position. On two separate occasions Sam was able to pass the Sprint Cup star only to have the passes negated by yellow flags.
Sam attempted a 3rd pass of Tony on lap 6 but entering turn 3 a combination of the smashed W link and greasy/frozen track conditions led to Sam doing a slow loop in turn 3 to bring out the yellow.

Hafertepe restarted at the tail of the field and the track soon took rubber making passing very difficult. Sam was able to pass a couple cars and move forward to a 13th place finish.

“We didn’t really get the results we wanted but I think overall we can be very happy with the weekend,” said Sam. “The team really gets along very well. I brought Daryl along from my team and I feel like we’ve meshed really seamlessly with Tommy, Ryan and Sean. We all seem to get along really well and I think we’re going to have a pretty successful season.”

The Zemco Racing Team is now headed to Volusia where they will practice Tuesday night and then start racing on Wednesday night.

“I’m really looking forward to Volusia,” said Sam. “The Zemco team has been very fast there in the past with Stevie and I’ve been very good there as well so hopefully we’ll hit on a good combination and we’ll put this car in victory lane.”

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 and Kelly Racing Fuels

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