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Hafertepe Returns Home to Snare 8th at Devil’s Bow

Sam Hafertepe Jr. and The Plumbfast Racing Team made their 2012 season debut with an 8th place finish against The ASCS National Tour this past Saturday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. For Sam it was an opportunity to once again get behind the wheel of his familiar Lone Star Speedway #15h after having competed in several races for both The Zemco Racing Team and Rudeen Racing.

“We have a few weeks off before we get back into The Zemco car,” explained Sam. “We figured we might as well fill in the schedule with some races in our own car.”

Hafertepe was hoping to defend his Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals title from the year before and came into Devil’s Bowl having finished 2nd or better in his previous 4 races at the facility.

Sam was held up behind a slower car on the start of his heat race which allowed Jason Johnson to power past him in turns 1 and 2. Together the duo thrilled the crowd as they charged through their heat race with Sam earning a 3rd place finish after starting 5th.

“On the start I was able to get a guy but when I went into turn 1 the guy in front of me slowed me up a lot,” said Sam. “He had me bottled up pretty bad to the point that I literally got on his back bumper and pushed him through the corner but Jason went where we didn’t and had clear sailing so he was able to blow right past us. Once we got free and past a couple of cars I was able to track him down but we ran out of time to pass him.”

As a result of Sam’s heat race performance the Sunnyvale, Texas racer lined up for the feature event in the 10th position. On the initial start Sam charged from 10th to 4th only to have a yellow cause a restart. Sam was once again able to make a good start and worked his way up into 6th on the opening lap and found himself in the middle of a duel with Jason Johnson for 5th.

“In the opening laps my car was absolutely perfect and I could go wherever I wanted,” explained Sam. “We were in a pretty intense battle with Jason and I actually came out on top of it before we went yellow on lap 5. The track started out pretty sticky though and unfortunately our car started to get pretty tight and after that it became a handful to drive.”

Sam tried several different lines throughout the feature but could not find a line that compensated for the ill-handling car. As the race wore on Sam’s hopes for another win at Devil’s Bowl faded and he fell to 8th.

“We’ve been pretty good here in the past so it was kind of disappointing to only run 8th,” said Sam. “We have a pretty good idea not only where we went wrong on the setup but also why we went wrong so the next time we hit the track I think we’re going to be very tough to beat.”

The Lucas Oil Late Models will be at the Hafertepe family-owned Lone Star Speedway this weekend and as a result it does not look like Sam will be racing this weekend.

“We had planned on running Waco with The ASCS but the weather looks iffy in our area so we’re going to just focus our efforts this weekend on our track and putting on the best possible show we can for our fans. I’m planning on being back in the car at Lone Star Speedway on April 7th for our Lone Star Sprint Invasion with The ASCS Lone Star region and then I think we’re going to head out East and run with The Outlaws at Paducah and I-55. The next few weeks will be pretty busy for us and I’m really looking forward getting back out there and racing.”

Sam would like to thank the following supporters: Plumbfast Mechanical, Lone Star Speedway, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Pancho's Racing Products, Kear's Speed Shop, PPM Titanium Products, GPC Race Products, Butlerbuilt, Infinity Shocks, DMI, Finish Line Machining, Torco Racing Oils, Smiley's Racing Products, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Vortex Wings, AFCO Racing Shocks, Simpson Racing Products, Quick Sand Express Inc.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO SAM'S PRESS RELEASE LIST PLEASE SEND A MESSAGE TO: sam15press@gmail.com

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