Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Charges To Third $10,000 Hockett / McMillin Memorial ASCS Victory

Story By: BRYAN HULBERT / ASCS – WHEATLAND, MO – Falling back to third for most of the SawBlade.com A-Feature Saturday night, a caution with eight laps to go saw Sam Hafertepe, Jr. mount the late-race charge to secure the $10,000 prize in the General Tire Hockett/McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.

“That was really exciting. If these fans didn’t enjoy that, I don’t know, because there just isn’t better racing than that,” stated Hafertepe.

“These guys, they drove their hearts out and I feel like all three of us should have won this deal. It was just a badass race. Everybody drove each other clean, we were throwing sliders, and that cushion was tough. It was treacherous and really, our car wasn’t that good. Them two had us covered, but I just didn’t give up and kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing. I’ve won this race two other times, and I was determined to make it three.”

Chasing Mark Smith and Derek Hagar on the Lap 32 restart, Hafertepe rolled by Smith for second on Lap 36.

Trailing Hagar by 1.301-seconds, Sam leaned hard on the nearly foot tall cushion that circled the three-eights mile oval. Closing it down to 0.874-seconds the following lap, Sam was within mere car lengths as the pair raced into the third and fourth turns.

Hooking the cushion through the fourth turn, Hagar’s No. 9jr suddenly shot right, launching into the fluff just long enough to give Hafertepe room to sail into the lead on Lap 38.

Racing to the white flag with Hagar in hot pursuit, Hafertepe kept it smooth through the final circuit for his sixth National Tour score of the season. Also counting as a win with the Racinboys.com ASCS Warrior Region presented by Impact Signs, Awnings, and Wraps, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. tied Jesse Hockett’s nine regional triumphs.

Hagar crossed second with Mark Smith, who dominated the opening 27 laps, ending his weekend third. Making up five positions in the Dissolvalloy No. 88, Oklahoma’s Shane Stewart crossed fourth with Justin Sanders completing the top five. Going red for Scott Bogucki, who was running fourth coming to the checkered flag, the finish reverted to the white flag lap after the No. 15h.

Racing around Hafertepe through the opening half of the A-Feature, Dylan Westbrook slipped to sixth with Jordon Mallett seventh. Ayrton Gennetten was eighth with Tim Crawley making up four spots to ninth while Roger Crockett completed the top ten.

Starting the night with SCE Gaskets Qualifiers, wins went to Shane Stewart, Seth Bergman, Jonathan Cornell, and Harli White. BMRS B-Features went to Sean McClelland, Garet Williamson, and Brandon Anderson. The Brodix LCQ went to Sean McClelland.

Provisionals were used by Blake Hahn (Points), Matt Covington (Points), and Miles Paulus (Regional).

The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network is the $10,041 to win COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tire on Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3. Tickets and event info can be found at http://www.i-30speedway.com.

Race Results:

ASCS National Tour | ASCS Warrior Region
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Mo.)
Hockett/McMillin Memorial – Night 3
Saturday, September 19, 2020

Event Count: 77

SCE Gaskets Qualifiers (Top 2 from each advance to the A-Feature)

Qualifier 1 (12 Laps): 1. 88X-Shane Stewart[4]; 2. 1X-Tim Crawley[2]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[3]; 4. 21P-Robbie Price[6]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 6. 7C-Justyn Cox[5]; 7. 84-Brandon Hanks[8]; 8. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 9. 20G-Jake Greider[12]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[11]; 11. 88-Travis Reber[13]; 12. 90X-Matt Tanner[10]; 13. 95X-Asa Swindell[14]; 14. 0-Corey Nelson[9]; 15. 75B-Brian Boswell[15]; 16. (DNS) 87-Jason Barney; 17. (DNS) 97-Scotty Milan; 18. (DNS) 5D-Zach Daum

Qualifier 2 (12 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[3]; 3. 47-Dale Howard[1]; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[4]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[6]; 6. 77X-Alex Hill[8]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 8. 4-Evan Martin[10]; 9. 9M-Cody Baker[5]; 10. 15-Jase Randolph[9]; 11. 3Z-Zach Davis[11]; 12. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[13]; 13. 86-Timothy Smith[12]; 14. (DNS) 22S-Slater Helt; 15. (DNS) 45-Chuck Hebing; 16. (DNS) 75-Tyler Blank; 17. (DNS) 21R-Gunner Ramey

Qualifier 3 (12 Laps): 1. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[2]; 2. 9-Chase Randall[6]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 4. 91T-Tyler Thomas[1]; 5. 21-Miles Paulus[5]; 6. 2-Brad Bowden[7]; 7. 22L-Connor Leoffler[12]; 8. 11A-Austin O’Neal[14]; 9. 31-Casey Wills[11]; 10. 76-Jay Russell[8]; 11. 23G-Steven Shebester[9]; 12. 46-Ryan Coniam[10]; 13. 30-Joseph Miller[15]; 14. 99-Bobby Butler[13]; 15. (DNF) 3M-Howard Moore[4]; 16. (DNS) 5-Kory Bales; 17. (DNS) 29-Emilio Hoover

Qualifier 4 (12 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White[2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[1]; 3. 14E-Kyle Bellm[3]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[4]; 5. 8-Devon Borden[7]; 6. 18T-Tanner Holmes[6]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[5]; 8. 19-Colby Thornhill[9]; 9. 57-Billy Butler[8]; 10. 26-Marshall Skinner[10]; 11. 7B-Ben Brown[13]; 12. 10L-Landon Britt[12]; 13. 3P-Rusty Potter[14]; 14. 13-Chase Howard[11]; 15. (DNS) 121-Steve Glover; 16. (DNS) 37H-Matthew Howard; 17. (DNS) 28V-Luke Verardi

BMRS B-Feature (Top 5 from each advance to the LCQ)

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 2. 14E-Kyle Bellm[2]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[3]; 4. 7C-Justyn Cox[5]; 5. 4-Evan Martin[8]; 6. 18T-Tanner Holmes[6]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[9]; 8. 3M-Howard Moore[17]; 9. 57-Billy Butler[10]; 10. 10L-Landon Britt[14]; 11. 22L-Connor Leoffler[7]; 12. 76-Jay Russell[11]; 13. 90X-Matt Tanner[13]; 14. (DNF) 51B-Joe B Miller[4]; 15. (DNF) 3Z-Zach Davis[12]; 16. (DNS) 30-Joseph Miller; 17. (DNS) 99-Bobby Butler

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[3]; 2. 21-Miles Paulus[4]; 3. 9M-Cody Baker[9]; 4. 77X-Alex Hill[5]; 5. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; 6. 11A-Austin O’Neal[8]; 7. 26-Marshall Skinner[11]; 8. 3P-Rusty Potter[15]; 9. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[13]; 10. 95X-Asa Swindell[14]; 11. (DNF) 23G-Steven Shebester[12]; 12. (DNF) 47-Dale Howard[1]; 13. (DNF) 21P-Robbie Price[2]; 14. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks[6]; 15. (DNF) 22-Riley Goodno[7]; 16. (DNS) 13-Chase Howard

B Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 8-Devon Borden[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 2-Brad Bowden[5]; 6. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 7. 19-Colby Thornhill[8]; 8. 24D-Danny Sams III[2]; 9. 0-Corey Nelson[15]; 10. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 11. 86-Timothy Smith[14]; 12. 15-Jase Randolph[10]; 13. 46-Ryan Coniam[13]; 14. 88-Travis Reber[11]; 15. (DNF) 7B-Ben Brown[12]; 16. (DNF) 75B-Brian Boswell[16]

Brodix Last Chance Qualifier (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)

Last Chance Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 2. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]; 3. 14E-Kyle Bellm[5]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[3]; 5. 9M-Cody Baker[8]; 6. 8-Devon Borden[9]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 8. 7C-Justyn Cox[10]; 9. 2-Brad Bowden[13]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill[12]; 11. 17B-Ryan Bickett[14]; 12. 4-Evan Martin[15]; 13. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington[11]; 14. (DNF) 21-Miles Paulus[6]; 15. (DNF) 91T-Tyler Thomas[7]

Sawblade.com A-Feature

A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[5]; 3. M1-Mark Smith[1]; 4. 88X-Shane Stewart[9]; 5. 16A-Justin Sanders[7]; 6. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[6]; 7. 14-Jordon Mallett[3]; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[8]; 9. 1X-Tim Crawley[13]; 10. 11-Roger Crockett[16]; 11. 8-Devon Borden[22]; 12. 14E-Kyle Bellm[19]; 13. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[11]; 14. 55B-Brandon Anderson[18]; 15. 24-Garet Williamson[20]; 16. 28-Scott Bogucki[4]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn[23]; 18. 9M-Cody Baker[21]; 19. 23-Seth Bergman[10]; 20. 1-Sean McClelland[17]; 21. 9-Chase Randall[15]; 22. 94-Jeff Swindell[14]; 23. 17W-Harli White[12]; 24. 21-Miles Paulus[25]; 25. 95-Matt Covington[24]

Lap Leader(s): Mark Smith 1-27; Derek Hagar 28-37; Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 38-40
Hard Charger: Devon Borden +11
High Point Driver: N/A
Provisional(s): Blake Hahn (Points); Matt Covington (Points); Miles Paulus (Regional)