Sam in Victory Lane after Friday’s “Night Before the Nationals” (Dale Calnan Photo)
(Bill W) September 19, 2017 – Running for Miles Hill, Sam Hafertepe Jr. won five of the six events he contested at the Canadian Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario last Friday and Saturday. He swept Friday’s “Night Before the Nationals” winning his heat and feature. Saturday’s finale started well with a quick time, and heat and Dash wins. The trouble was the one he didn’t win. The Sunnyvale, Texas native was dominant until a bleeder issue plagued him in Saturday’s finale where he finished third.
At Friday’s “Night Before the Nationals”, Sam started his heat seventh. “We were able to get a really good start and get to the front,” he says. “The car was really good, and I have Miles Hill to thank for that. He supplied the car, and without him, we wouldn’t have been able to compete up there.”
He started the 15-lap feature on the pole, and it took a while to get to the front. “We couldn’t really get to the top early enough,” says Sam. “We ended up in third there early on. We had a restart, and the leader ended up running over the top of the track. We ended up getting by the new leader, and we were able to get to the top. We weren’t as good as we could have been, but we were good enough to win. It gave us some good notes heading into Saturday.”
Saturday’s Canadian Nationals has a unique format. “When you qualify, you do it in a group and you get four laps,” says Sam. “Out of all the cars, we were able to set quick time overall. That put us starting fourth in the heat. You had to make the top three to make the show. They also use passing points. We were able to win the heat, so we ended up with the most passing points. That put us on the outside of the front row for the Dash.”
Sam would win the Dash going away and line up on the pole of the finale. “We made some changes for the feature,” he says. “We’d been struggling with a bleeder issue on the right rear all night long. We were trying to get it tuned in right, and we were never able to do that. Going out for the feature, it leaked down to five pounds of air. We had to scramble really quick to get air in the tire. Once we did that, it reset the bleeder, and it wasn’t bleeding off anymore. It didn’t hurt us on short runs, but on long green runs it hurt.”
The 2011 Canadian Nationals champion led early in the going, building an advantage. “They start 30 cars, and by lap 11 we had five lapped cars between us and second,” says Sam. “But that doesn’t do you any good with the format. We had a caution, and they do double-file restarts. So the lead you built goes away like that.”
Sam tried to hold on to the point, but ended up third. “We led until lap 29 (of 35), but the car kept fading on us,” he says. “I didn’t really know why until we got in and discovered we had nine pounds of air in the right rear. On a track like that, that’s way too much. It really wasn’t ideal for what we had going on. We ended up running third when we felt we should have won, but racing goes that way sometimes.”
Overall, he felt the weekend was a success. “We had a great weekend,” says Sam. “We really were dominant. We just didn’t win the big one. It was still good experience for us, and we were able to race with some good people. The whole deal was good. We have a lot of good friends up there too. We’re looking forward to Wheatland now this weekend.”
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Sam would like to thank Highway 79 Collision Center, the Sparks Family, Kiebler & Sons Lawn and Landscaping, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Champion Oil, NAPA Auto Parts of Franklin and Sherwin Williams, FK Rod Ends, 21R Youth Racing League, Huggins Cams, CP Carrillo, Callie’s, Vortex Wings, Simpson Racing Products, Kinsler Injection, Barnes Oil Systems, DMI, Fisher Racing Engines, Moose Blocks, J&J Auto Racing, KSE, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Photo: Sam in Victory Lane after Friday’s “Night Before the Nationals” (Dale Calnan Photo)
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Monroe, IA USA