Lonnie Wheatley, LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (October 13, 2017) – Sam Hafertepe, Jr., continued his winning ways by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 25-lap preliminary feature at the 30th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires atop the high-banked ¼-mile I-30 Speedway clay oval.
After outdueling Aaron Reutzel for the point in the early going, Hafertepe, Jr., slipped away to a near straightaway advantage over the latter half of the race to secure a prime starting position among the front three rows in Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win, $2,000-to-start STN championship feature.
While the reigning Lucas Oil ASCS National champion from Sunnyvale, TX, posted his second career STN preliminary feature win and first since 2010 aboard the Towline Variety/Lonestar Speedway No. 15h Cool-chassis, Tim Crawley and Aaron Reutzel earned passes to Saturday’s finale as well by virtue of finishing second and third, respectively.
Following a rally from 13th to fifth in Thursday night’s preliminary feature, Hafertepe, Jr., was on point all Friday evening with heat and qualifying race wins to earn the pole position for the feature event with fellow Lone Star State rep Reutzel alongside.
The duo slid each other a pair of times on the opening circuit before Hafertepe, Jr., edged ahead upon the completion of the opening round.
Following the race’s only caution for a Brandon Hanks off-track excursion beyond the turn one banking with eight rounds in the books, Hafertepe, Jr., slipped away, leaving Reutzel and Crawley to battle it out for second.
Hafertepe, Jr., reached traffic with eight laps remaining yet maintained his rapid pace, crossing the stripe with a handful of lapped cars and most of a straightaway between himself and runner-up Crawley.
“We weren’t gonna get too crazy and race each other too hard there early on,” Hafertepe, Jr., said after his 19th overall win of the 2017 campaign. “We can save that for tomorrow night with the money on the line.”
While Hafertepe, Jr., locked into his fifth career STN championship feature, Crawley and Reutzel diced in side-by-side fashion for several laps before Crawley slipped away to secure runner-up honors aboard Mike Ward’s No. 88 Sprint Car. After fading from the pole position to finish sixth in Thursday’s feature, Crawley’s runner-up showing makes him the first driver in STN history to earn a starting berth in 20 STN championship main events.
After challenging Crawley on the topside earlier, Reutzel dropped to the bottom shelf in the closing rounds to preserve the critical third-place finish aboard the Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution No. 87 Triple-X. Saturday will mark Reutzel’s fourth career STN championship feature start.
“We let third slip away from us last night, there was no way I was going to let that happen again,” Reutzel commented after being nipped at the line for the position in Thursday’s feature event.
Liberal, KS, native Jason Martin closed the gap on Reutzel in the closing rounds but had to settle for fourth with Cordova, Tennessee’s Morgan Turpen posting the top feature finish by a female in STN history by rounding out the top five.
Mississippi’s Dale Howard was sixth ahead of Canadian shoe Skylar Gee and local ace Cody Gardner while Jonathan Cornell earned Hard Charger honors by rallying from 17th to ninth. Reigning I-30 Speedway track champion Brian Bell completed the top ten after starting 16th.
Josh Baughman, Wayne Johnson, Seth Bergman, Scott Bogucki, Chance Morton, Terry Gray, Hafertepe, Jr., Ernie Ainsworth and Channin Tankersley topped heat race action for Friday night’s field of 70 with Gee, Turpen, Crawley and Hafertepe, Jr., winning the qualifying races. Jeff Swindell and Rick Pringle earned “C” Main wins with Wayne Johnson and Bell victorious in “B” Main action.
A total of 74 competitors have taken part thus far it the 30th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires.
The 30th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires at I-30 Speedway concludes with Saturday’s championship slate of events including STN Showdowns, “C” Mains, “B” Mains, the “Red Shirt Dash”, Pack’s Dash for Cash and $15,000-to-win finale. Racing action is slated to go green at 7:00 p.m.
30th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires Friday Night Results:
Heat Races (Top 40 in Finishing/Passing Points to Qualifying Races; Balance to Two “C” Mains):
First Heat (10 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman, 2. 10m-Morgan Turpen, 3. 94x-Steven Tiner, 4. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 5. 39-Brad Bowden, 6. X-Charlie Louden, 7. 4s-Danny Smith, 8. 52-Blake Hahn.
Second Heat (10 Laps): 1. 2c-Wayne Johnson, 2. 42-Andy McElhannon, 3. 11x-John Carney II, 4. 99x-Dalton Stevens, 5. 01-Paul McMahan, 6. 88b-Brandon Blenden, 7. 00-Tristan Lee, 8. 75b-Broc Elliott (DNS).
Third Heat (10 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 3. 15J-Jeremy Middleton, 4. 29-Willie Croft, 5. 94-Jeff Swindell, 6. 121-Jan Howard, 7. 44m-Chris Martin, 8. 22-Sean McClelland (DNS).
Fourth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 84b-Scott Bogucki, 2. 88r-Cody Gardner, 3. 51J-Ryan Jamison, 4. 32m-Adam Miller, 5. 58-Gary Floyd, 6. 16-Blake Baccus, 7. D6-Dakota Gaines, 8. 44c-Chase Howard (DNS).
Fifth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 7m-Chance Morton, 2. 6-Dustin Gates, 3. 21b-Zach Pringle, 4. 11g-Mike Goodman, 5. 4-Tommy Snellgrove, 6. 44-Ronny Howard, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 8-Alex Sewell (DQ – Nose wing too far forward).
Sixth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 10-Terry Gray, 2. 88-Tim Crawley, 3. 36-Jason Martin, 4. 26-Marshall Skinner, 5. 2-Michael Day, 6. 31-Justin Webb, 7. 23x-Junior Jenkins, 8. 17w-Harli White.
Seventh Heat (10 Laps): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 23b-Brian Bell, 3. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 4. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 5. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 6. 43-Matthew Bauldwin, 7. 2h-Wally Henson, 8. 1xx-Eddie Gallagher.
Eighth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 91a-Ernie Ainsworth, 2. 12T-Joe Young, 3. 40-Howard Moore, 4. 99-Skylar Gee, 5. 38-Rick Pringle, 6. 20g-Jake Greider, 7. 1s-Joey Schmidt.
Ninth Heat (10 Laps): 1. 17g-Channin Tankersley, 2. 47-Dale Howard, 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 5-Eric Lutz, 5. 10k-Dewayne White, 6. 21k-Kevin Hinkle, 7. 21-Butch David.
Qualifying Races – Top 14 in Combined Passing/Finishing Points to “A” Feature; Balance to “B” Mains
First Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, 2. 47-Dale Howard, 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 17g-Channin Tankersley, 5. 6-Dustin Gates, 6. 17-Josh Baughman, 7. 99x-Dalton Stevens, 8. 94x-Steven Tiner, 9. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 10. 01-Paul McMahan.
Second Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 10m-Morgan Turpen, 2. 29-Willie Croft, 3. 88r-Cody Gardner, 4. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 6. 2c-Wayne Johnson, 7. 51J-Ryan Jamison, 8. 23-Seth Bergman, 9. 21b-Zach Pringle, 10. 58-Gary Floyd.
Third Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tim Crawley, 2. 36-Jason Martin, 3. 42-Andy McElhannon, 4. 7m-Chance Morton, 5. 11g-Mike Goodman, 6. 10-Terry Gray, 7. 40-Howard Moore, 8. 5-Eric Lutz, 9. 32m-Adam Miller, 10. 84b-Scott Bogucki.
Fourth Qualifier (10 Laps): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 2. 12T-Joe Young, 3. 91-Ernie Ainsworth, 4. 23b-Brian Bell, 5. 26-Marshall Skinner, 6. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 7. 84-Brandon Hanks, 8. 15J-Jeremy Middleton, 9. 11x-John Carney II, 10. 4-Tommy Snellgrove (DNS).
“C” Features – Top 3 from Each Advance to Corresponding “B” Feature
First “C” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 94-Jeff Swindell, 2. 2-Michael Day, 3. 39-Brad Bowden, 4. 1xx-Eddie Gallagher, 5. 121-Jan Howard, 6. 31-Justin Webb, 7. 12w-Dale Wester, 8. 44m-Chris Martin, 9. 1s-Joey Schmidt, 10. 21k-Kevin Hinkle, 11. 16-Blake Baccus, 12. 21-Butch David, 13. 43-Matthew Bauldwin (DNS), 14. 8-Alex Sewell (DNS), 15. 75e-Broc Elliott (DNS).
Second “C” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 38-Rick Pringle, 2. 52-Blake Hahn, 3. X-Charlie Louden, 4. 20g-Jake Greider, 5. 17w-Harli White, 6. 2h-Wally Henson, 7. 23x-Junior Jenkins, 8. 10k-Dewayne White, 9. 00-Tristan Lee, 10. 88b-Brandon Blenden, 11. 44-Ronny Howard, 12. D6-Dakota Gaines, 13. 4s-Danny Smith, 14. 44c-Chase Howard (DNS), 15. 22-Sean McClelland (DNS).
“B” Features – Top 3 from Each Advance to “A” Feature
First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 2c-Wayne Johnson, 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 3. 14k-Kyle Bellm, 4. 10-Terry Gray, 5. 11g-Mike Goodman, 6. 40-Howard Moore, 7. 6-Dustin Gates, 8. 94-Jeff Swindell, 9. 21b-Zach Pringle, 10. 23-Seth Bergman, 11. 39-Brad Bowden, 12. 84b-Scott Bogucki, 13. 2-Michael Day, 14. 32m-Adam Miller, 15. 58-Gary Floyd, 16. 5-Eric Lutz.
Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 23b-Brian Bell, 2. 84-Brandon Hanks, 3. 17-Josh Baughman, 4. 42-Andy McElhannon, 5. 52-Blake Hahn, 6. 99x-Dalton Stevens, 7. 94x-Steven Tiner, 8. 51J-Ryan Jamison, 9. 15J-Jeremy Middleton, 10. 38-Rick Pringle, 11. X-Charlie Louden, 12. 26-Marshall Skinner (DNS), 13. 9jr-Derek Hagar (DNS), 14. 11x-John Carney II (DNS), 15. 01-Paul McMahan (DNS), 16. 4-Tommy Snellgrove (DNS).
“A” Feature – Top 3 Finishers Locked into Saturday night’s $15,000 to win STN Finale.
A Feature (25 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (1), 2. 88-Tim Crawley (4), 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel (2), 4. 36-Jason Martin (3), 5. 10m-Morgan Turpen (8), 6. 47-Dale Howard (9), 7. 99-Skylar Gee (7), 8. 88r-Cody Gardner (12), 9. 28-Jonathan Cornell (17), 10. 23b-Brian Bell (16), 11. 29-Willie Croft (10), 12. 91a-Ernie Ainsworth (5), 13. 2c-Wayne Johnson (15), 14. 21T-Ray Allen Kulhanek (11), 15. 14k-Kyle Bellm (19), 16. 7m-Chance Morton (6), 17. 17-Josh Baughman (20), 18. 12T-Joe Young (13), 19. 17g-Channin Tankersley (14), 20. 84-Brandon Hanks (18).
Lap Leaders: Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1-25.
30th Annual STN Points after Night Two (Best of the Two Preliminary Nights – Lock-Ins not included in point totals):
Locked-in: 3s-Sammy Swindell, 15h-Sam Hafertepe, Jr., 1x-Bill Balog, 88-Tim Crawley, 86-Tony Bruce, Jr., 87-Aaron Reutzel.
