Hank Davis had to wait nearly two years between his American Sprint Car Series National Tour debut at Creek County Speedway in 2022 and his first Series win Friday at Electric City Speedway.
He only had to wait one day for his second.
The Sand Springs, OK driver took the lead from Sam Hafertepe Jr. with seven laps remaining and never looked back, driving away to the $5,000 top prize in the Montana Roundup finale.
Hafertepe earned the top starting spot with his Dash win earlier in the night and made good use of it by riding the top lane to a half-straightaway lead after one lap. Behind him, second-place starter Terry Easum lost spots early to Skylar Gee and Seth Bergman who moved up to second and third, respectively.
The top three went unchanged for the first third of the race until Lap 12, when Jason Martin went to Bergman’s inside to take over the third spot. However, that pass would quickly become the last thing on Bergman’s mind.
On Lap 16, Bergman attempted to slide the lap car of Joe Perry in Turns 1 and 2 but wasn’t quite clear, sending the No. 23 machine onto its side and out of the race and handing Bergman his first DNF of the season.
In the laps following the restart, Hafertepe and Davis went straight to the cushion while Martin looked to gain ground on the bottom. Just after the trio caught the tail of the field, Brandon Anderson went for a tumble in Turn 2 with 10 laps to go to rerack the field once again.
Davis kept pace with Hafertepe on the ensuing restart, but before he could execute a move, Frontier Region star Phil Dietz found the catchfence in Turn 2 to bring the yellow back out.
After spending the entirety of the first 28 laps looking at the back of the No. 15H, Davis made the winning move when he went for a slider into Turn 1, and thanks to a bobble from Hafertepe on the cushion, he took command of the race exiting the corner.
“He just kept getting tight, so I just bombed it in there,” Davis said after the race. “Then Wayne and them said when I bombed it, he just happened to get tight and it worked.”
Before Davis could get comfortable out front though, Bradley Fezard pounded the wall in Turn 1 to give the field one more shot at Davis with six to go. They were unable to capitalize though, as Davis powered away and took the checkers by 1.7 seconds over Hafertepe.
The TwoC Racing team entered Electric City in a dry spell that included DNFs at Lincoln County Raceway and Big Sky Speedway and eight-straight races without a podium finish, but a weekend sweep in Great Falls was just what the doctor ordered to get their season back on track.
“You get down on yourself when things like that happen,” Davis said regarding the rough patch he endured prior to the weekend. “I don’t have a lot of experience of how to handle that. Wayne just being around, helping me understand how it all goes and just trying to get me better, we’re getting there. We’re flat out just getting better.”
Bergman’s crash allowed Hafertepe to close within 40 points of the lead in the championship chase thanks to his second runner-up effort in as many nights. While the five-time Series champion remained focused on taking the victory after the incident, the points situation undoubtedly affected his game plan in the second half of the Feature.
“I probably could have hustled up and maybe still won the race, but maybe chance crashing too,” Hafertepe said. “When we’re in that situation, I felt like the only car that was even in our ballpark at the end was the No. 2C. I’m not really in a points battle with him, and in all honesty, he’s a young guy, going to gun for it. Honestly, I figured that maybe he might mess up at the end and we maybe get him back, but definitely wasn’t going to press super hard and drive stupid at the end.”
Matt Covington got around Gee and Martin late to claim the third spot for his first podium since Dodge City Raceway Park on Aug. 16. While the Glenpool, OK native is still searching for his first National Tour win of the season, he believes the next stop on tour at Clay County Fair Speedway could be just the place.
“We always run on the podium it seems like when we’re there,” Covington said. “So I think we’ve got a good chance at Spencer. It’s a big, wide, slick 3/8-mile and I enjoy racing there, and I think we’ve got as good a chance to win that one as any of them.”
Gee ended the race fourth for his best finish with the Series since 2018, while Martin came home fifth for the second night in a row.
Kelly Miller earned the Triple X Hard Charger Award thanks to his spectacular drive from 24th up to eighth in the 35-lap affair.
UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour will head to Spencer, IA for a midweek showdown at the Clay County Fair Speedway on Tuesday, Sep. 10. Tickets are available online in advance here, while DIRTVision will have live coverage for those unable to make it to the track.
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 2C-Hank Davis[4]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 4. 23N-Skylar Gee[5]; 5. 36-Jason Martin[7]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton[13]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[2]; 8. 2JR-Kelly Miller[24]; 9. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 10. 16G-Austyn Gossel[15]; 11. 6G-Bryan Gossel[19]; 12. 9K-Kory Wermling[6]; 13. 45X-Kyler Johnson[25]; 14. 38B-Bryan Brown[18]; 15. 82C-Christian Kinnison[20]; 16. 72-Phil Dietz[16]; 17. 37-Trever Kirkland[21]; 18. 3-Jordan Milne[17]; 19. 28-Joe Perry[12]; 20. 56-Ross Mathewson[14]; 21. 938-Bradley Fezard[23]; 22. 55B-Brandon Anderson[11]; 23. 5H-Harli White[10]; 24. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 25. (DNS) 15D-Andrew Deal
