Hard-driving Hafertepe captures coveted Hockett/McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway

 

WHEATLAND, Missouri (September 24, 2017) – Sam Haferepe Jr. worried that he had driven too hard and burned up his tires as the laps in Saturday night’s 7th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial dwindled.

But there was a good reason the Lucas Oil ASCS Winged Sprint Series championship leader was pushing his car to the limit at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Normally I don’t drive like that, but this is the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial,” Hafertepe said. “It’s $10,000. This is a big race to win and it’s one that we hadn’t won that I really wanted to win.”

Hafertepe held on to claim one of sprint-car racing’s crown jewel events before a big crowd, capturing his 14th Lucas Oil ASCS Tour feature win of the season.

In the co-headliner, Logan Seavey finished off a sweep with his third win in as many nights in the POWRi Lucas Oil Wingless Auto Racing Series feature. Seavey earned $2,077 with a wire-to-wire triumph.

Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, Texas, passed Sammy Swindell early in the 30-lap feature and denied the veteran a three-night sweep. Matt Covington wound up second with Jason Martin third. Swindell recovered from a spin that put him tailback to finish fourth.

“This is the one that we haven’t been able to tie down,” Hafertepe said. “I thought we had the car to win last year and messed up. Sammy’s been really good and he’s a tough competitor. I knew he was going to bring everything he had and we got the best of him.”

Starting from the pole, Swindell roared to the lead and paced the field until Hafertepe used the high groove to make a pass coming out of turn four to complete lap six.

“We got the top (groove) rolling and just got right by him,” Hafertepe said. “I knew we were pretty good, to drive around Sammy. After that, I guess I drove a little bit too hard – but I guess you have to do that sometimes.”

A four-car pileup among lapped cars, right in front of the leaders in turns one and two, sent the race to a caution on lap 10. Hafertepe navigated his way through the clutter and Swindell spun to a stop, trying to avoid hitting anyone.

That forced Swindell to the rear for the restart and elevated Wayne Johnson to second and Covington in third.

Hafertepe and Johnson broke away from the field, but Johnson and the lapped car of Thomas Kennedy tangled on lap 23 coming down the front straightaway. That ended Johnson’s chances to repeat his Hockett/McMillin win from a year ago.

One lap after the restart, fourth-running Giovanni Scelzi hit the wall in turn four to bring out a red flag. That left a six-lap shootout with Hafertepe leading Covington, Johnny Herrera, Jason Martin and Swindell.

Hafertepe, nursing a right rear tire that he said was burned up, was up to the challenge.

 

“I could barely stay on the race track the last two or three laps,” Hafertepe said. “I’m just lucky to come out here with a win.”

 

Covington hung on for second with Martin joining the top two on the podium.

 

“We had a really good run and a good car,” Covington said. “Sam’s been so fast all year. He just ran a perfect race. We ran a pretty good race and it’s good to get the runner-up position.”

 

Seavey cruises to WAR win: It was fitting that Logan Seavey, a 20-year-old from Sutter, Calif., led flag-to-flag in the POWRi Lucas Oil War Series feature, considering he dominated all three days.

Driving a car owned by Zach Daum, who is currently sidelined by an injury, Seavey said he didn’t have any idea he might be coming to the Hockett/McMillin Memorial until a few days before.

“We race against Zach every week in the Midgets and it’s nice to be able to get here and run in his stuff and know it’s going to be good every time you hit the track,” Seavey said.

Seavey outdueled Clinton Boyles for the lead at the conclusion of lap one and was setting the pace when a red flag came out on lap four when Katlynn Leer flipped in turn three. She climbed out of her car uninjured.

Seavey opened a big lead after the restart and was ahead of Dustin Morgan and Mario Clouser – but battling lapped traffic – when another red flew on lap 22. A four-car wreck  eliminated contenders Morgan and Boyles as R.J. Miller flipped in turn three. Miller was not injured, but he, Morgan and Boyles were done for the night.

“I was a little worried once I got to them,” Seavey said of his battle with lapped traffic just before the red. “It was pretty sketchy there a couple of times. We were able to get through there right before that wreck and it worked out perfect for us.

“Everything just went right for us this weekend.”

Quinton Benson, Clouser, Chris Phillips and Andrew Deal lined up behind Seavey as the race resumed with eight laps to go.

Seavey, with a clear track ahead of him, pulled away after the restart to prevail. Ninth-starting Quinton Benson finished second and Clouser wound up third.

“Hats off to Logan; he was the class of the field all weekend,” Benson said.

 

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY RESULTS (Sept. 23, 2017)
7th ANNUAL JESSE HOCKETT/DANIEL McMILLIN MEMORIAL
Lucas Oil ASCS Winged Sprints

A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, [9]; 4. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell, [8]; 6. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 7. 05-Brad Loyet, [13]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, [4]; 9. 81-Jack Dover, [11]; 10. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [14]; 11. 11X-John Carney II, [18]; 12. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [10]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee, [19]; 14. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [15]; 15. 17W-Harli White, [23]; 16. 23-Seth Bergman, [22]; 17. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [20]; 18. 21-Miles Paulus, [17]; 19. 8-Alex Sewell, [21]; 20. (DNF) 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [12]; 21. (DNF) 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 22. (DNF) 84-Brandon Hanks, [16]; 23. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel, [7]

B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 21-Miles Paulus, [3]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell, [2]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [8]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [6]; 6. 4-Evan Martin, [4]; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox, [7]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill, [10]; 9. 27-Danny Thoman, [9]; 10. 3Z-Zach Davis, [11]; 11. 92J-J.R. Topper, [14]; 12. 44-Jared Sewell, [15]; 13. 57-TJ Artz, [12]; 14. (DNF) 85-Forrest Sutherland, [13]; 15. (DNF) 17-Josh Baughman, [5]; 16. (DNF) 2-Kyle Sauder, [16]; (DNS) 93-Dustin Morgan, ; (DNS) 21R-Andrew Deal, ; (DNS) 12S-Carson McCarl,

B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 11X-John Carney II, [2]; 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [1]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 4. 22S-Sean McClelland, [5]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [10]; 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [18]; 7. 22-Dustin Barks, [6]; 8. 0-Ned Powers, [11]; 9. 81A-Chris Morgan, [9]; 10. 11G-Mike Goodman, [12]; 11. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 12. 49B-Ben Brown, [15]; 13. 18-Ryan Roberts, [17]; 14. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton, [8]; 15. (DNF) 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [14]; 16. (DNF) 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [13]; 17. (DNF) 84B-Scott Bogucki, [4]; (DNS) 44M-Chris Martin,

Qualifying Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, [2]; 2. 05-Brad Loyet, [1]; 3. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman, [6]; 5. 22S-Sean McClelland, [4]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 7. 81A-Chris Morgan, [10]; 8. 0-Ned Powers, [8]; 9. 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [11]; 10. 49B-Ben Brown, [12]; 11. 18-Ryan Roberts, [9]; 12. (DNF) 9N-Wade Nygaard, [5]

Qualifying Race 2 (10 Laps): 1. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [2]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus, [4]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman, [5]; 6. 26M-Fred Mattox, [6]; 7. 27-Danny Thoman, [7]; 8. 3Z-Zach Davis, [8]; 9. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [9]; 10. 92J-J.R. Topper, [10]; 11. 44-Jared Sewell, [11]; 12. 21R-Andrew Deal, [12]

Qualifying Race 3 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Jack Dover, [2]; 2. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell, [8]; 4. 4-Evan Martin, [5]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [3]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [7]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [10]; 8. 57-TJ Artz, [9]; 9. 93-Dustin Morgan, [6]; 10. (DNF) 2-Kyle Sauder, [4]; (DNS) 9M-Tyler Blank, ; (DNS) 34-Corey Nelson.

Qualifying Race 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks, [3]; 3. 11X-John Carney II, [6]; 4. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 5. 22-Dustin Barks, [5]; 6. 7M-Chance Morton, [8]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 8. 11G-Mike Goodman, [10]; 9. 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [11]; 10. (DNF) 44M-Chris Martin, [7]; 11. (DNF) 12S-Carson McCarl, [9]
POWRi Lucas Oil Wingless Auto Racing Series

A Feature (30 laps) – 1, Logan Seavey. 2, Quinton Benson. 3, Mario Clouser. 4, Andrew Deal. 5, Riley Kreisel. 6, Chris Phillips. 7, Joe Miller. 8, Wyatt Burks. 9, Taylor Walton. 10, Anthony Nicholson. 11, Danny Smith. 12, Korey Weyant. 13, Ryan Kitchen. 14, Slater Helt. 15, Mitchell Davis. 16, Brandon Mattox. 17, Casey Wills. 18, Dustin Morgan. 19, Clinton Boyles. 20, RJ Miller. 21, Noah Gass. 22, David Stephenson. 23, Landon Simon. 24, Katlynn Leer.

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 31B-Joe B. Miller, [1]; 2. 22X-David Stephenson, [2]; 3. 24C-Craig Carroll, [4]; 4. 77J-Jack Wagner, [3]; 5. 4F-Chad Frewaldt, [12]; 6. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker, [7]; 7. 8-Jeff Wingate, [8]; 8. 70-Peter Palazzolo, [11]; 9. 6M-Christian Moore, [10]; 10. 82-Vincent (Vinny) Ward, [9]; 11. 27J-Mike Schouten, [13]; 12. 65-Chris Parkinson, [6]; 13. 97-Kevin Cummings, [5]; 14. 7JR-JD Black, [14]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 34-RJ Miller, [13]; 2. 56-Mitchell Davis, [2]; 3. 2-Zach Clark, [3]; 4. 4-Joshua Tyre, [5]; 5. 11M-Michael Tyre II, [9]; 6. 24H-Ty Hulsey, [8]; 7. 20-Steve Thomas, [1]; 8. 41-Brad Wyatt, [7]; 9. 34N-Corey Nelson, [6]; 10. 51-Mitchell Moore, [10]; 11. 21C-Chris Desselle, [11]; 12. 7S-Wade Seiler, [4]; 13. 5$-Kyle Clark, [12]; 14. 18-Terry Richards, [14]

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 20G-Noah Gass, [5]; 2. 77K-Katlynn Leer, [4]; 3. 31-Dylan Kadous, [1]; 4. 22-Jeff Pellersels, [6]; 5. 77H-Rob Hockett, [3]; 6. 42-Warren Johnson, [9]; 7. 37-Brian Beebe, [8]; 8. 9-Casey Baker, [11]; 9. 13W-Grant Wresche, [10]; 10. 50-Michael Sosebee, [2]; 11. 27-Danny Thoman, [7]; 12. 8D-Terry Babb, [12]; 13. 73-Samuel Wagner, [13]; 14. 78-Rob Caho Jr, [14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 90-Riley Kreisel, [3]; 2. 15B-Quinton Benson, [9]; 3. 24C-Craig Carroll, [1]; 4. 11W-Wyatt Burks, [8]; 5. 7S-Wade Seiler, [7]; 6. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker, [6]; 7. 13W-Grant Wresche, [4]; 8. 8D-Terry Babb, [2]; 9. 34-RJ Miller, [5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6P-Chris Phillips, [8]; 2. 20-Steve Thomas, [2]; 3. 50-Michael Sosebee, [4]; 4. 77J-Jack Wagner, [6]; 5. 22-Jeff Pellersels, [3]; 6. 11M-Michael Tyre II, [1]; 7. 82-Vincent (Vinny) Ward, [7]; 8. 4F-Chad Frewaldt, [5]; (DNS) 7JR-JD Black,

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Brandon Mattox, [1]; 2. 31-Dylan Kadous, [2]; 3. 21-Ryan Kitchen, [9]; 4. 31B-Joe B. Miller, [7]; 5. 34N-Corey Nelson, [5]; 6. 37-Brian Beebe, [3]; 7. 41-Brad Wyatt, [8]; 8. 9-Casey Baker, [6]; 9. 73-Samuel Wagner, [4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 31X-Casey Wills, [1]; 2. 24-Landon Simon, [6]; 3. 77H-Rob   Hockett, [3]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass, [2]; 5. 2-Zach Clark, [8]; 6. 27-Danny Thoman, [4]; 7. 6M-Christian Moore, [5]; 8. 42-Warren Johnson, [9]; 9. 27J-Mike Schouten, [7]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 15$-Danny Smith, [8]; 2. 22X-David Stephenson, [1]; 3. 93X-Taylor Walton, [7]; 4. 97-Kevin Cummings, [3]; 5. 4-Joshua Tyre, [6]; 6. 8-Jeff Wingate, [4]; 7. 21C-Chris Desselle, [2]; 8. 5$-Kyle Clark, [5]; (DNS) 18-Terry Richards,

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 41X-Slater Helt, [3]; 2. 56-Mitchell Davis, [1]; 3. 99-Korey Weyant, [6]; 4. 65-Chris Parkinson, [2]; 5. 77K-Katlynn Leer, [7]; 6. 24H-Ty Hulsey, [4]; 7. 51-Mitchell Moore, [5]; 8. 70-Peter Palazzolo, [8]; (DNS) 78-Rob Caho Jr,

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