Hafertepe Jr. Wins Battle of Attrition at Dodge City

DODGE CITY, KS (June 1, 2024) – In the midst of a race with challenging elements aplenty, Sam Hafertepe Jr. would not be denied, as he collected his first American Sprint Car Series National Tour win of the season at Dodge City Raceway Park Saturday night.

The win was the 66th of Hafertepe’s illustrious National Tour career, but it was also his first Podium finish of 2024 with the Series.

“We show up every night to win, and obviously we haven’t been coming close to doing that,” Hafertepe said. “Every night we’ve been ending up with some damage on the racecar, this happens to us or that happens to us. Can’t feel sorry for yourself, just got to race one race at a time and the wins will come.”

After starting on the pole following his second Dash victory in as many nights, Matt Covington led the opening seven circuits until the first pause in the action. Bryan Gossel spun on the exit of Turn 4 and kept going, but knocked a cone onto the racing surface which forced officials to throw a caution for debris.

When the race resumed, Covington began building a lead once more, but his night fell apart seven laps after the restart. In his attempt to lap Gossel, Covington collided with the rear end of the No. 6G, damaging his front axle beyond repair and ending his night.

Covington’s misfortune handed the lead to Hafertepe, who closely trailed Covington for much of the first half of the race.

After Bryant Wiedeman’s flip just one lap later, Hafertepe waged war with Jason Martin for the top spot in the late stages. Both drivers made several slip-ups on the tricky track surface, allowing their opponent to sneak through before having a mishap of their own.

“Got into lap traffic there, it was really hard to pass,” Hafertepe said. “Guys were plugging up the middle, the bottom, the top. There really wasn’t anywhere to go, because the first guy that caught the lap car was kind of screwed, and then the second guy had the better opportunity.”

The pace slowed with just five laps to go due to a wild ride for Jeremy Campbell, with Hafertepe in the lead at the time of the caution. Hafertepe was able to pull off an error-free restart and cruised away for his first win of 2024 on the National Tour.

“Lap traffic was so treacherous, but on a clean racetrack we had the best car all night long,” Hafertepe said. “I was really proud about our speed, we took a lot of good things away from that.”

While Martin’s wealth of Sprint Car experience gave him an advantage over the field in navigating the narrow racing groove, it wasn’t enough to keep the No. 15H behind him.

“I made a couple mistakes and let Sam get back by me,” Martin said. “It’s just what won him the race and lost me the race.”

While he did not have the pace to challenge the leaders, Hank Davis completed his first weekend with TwoC Racing with his second-career Podium finish with the Series.

“Super proud of this team,” Davis said. “Just shows you how good this team is. Wayne [Johnson]’s got his stuff figured out, and these guys work really well. Todd Carlile at TwoC Racing, man, he’s got everything we need. It’s really up to us now.”

Jordon Mallett brought home a fourth-place finish as a substitute for the injured Brandon Anderson in the No. 55B car, while Landon Britt rounded out the top five to collect his best finish of 2024 on the National Tour.

The night’s Hard Charger Award went to Texas native Michael Day, who drove from 22nd to 13th in his third Series start at Dodge City.

A sixth-place run for Seth Bergman was enough for him to hold onto a 57-point lead over Martin. Seventh-place runner Andrew Deal (-74) sits third, with Hafertepe (-76) and Covington (-97) completing the top five.

UP NEXT: The National Tour will get ready for the long-awaited return of ASCS Speedweek, which begins Tuesday, June 11 at Texarkana 67 Speedway in Arkansas. Tickets will be available at the gate on race day, while DIRTVision will provide live coverage of all the night’s racing action.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 3. 2C-Hank Davis[3]; 4. 55B-Jordon Mallett[5]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[7]; 7. 15D-Andrew Deal[11]; 8. 2-Brekton Crouch[2]; 9. 88J-Jeremy Huish[17]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[14]; 11. 91X-Jeff Stasa[13]; 12. 45X-Kyler Johnson[15]; 13. 91-Michael Day[22]; 14. 16G-Austyn Gossel[20]; 15. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[9]; 16. 938-Bradley Fezard[18]; 17. 88-Terry Easum[21]; 18. 11K-Tyler Knight[19]; 19. 1X-Bryant Wiedeman[12]; 20. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 21. 6G-Bryan Gossel[10]; 22. 0-Steven Richardson[16]; 23. 88K-Jordan Knight[23]; 24. (DNS) 88R-Ryder Laplante; 25. (DNS) 57P-Peter Walker; 26. (DNS) 6-Kaden Taylor

Bergman Wins at Rush County in Return to Family Team

LA CROSSE, KS (May 31, 2024) – Some drivers take weeks, months, even years to hit their stride when moving from one team to another. For Seth Bergman, it took one race.

In his return to his family-owned No. 23 machine, following a short stint in the TwoC Racing car, Bergman collected his second American Sprint Car Series National Tour victory of the season Friday night at Rush County Speedway.

After starting the Feature on the outside of the front row, following a second-place Dash effort, Bergman trailed closely behind polesitter Matt Covington in the early stages of the race. Once Covington began catching traffic on Lap 7, Bergman dove to Covington’s inside entering Turn 3, completed the pass, and never looked back.

“What a fantastic night,” Bergman said in Victory Lane. “First night back in our family car, to come out here and get a win, I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

With all 30 laps going caution-free, maneuvering around slower cars was critical throughout the seven-minute Feature. Bergman was one of the only drivers in the field capable of using any lane on the track at any time, which allowed him to build a lead of nearly seven seconds by the time the checkered flag flew – and lap up to sixth-place.

“This place was cowboy up tonight,” Bergman said. “I felt like a teenager again. Growing up on the west coast definitely helped me tonight, I was able to dig back in the toolbox and get the spurs on and go to work. I felt like my biggest concern there once I got going was running out of tear-offs, I felt like I was pulling two or three a lap sometimes.”

Covington’s dominant Dash victory gave him the night’s pole position in the Feature, but the 19-time National Tour winner said a lack of versatility in traffic was his downfall.

“I felt like my car was good in clean air, but I didn’t feel as good when I got into dirty air,” Covington said. “It doesn’t take a lot to make these cars go from looking really good to really bad, just subtle changes. We were real close. Bergman was better in traffic, I think. We’ll put that in the notebook and try to get him next time.”

The National Tour was not the only one making its Rush County debut, as many drivers in the field were making their first-ever laps around the 5/16-mile bullring, including the top two.

“The track stayed fairly narrow,” Covington said. “The kind of dirt it is, even though it looks all wet, you can get your car through it if you’re brave enough and stay in the gas.”

As for Bergman, the move back to his family team allows him to have a more hands-on approach to his racing program.

“Getting back in our family car, I’m able to oversee everything at our house,” Bergman said. “I spend countless hours just overthinking and paying attention to detail, and just really trying to build race cars that are capable of coming here and doing that.”

Rounding out the podium in the third spot was 17-year-old Ryder Laplante, who was making just his second start with the National Tour. The young Oklahoma native has bounced between everything from Micro Sprints to 410 Sprint Cars in the early months of the season and said he hopes his quick success with ASCS will snowball into a championship chase in 2025.

“We’re just going to hit as many races as we can here and there,” Laplante said. “Just get prepared for next year and hopefully we can hit it full time.”

Bergman wasn’t the only one able to make passes during the 30-lap Feature. Hank Davis, making his debut in the TwoC Racing No. 2C, charged from 11th to fourth, claiming the night’s Hard Charger Award.

Sam Hafertepe Jr., who challenged Covington for second most of the Feature, fell back and ended the night fifth – his first top-five finish of the 2024 National Tour season.

UP NEXT: The National Tour will now turn its attention to the second half of this weekend’s Kansas doubleheader, with Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday, June 1. Tickets will be available at the gate, with live coverage available on DIRTVision for those unable to make it to the track.

RESULTS
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 3. 88R-Ryder Laplante[7]; 4. 2C-Hank Davis[11]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 6. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[6]; 7. 36-Jason Martin[13]; 8. 10-Landon Britt[15]; 9. 55B-Jordon Mallett[4]; 10. 15D-Andrew Deal[8]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[14]; 12. 2-Brekton Crouch[12]; 13. 16G-Austyn Gossel[9]; 14. 938-Bradley Fezard[20]; 15. 88J-Jeremy Huish[17]; 16. 2J-Zach Blurton[16]; 17. 88-Terry Easum[19]; 18. 88K-Jordan Knight[22]; 19. 57P-Peter Walker[23]; 20. 6G-Bryan Gossel[18]; 21. 1X-Bryant Wiedeman[10]; 22. 91-Michael Day[24]; 23. 71-Brady Baker[5]; 24. 11K-Tyler Knight[21]