Bergman Clinches Speedweek Championship with Tri-State Victory

POCOLA, OK (June 15, 2024) – 

The list of ASCS Speedweek champions includes many of the all-time greats of Sprint Car racing such as Terry Gray, Jason Johnson, Sammy Swindell, and now Seth Bergman.

The now 21-time American Sprint Car Series National Tour winner survived a chaotic Feature Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway to secure his second win in as many nights and the miniseries title.

“It can’t get any better than that,” Bergman said. “We had a solid week, two second-place finishes and two wins, so it’s hard to beat that.”

Hank Davis was the night’s polesitter following his first Dash win of 2024, but his time out front didn’t last long. Second-place starter Jason Martin looked to his inside in Turn 1 on the opening lap and completed the pass exiting the corner.

Martin built a half-straightaway advantage by the end of the first circuit, but the spinning car of Daryn Langford erased it on Lap 4. When the race restarted, the field only completed half a lap before Bryan Gossel went into the catchfence in Turn 2 to bring out the first red flag of the night.

When fence repairs were complete, Davis made the same move in Turn 1 that Martin made on him on the initial start to grab the lead back. Martin slid his way back past Davis in Turn 3, but the battle slowed both of them down and allowed the third-place car of Matt Covington to join the fight.

With the top three under a blanket, Davis dove to the bottom in Turn 1 but washed back up the track, resulting in contact with Martin and a subsequent pileup that eliminated all three leaders from contention.

That handed the lead to Bergman, who led the rest of the way. A pair of cautions involving Michael Day and Landon Britt gave the field their chance at the No. 23 car, but their efforts came up fruitless.

“It’s hard to win these races,” Bergman said. “When your most formidable competitors fall out like that, sure, it makes for a few less challenges.”

The most notable absence in the main event was that of Sam Hafertepe Jr., who scratched following his Heat Race due to engine issues.

Runner-up Jordon Mallett was able to counter Bergman’s preferred top groove by hugging the inside wall to get within striking distance on multiple occasions in the second half of the race, but the No. 55B was unable to wrestle the lead away.

“If I would have made one mistake there on the curb or something, Mallett was probably good enough on the bottom that he could have got me,” Bergman said. “There’s some depth and talent in this field, it keeps you pretty honest.”

Although Mallett fell just short of his second National Tour win, his first podium finish of 2024 was enough to prove that the Brandon Anderson Motorsports team can be legitimate contenders come Feature time.

“We were all firing on all cylinders tonight,” Mallett said. “Seems like we’ve been able to time in quick, heat race good, put ourselves in good spots, and then we’ve lacked something in the Feature. Tonight we were finally able to get in the right direction.”

The misfortune for several of the leaders opened the door for some of the underdogs to collect strong finishes, and Kyle Clark took full advantage of that opportunity with a third-place run.

“I run pretty good at this racetrack, and we had the car dialed in,” said the former Oil Capital Racing Series winner at Tri-State. “Happy with what we got, and hopefully we can do it again next time.”

Whit Gastineau was also on the list of part-timers who found success, as his fourth-place result was just one spot short of his career-best with the Series.

Rounding out the top five was Rookie of the Year contender Andrew Deal, who made an incredible 21st-to-fifth run to pick up the Hard Charger Award.

UP NEXT: The Series returns to action next Saturday for its first visit to Batesville Motor Speedway since 2022. Tickets will be available at the track on race day, while DIRTVision will provide live coverage for those unable to make it to the track.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 2. 55B-Jordon Mallett[8]; 3. 9S-Kyle Clark[7]; 4. 2W-Whit Gastineau[5]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[21]; 6. 22M-Rees Moran[12]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[16]; 9. 938-Bradley Fezard[9]; 10. 26M-Fred Mattox[11]; 11. 31-Casey Wills[23]; 12. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]; 13. 91-Michael Day[14]; 14. 16G-Austyn Gossel[17]; 15. 5H-Harli White[20]; 16. 42-Caleb Saiz[19]; 17. 88-Terry Easum[22]; 18. 30-Joseph Miller[18]; 19. 32D-Daryn Langford[24]; 20. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 21. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 22. 2C-Hank Davis[1]; 23. 6G-Bryan Gossel[15]; 24. (DNS) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr

Bergman Ends Hafertepe Jr.'s Win Streak at Arrowhead

COLCORD, OK (June 14, 2024) – Sam Hafertepe Jr.’s quest for four-straight American Sprint Car Series National Tour victories ended on a tow hook Friday at Arrowhead Speedway, and Seth Bergman was there to pick up the pieces and collect his third win of 2024.

Hafertepe and Bergman have been the two dominant cars across the opening portion of the 2024 season, and fans were treated to a head-to-head duel between the two gladiators across the 30-lap Feature.

“We’ll keep knocking on the door, and we’ll pressure [Hafertepe] enough,” Bergman said following the 20th win of his National Tour career. “We’ll get a racetrack and hopefully we’ll get a shot at him, and tonight we did.”

Early in the program, it looked like Hafertepe was on his way to yet another triumph after setting quick time in his Qualifying group and winning the Dash.

Hafertepe was off like a rocket when the green flag dropped in the Feature, pulling away to a 1.1-second lead after two laps. Meanwhile, Bergman made his way around Jason Martin in the opening circuits to move from his third-place starting spot into the runner-up position.

Once Hafertepe caught the tail end of the field, Bergman did something no one had done in the last three Series events: run down the No. 15H machine. On Lap 13, Bergman dove to the bottom in Turn 3, remained side-by-side with Hafertepe down the fronstretch, and cleared him in Turn 2 on the following lap.

“It’s never going to be easy when you’re out front racing Sam Hafertepe in a 360,” Bergman said. “Off the front row he’s going to be tough to beat, he’s proven that here the last few nights.”

Bergman was only able to enjoy his lead for one straightaway, as a bobble while maneuvering around the slower car of Terry Easum allowed Hafertepe to retake the lead exiting Turn 4.

With 12 to go, Hafertepe moved down the track from the top groove he had been running all night, opening the door for Bergman to rip the lip through Turns 1 and 2 and grab the lead back. The pair traded slide jobs once more on Lap 20, but Bergman remained on point.

“In traffic, the track was there and I was able to move around and get him moving around,” Bergman said. “Once you can get him thinking, it’s game on from there.”

Just when it looked like Bergman had the race in hand, a spin for Emilio Hoover in Turn 2 set up a five-lap dash to the checkers. While Hafertepe was busy fending off Martin for second after the restart, Bergman powered away to a half-straightaway advantage.

After regaining control of second place, Hafertepe made a last-ditch effort for the win by throwing a massive slider on Bergman with two to go, but pounded the concrete in Turn 2. In the next set of corners, Hafertepe found the wall yet again off Turn 4, but this time the contact was hard enough to end his night. The incident also put a damper on Martin’s race, as he was unable to avoid the wrecked car and fell to 14th as a result.

The crash set up a green-white-checkered finish, but a superb restart from Bergman was all he needed to claim the top step of the podium.

“Sometimes traffic is your best friend or it can be your worst enemy,” Bergman said. “Tonight it was tough but it just worked out.”

The second spot went to Hank Davis, who has now finished top five on five-straight occasions in the No. 2C and looks to be on the cusp of his maiden National Tour victory.

“I honestly just think it’s going to take starting up front in one of these things,” Davis said. “It’s just hard to catch guys like Sam and Seth. I think if we start at the front of one of these things we’ll have something for them.”

After holding off Blake Hahn for the third spot on the final restart, Andrew Deal secured a spot on the podium for the first time since his second-place run at the season opener at Super Bee.

“We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the motor, we just had a little issue, it was killing us in Qualifying, and I think we got it fixed last night,” Deal said. “I got to visit with Wayne Priddy a little bit this week, tried to improve some of my setup choices, so I think we did a little better tonight.”

Although he fell one spot short of the podium, Blake Hahn’s fourth-place run matched his Texarkana result as his season-best with the Series.

Matt Covington’s fifth-place finish makes him three-for-three on top fives during Speedweek, as the Oklahoma native continues his search for his first win of 2024.

Zach Blurton had to resort to the Last Chance Showdown to secure his spot in the Feature, but his run from 22nd to 12th was enough to net him the night’s Hard Charger Award.

UP NEXT: The 2024 edition of ASCS Speedweek wraps up Saturday at Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, OK. Tickets will be available at the gate, while DIRTVision will provide live coverage for those unable to make it to the track.

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 2. 2C-Hank Davis[7]; 3. 15D-Andrew Deal[11]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[5]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[14]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[10]; 7. 9S-Kyle Clark[4]; 8. 2W-Whit Gastineau[8]; 9. 55B-Jordon Mallett[9]; 10. 10-Landon Britt[12]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[20]; 12. 2J-Zach Blurton[22]; 13. 1-Sean McClelland[6]; 14. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 15. 88-Terry Easum[23]; 16. 20-Noah Harris[19]; 17. 91-Michael Day[24]; 18. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 19. 22M-Rees Moran[17]; 20. 5H-Harli White[13]; 21. 938-Bradley Fezard[16]; 22. 29-Emilio Hoover[15]; 23. 31-Casey Wills[21]; 24. (DNS) 03-Joe Wood Jr.