by Kyle Luetters
Sam Hafertepe Jr. was alongside one of the best in the business at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. Knowing that he had to be on top of his game, the Sunnyvale, Tex. Maintained his focus and dominated the 40 lap event to pocket his first career World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win and a $20,000 payday.

“This has been a long time coming,” said a very happy Hafertepe Jr. “This car is such an awesome machine to run. It’s a dream ride and I am so thankful that the Rudeen Racing crew asked me to come back up here after our fourth place finish in the Dirt Cup earlier this year. I had Steve Kinser at my side thru numerous restarts and I think he was trying to rattle me a bit but I wasn’t going to let it happen. We’ve wanted this one for long and it feels so good to finally get it here at Skagit.”

Hafertepe Jr. had a strong machine all night as he won the dash and earned the right to sit on the pole for the night’s main event. From the drop of the green flag, the other 23 competitors could only sit back and watch as the #26 Rudeen Racing/Firedown Graphics/Speedmart Maxim took off. Kinser, a Bloomington, Ind. native, tried to get past the youngster on several restarts but ultimately had to settle for second place.

“Sam was quick all night,” said Kinser, who finished third the night before. “We’ve been running really well here as of late. Our Knoxville Nationals showing was pretty bad so we went back to the shop and worked on something’s and have been in the top-3 ever since it seems like. We’ll hopefully add some more win’s to our total before the season is out.”

For the second night in a row, the battle was on for the third position as four time series champion Donny Schatz, the nights fastest qualifier Paul McMahan and West Coast standout Tim Kaeding all raced fiercely for the final podium spot. When the dust settled, Kaeding and his #83jr machine were the ones being interviewed on the front stretch with Hafertepe Jr. and Kinser.

by Kyle Luetters
Jason Meyers has been a man on a mission in July, closing out the month Saturday night at Autodrome Drummond with his third World of Outlaws victory of the season. Since taking the checkers on July 7 at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, Meyers and his Elite Racing Team have posted 11 Top 5 finishes in 14 events, including his three wins, to vault himself to the top of the championship standings.

“The month of July has just been awesome for us, and so has Canada,” said Meyers, of Clovis, Calif., who earned the 50th victory in his World of Outlaws career. “We almost got the win last night at Brockville (Ontario Speedway) but broke through tonight. We need to dedicate this one to Shane Bowers though. He’s new to our team this year and his grandfather was having some issues so Shane flew back to be with him during the Ohsweken (Speedway) race. We’re happy to say that Shane is with us here tonight and Grandpa is doing much better.”

Meyers started the night on the pole after winning the dash but it was Lucas Wolfe on the charge early as he took aim at his first win by leading the first five circuits before Meyers’ preferred line worked itself in.

“They watered the low groove so it took some time in the feature to get it worked in,” Meyers said. “Once it did and we got the wing pulled back and the fuel load off, the car was simply amazing.”

While Meyers ran away with the victory, the battle for second intensified as Steve Kinser began to challenge Lucas Wolfe in the latter stages of the 35-lap event. Kinser, a 20-time champion and last year’s winner at Autodrome Drummond, used lapped traffic to his advantage to work past Wolfe.

by Kyle Luetters
Some say Tony Stewart is the greatest driver of his generation. No doubt he’s become the most versatile. He proved it Wednesday night at Ohsweken Speedway when he fought off charging Sammy Swindell to capture the first World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series victory of his career in front of a huge crowd at the Canadian track south of Hamilton, Ontario.

Stewart is no stranger to the World of Outlaws. He’s won three championships as a car owner in the series to go with his driving titles in the NASCAR Cup ranks and the Indy Racing League. However, for a native of Indiana who as a kid idolized legendary World of Outlaws racers like Steve Kinser and Doug Wolfgang, winning with the Outlaws fulfills a dream.

“Wow, this is big,” said Stewart, of Rushville, Ind. “I saw Sammy dive below me once and that was one too many. We had such an awesome car tonight and I still just can’t believe we won this thing. I grew up watching a lot of these guys like Kinser and Wolfgang. My career path didn’t take me into a lot of winged sprint car racing but it’s certainly something I enjoy. This just isn’t something that Kasey (Kahne) and I do for the heck of it. We’re passionate about putting together great teams and winning races.”

Stewart had a strong car throughout the night. He was fifth quick in qualifying out of 31 cars, then won his heat race and started the 30-lap A-main from the third position. The front row consisted of young guns Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Brad Sweet, who led early before Stewart found a quicker line around the slick track and passed Sweet on Lap 9. Stewart’s Office Depot/Mobil 1/Coke car ran away from the field quickly until Swindell mounted a charge in the Big Game Treestands machine. Swindell tried to play spoiler but the native of Germantown, Tenn., native didn’t have enough to catch Stewart.

Marne, MI—Over 5,000 fans were on hand to witness a thrilling night at Berlin Raceway. Kelsey Steele scored her second win of the season in the Young Guns division and Scott Thomas got his first win of the season in the Coors Light Late Models; winning the CRA Super Series Rowdy Busch 125 was Brian Campbell.

The Young Guns took the track first; #32 Gabe Ensing was slotted to start on the pole position, but his wreck in the heat race took him out of contention. #16 Kelsey Steele moved up to take his space next to #19 Dalton Haney. From the drop of the green flag, Steele took off with the lead and by halfway, had put almost four seconds between herself and Haney. Haney had his hands full with #6 Brandon Hermiller who took second place from him on lap 11. Hermiller began to catch Steele, but he ran out of time. Steele got her second win of the season after leading all of the laps and finishing behind her was Hermiller, Haney, #18 Mitch Meppelink, #101 Lauren Bush and Ensing.