BY BROOKE JOHNPIER, SPORTS STAFFER
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series: On Saturday, the World of Outlaws traveled to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Harvest Rumble. The 25-lap feature saw veteran Donny Schatz take the win after a last-lap slide job to take first from leader David Gravel, who got caught behind lap traffic. The win was Schatz’s third at Lakeside and his first in 26 races.
“Nights like tonight help us,” said Schatz. “We tore up a car last week at Port Royal pretty bad. These guys put a new car together, and it’s that time of year where you’ve got to start trying some things, and obviously it was pretty good. The goal is consistency. We’ve got a lot of great partners here, and we want to win races and do the best we can for them.”
American Sprint Car Series: Friday and Saturday saw the ASCS travel to Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, for the 50th Annual Winter Nationals. Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the opening night after a long battle with Blake Hahn — Hafertepe took the lead 16 laps into the 25-lap A-Main after Hahn battled lapped traffic.
“When we took the green, I ran the bottom, and obviously [Hahn] has really good speed around the top,” Hafertepe said. “But I knew once we got to traffic, he’d be skittish to go low, so I felt it out at the start of the race to see if the holes would upset my car, and it timed out where he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that’s part of being a veteran in the sport. Sometimes you capitalize on people’s mistakes.”
Hafertepe responded a night later with another victory.
“We had an awesome racecar tonight,” said Hafertepe. “I was amazed at how good we were, and honestly, on the restarts, I kind of wasn’t going as hard because we’d catch lapped traffic so fast.”
The win is Hafertepe’s ninth win at Devil’s Bowl alone and his 65th with the ASCS. The 30-lap feature saw Hafertepe lead the entire race. Even when he got caught up in lapped traffic and fans thought that Matt Covington was going to pass him, Hafertepe pulled away.
Xtreme Outlaw Series: Thursday saw the series go to Port City Raceway in Tulsa, OK, for the 4th Annual Sooner State 55. The 55 lap A-Main saw 17-year-old Ryan Timms win his first series race after a many hardships.
“It’s a race of mine that I really wanted to win growing up here,” said Timms.
During the race, Timms and fellow competitor, Daison Pursley, got into it heavily with Pursley, dooring Timms for the third time in a row. Timms gave it right back.
“[Pursley] tried to slide me in Turns 3-4 and completely doored me,” said Timms. “Typically, I kind of understand. It’s close racing. One time, whatever. I’ll get over it. But he drove through me at Gas City, drove through me at Eldora [and] after he drove through me again, I was fed up with it. If you don’t do something about it, then he’s going to keep doing it.”
A night later, the series went to 1-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the 19th Annual Charlene Meents Memorial, which would go into Saturday. 16-year-old Gavin Miller took home the 30-lap feature, making it his fifth career win in midgets. Miller took the lead after a restart on lap 2 and never looked back.
“The yellow came out, and I just had to think, ‘Calm down, I know I’m just as good around that top,’” said Miller.
Although Miller kept the lead, Timms and Pursley went at it again for 2nd and 3rd place. Pursley finished ahead of Timms.
Saturday saw the series finale and second day of the event. The 30-lap main was won by 19-year-old Hayden Reinbold, which was also his first career win.
“It’s amazing, I’ve been wanting it for so long,” said Reinbold.
Reinbold led all 30 laps with Karter Sarff and Jade Avedisian following behind. The 17-year-old Avedisian became the 2023 champion with a 27-point lead as well as becoming the first female national series midget champion, making history.
“It means the world to me,” Avedisian said. “Not only to me, but my team.”
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