LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Sam Hafertepe Jr. was motivated despite a disappointing end to his two-day romp at I-30 Speedway on Saturday night, finishing second to Blake Hahn in the 31st annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals.

Hafertepe came one spot short of sweeping the Short Track Nationals weekend, putting in an impressive performance one night after he romped to victory in the 27-lap, $2,527-to win preliminary feature on Friday by leading every lap from the pole.

In the sequel, Hafertepe charged forward from seventh on the grid but was held up by several power hitters in front of him as he worked to move through the field. He finally got past polesitter Howard Moore for second with six laps left, but at that point, eventual winner Blake Hahn was long gone.

Hafertepe was forced to settle for second by about a half-straightaway, earning $5,041 for his efforts.

The two-time defending ASCS National Tour champion noted afterwards that starting up front was the key to success on Saturday night, and that he simply didn’t have that luxury.

“Track position was everything tonight, with the way the track was racing and how the conditions were changed up in comparison to Friday night,” noted Hafertepe. “We were actually chasing our car quite a bit because of that, but it finally came to us in the last 10 or 15 laps. It was just a case of too little, too late.

“It’s just unfortunate that we’ve never won this race, because we’ve won a lot of prelims and run second three times now,” he continued. “It’s just kind of heartbreaking to have it end like that and to be so good last night, but that’s part of racing and we’ll come back here next year and try to make another run at it.”

As Hafertepe pointed out, his No. 15h was gaining speed at the right time during the closing laps of Saturday’s 41-lap feature. He topped a torrid duel with Howard Moore for second and was beginning to cut into Hahn’s leading margin, but simply ran out of time.

A late caution might have changed things, however, noted the Texas native.

“The last three laps, once I cleared the No. 40 (Moore), I was reeling him in pretty quickly,” said Hafertepe of Hahn. “You could say that we probably could have gotten him, and I think we would have with how we were rolling right there, but you just never know.

“A caution falling at the right time can help you or hurt you, but the fact is we just didn’t see one. Blake got to the gun a little quicker than we did and got out in clean air, and we just couldn’t run him down,” Hafertepe added. “We had to pass a lot of really good race cars that he didn’t have to pass, as well. … Joe B. Miller, Tim Crawley and Howard were essentially roadblocks on our way to the front, but they had really fast race cars and that’s a credit to them. We had to race hard to cut through there.

“When you’re forced to do those types of things in a field this tough, that’s what happens sometimes.”

Despite the final outcome, Hafertepe left the high-banked, quarter-mile clay oval optimistic as he continues to close down on his third-straight ASCS National Tour points title.

“We may have fallen a little bit short tonight, but I’m proud of how our car worked and how our team worked all weekend long,” Hafertepe said. “We’ve had a lot of great accomplishments this year and this weekend proves we’re just a little bit closer to wrapping up that championship.

“This will push us to work even harder and we’ll come to the track next time out fighting just as hard as ever.”