SHENANDOAH, Va. – Sam Hatfield may not be a full-timer with the USAC Eastern Midget Ass’n any longer, but he proved Saturday night at Shenandoah Speedway he hasn’t forgotten how to win races.
Hatfield, who just finished his first year at the University of South Carolina and is pursuing a degree in Sports & Entertainment Management, made a late pass of Jake Trainor and led the final five laps of the 35-lap feature to collect his third series win and first of the year.
After setting the fast time in qualifying and being inverted back to sixth for the start, Hatfield methodically worked his way through traffic and was running third when the lone caution flag of the race waved on lap 15.
He dropped back to fourth behind teammate Jessica Bean on the restart, but picked off Bean and second-running Neal Allison in short order and set his sights on Trainor.
Finally, after catching Trainor in the closing laps, Hatfield made his move with five to go and never looked back, avenging a near-miss at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in April with a win on this night.
“After the heartbreak that was Hickory a few weeks ago, this feels absolutely amazing,” said Hatfield. “I don’t think anything can beat how excited I was after my first win, but this is pretty close to that. We knew we had a good car … but to sweep the night is amazing.
“This car (the No. 9 normally driven by Chris Lamb) is something special. I’ve watched it win a lot of races,” Hatfield noted. “To join the ranks of drivers who have won in this thing is pretty damn cool. Thanks to Butch (Lamb) and everyone who works on it.”
The win, coming as part of the track’s Mother’s Day Weekend celebration, was made even more special by the fact that Saturday marked the first time Hatfield’s mom Becky was in attendance for one of his victories.
“That’s the best part about this weekend, is that she finally got to see me win one of these things,” said Hatfield. “I’m thankful for that and glad we’re finally back in victory lane. You never know when or if the next win will come, so this is pretty special.”
Trainor hung on to finish second ahead of Jessica Bean, who extended her series points lead by coming home in third.
Brothers Neal and Nolan Allison completed the top five.
The finish:
Sam Hatfield, Jake Trainor, Jessica Bean, Neal Allison, Nolan Allison, Dameron Taylor, Connor Gross, Levi Riffle, Peyton Ferree, Jordan Empie.
