Hattori Racing Enterprises driver, Brett Moffitt won the pole, and led start to finish to win the Samuel 150 at CNB Bank Raceway Park in Clearfield, PA on Saturday, July 14, 2012.
The 19-year old Moffitt also scored his 3rd 21 Means 21 Pole Award of the season in the #11 Don Valley North Toyota Camry with a time 17.880. His lap outpaced the field one tenth of a second.
“The car was decent in practice,” Moffitt said. “We worked hard on getting the car right on old tires. We weren’t the fastest in practice, but I knew the car had to handle on worn out rubber.”
It was not an easy win as the #11 HRE team overcame adversity in the middle part of the race. Moffitt got a little high off turn four on lap 61, got into the dirty part of the track and it sucked him right into the front stretch wall. The hit was significant, but somehow he was still able to maintain the lead over his teammate, Sergio Pena.
“He hit a ton,” exclaimed crew chief, Dave McCarty. “It lifted the car off the track, but somehow he kept going without any major damage. Under caution we had Sergio (teammate, Sergio Pena) look it over real good and finished the last 15 laps until the half way break. We took a good look at everything under the break and determined there was no damage. We made our changes to the chassis and sent him back out.”
Teammate, Sergio Pena was running 2nd to Moffitt before the half way break and was real happy with his race car.
“The car was awesome before the break,” confirmed Pena. “We were racing Brett (Moffitt) for the lead and I was real happy. We qualified 5th and was a little loose, but in the race the car was good.”
Bad luck struck at the end of the half way break when Pena was unable to get his #1 Gunma Toyopet Toyota Camry started. NASCAR provided a push truck, but the car would not start, he was forced to come back down pit road and address the issue. The repairs cost him 11 laps.
“I guess it was an electrical issue,” stated crew chief, Matt Goslant. We changed the ignition box and messed with the starter and finally got it running. We had a winning race car and I hate that we had an electrical issue like that. We will head back to the shop in Mooresville and investigate Monday.”
Pena finished 17th 13 laps down.
It was a good point night for the Hattori Racing Enterprises team as Moffitt moved from 4th to the lead in the Championship points with a four point lead over the 2nd place driver with six races left in the season. Pena moved up one position to 9th in the standings.
“I could not be more proud of Brett and Dave and the entire #11 team,” said Team Manager and four-time series Champion, Andy Santerre. “They worked hard today and overcame adversity to get their 2nd win of the season. Sergio and Matt (Goslant) and the #1 team didn’t get the finish they wanted, but they had a winning car tonight and continue to get better each and every week.”
“We had a good night overall with the #11 car and with the point battle,” Shigeaki Hattori, HRE Team Owner confirmed. “Sergio had a good car too but had issues out of his control. I am very proud of both teams and drivers.”
Up next for the Hattori Racing Enterprises team is the Jegs 150 at Columbus Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 21, 2012.