TOMMY HARTENSVELD WINS SUMMER NATIONALS AGAIN

Press Box

Team Full Throttle Driver Development racer Thomas Hartensveld, Jr. stormed into Kentucky this weekend with one goal in mind…he wanted to successfully defend his INEX Legends Summer Nationals Championship.  Last year, it was Hartensveld taking the checkered flag first for one of his season’s most prolific accomplishments.  This past Saturday, the 17-year old started fifth and passed early leader Mitchell Coble en-route to his sixth win of the 2007 season and the second Summer Nationals title in a row for Dan Snyder Racing.

“It was a really good race,” Hartensveld said with a smile after it was over.  “I started fifth, and got up to second behind Mitch early on.  I wanted to be patient and not make a mistake.  He finally gave me an opening. Daniel Hemrich eventually got second and he gave me all I could handle for sure.  It’s awesome to win this race again.  I had a lot of fun racing with those guys.  I’m happy for Christian Pahud getting fourth too.  Dan (Snyder) did an awesome job setting up the car.  It was a great day for Dan Snyder Racing and Team Full Throttle.  I wasn’t sure when I was going to win again, but I knew the car was there if we could just have some good luck and I did my job right.”

Thomas will be back at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Summer Shootout competition on Tuesday, July 10th, and will return to Hickory Motor Speedway on July 14th in Super Truck competition.  “We’ll be in a different truck next weekend at Hickory,” the youngster confirmed.  “I’m still running for J&J Motorsports and Scott Whitaker, but in the #9 that Joey King has raced this year.  I appreciate everything Scott’s done this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that truck will do compared to the one I had been racing.  I enjoy running at Hickory, so it will be fun to go back and try something a little different next weekend with switching trucks.”