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21 June 2008, Roseville, Ca. The June 21st race at All American Speedway was a special points race. The AT&T "Rumblin' at Roseville 150" was a divided into two 75 lap segments, with accumulated points deciding the winner. $4000 was the winner's prize.
It was a long, hot day under the sun in Roseville. The late models were the only class running the event so a longer practice session was provided. Last race, the right rear tire of the Peoplefinders.com Chevrolet was cut down by a piece of debris and the team tried getting it patched but it quickly went down again early in the practice session. Since a spare tire wasn't available, Hayes would have to sit the rest of the session out while everyone else got many more laps. Without knowing much about how the car was handling, the team made a few adjustments hoping it would work for qualifying. And the car actually wasn't that bad, Hayes was 3rd fastest for a period of time until two cars slipped by and she ended up 5th fastest out of 22 cars.
Laura missed the invert by one for the first main and would start 5th. From the drop of the green to the wave of the checkered, not one caution impeded the progress of the race, a very rare occurrence at All American Speedway! Laura was able to race with the leaders for the first 50 laps until the car tightened up tremendously. As the car worsened, two cars were able to drive by Hayes as she battled the handling. She finished 7th in main #1.
In between races, a short intermission was permitted and everyone got a chance to quickly work on their cars. Laura's dad and uncle quickly diagnosed one of the things that what was causing the car to push. The right front wheel bearing grease had boiled out, either caused by, or causing, a bearing to begin to seize. The team worked hard at getting the car back together, barely making it back out for main #2. A quick wedge adjustment was all the team had time for as the cars were called for the lineup.
Another invert was drawn and once again, Laura missed it by one so she would start where she finished in the first main, 7th. By lap 3, Laura dodged cars and piloted her #22 car to 3rd position, trailing the 16 of Paulie Harraka and the 00 of Kristin Bumbera. For 46 laps, the order was #16, #00 and #22. Laura moved to 2nd when Bumbera's rear end failed. By lap 50, the car began to pick up the usual push but Laura searched the track for the best line and found a way of making the car work and began to drive away from the once closing #50 and #27 cars. A late caution was not what Hayes needed, but unfortunately a couple came to be. Now she would be starting on the outside, which hadn't been working well for her. Laura battled the cars to her inside for about 5 laps never making it easy on them. As the car tightened up more, Laura fought back even harder but fell back two positions to her finishing spot of 4th place. Combined with her 7th place finish in the first 75, she earned a 4th place overall in the AT&T "Rumblin' at Roseville 150" championship.
This was a fantastic finish considering what Laura was fighting in handling during the last half of each of the two races. Again, Laura proved she can run at the front with the best!
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