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05 July 2008, Roseville CaAfter eight races at All American Speedway, running in the NASCAR Whelen Late Model series, Laura was able to get her first win on July 5th!
In the two afternoon practice sessions consisting of a 20 car field, Hayes was 4th fast in both. Laura and her Peoplefinders.com Chevy were also 4th fastest in qualifying with at time of 13.915 seconds at 86.237mph. Once again, all three Golden State Racing cars were in the fast car trophy dash, with Hayes on pole, John Moore (#27) on the outside of her, and Kristin Bumbera (#00), starting 4th. Laura took the lead and walked away with the win! The car came in immediately and was very fast.
Laura started 4th in the main and fell to 5th on the start. With just a handful of laps into the race, the team felt they may have gone a little too far with the setup, trying to get it as close to the handling in the dash as they could. The car was loose and Laura was having difficulties getting off of a turns, thinking she'd have to be happy with a top 5 finish. After losing one more position, falling back to 6th, Laura, determined, fought back and got back the two cars she had been struggling with. With an open track, Laura began searching for the line that worked best with the car and started running down 3rd place. On lap 29, Laura passed her teammate, Moore, for 3rd and on lap 38, got by Jason Romero for 2nd. Now the leader was in her sights for the second time in two weeks! Laura was quickly running down the 50 of Gary Glenn when the bottom of his car burst into flames from transmission oil spilling onto his exhaust. The red flag came out and Laura inherited the lead for the first time in her late model career!
With 9 laps remaining, Laura led the pack to the green with Moore hot on her bumper. Hayes stayed calm, consistent and smooth, keeping the pressuring cars behind her, and raced to the checkered for her first late model win! "It was really a great feeling to get my first win in a late model under my belt," Hayes told reporters. "With all of the hard work that we've been putting into the program this year, I was confident that a win was coming soon."
Next race is the Toyota Late Model100 on July 12th at All American Speedway.
Laura would like to thank her sponsors:
Peoplefinders.com, K&N Filters, Golden State Racing, GoneRacin.com, RPM-Race Place Motorsports, PHI-Phil Hayes Inc., Team MMI, Outlaw Graphics, FRE-Finishline Racing Equipment, Northbay Welding, Gold's Gym, Scribner Plastics, VIP-Voris Investment Properties, Radial Tire of Elk Grove, Lee Power Steering, Davis Motorsports of Reno
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