Andrew Hayes Fulfills Childhood Dream by Winning Ltd. Late Model Championship at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — For Andrew Hayes and the #9 Asnuntuck Community College Limited Late Model team, the 2014 season proved to be the realization of a childhood dream. Hayes began his Stafford career in the DARE Stock division in 2009 and he made the move into the Limited Late Model division in 2012. Hayes and his team proved to be the perfect combination of dominant and consistent this season as he posted 4 wins and 17 top-5 and 17 top-10 finishes in 18 races to claim his very first Stafford track championship by a 32 point margin over Duane Provost.
Hayes and Provost quickly emerged as the main drivers in the chase for the 2014 championship. Provost was the early season points leader and he led the Ltd. Late Model standings for 6 of the first 7 weeks of the season. But once Hayes took over the point lead following the July 18th feature event, he held onto that lead for the remainder of the year. Provost ended up tied with Hayes for the division lead in wins with 4 each and he even had 18 top-10 finishes to Hayes’ 17 top-10’s. But where the difference was made was in the top-5 category, which Hayes handily won over Provost 17-11.
“Holy crap, this has been a long time coming,” said Hayes. “We started off in the DARE Stocks and we bought a junk box Limited and we struggled and fought the car the first couple of years we had it. It took us a couple of years to get it going, but look where it got us. We’ve run the same car since we got started and we’ve made a lot of changes to it. When we first got the car, we tore it apart and rebuilt everything, we did this our way. I have to thank everyone who helped us out this year, Asnuntuck Community College, my Stepdad, my Mom, my friends Dave, Shane, and Chris, Local 3059, Sign-A-Rama, On Point Connections, Total Protection Security Systems, my Uncle Bob is a huge help, and my Dad worked his butt off on this car every week in a single car garage, which really shows what persistence does. I can’t thank everyone enough who helped us out to make this dream possible.”
Hayes ran three seasons in the DARE Stock division, finishing 14th, 6th, and then 3rd in the points before moving into the Limited Late Model division. Prior to this year, Hayes finished 6th and 5th in the championship standings, so he figured he was due to be a contender for the championship with his previous trends of improvement in the standings.
“We knew were going to have a shot at the championship this year,” said Hayes. “It was about halfway through the year when we thought ‘Wow, we really have a shot at the championship.’ This has been a childhood dream of mine. I’ve always wanted to drive a race car and one day my Dad called me and asked me how would I feel about driving a race car. I said ‘I don’t know, why?’ and he said he had just bought a DARE Stock and I told him I would drive it and this is where it got us. We had a couple of good years in the DARE Stocks, we finished third in the points, and that gets you hooked.”
While Hayes is unsure of his racing plans for 2015, he and his team have proved the old adage true that all you need to make your dreams come true is some hard work and perseverance.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web atwww.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR