Hot Streak Has Andrew Hayes Back in Championship Contention in Stafford Speedway’s Limited Late Model Division
Stafford Springs, CT — -For the majority of the 2015 season, the race for the Limited Late Model championship has been a 2-man race between Al Saunders and defending track champion Andrew Hayes. For the first half of the season, Saunders and Hayes were neck and neck in the standings, with the margin between them as small as 6 points as late as July 3rd. Two consecutive finishes outside the top-10 for Hayes changed things up and allowed Saunders to open up a 52 point lead, but that gap has begun to shrink thanks to the red hot streak that Hayes and the #9 Asnuntuck Community College team find themselves currently on.
Following his 2 consecutive finishes outside the top-10 on July 10th and 17th, Hayes has reeled off three consecutive victories to chop 18 points off of that 52 point deficit to Saunders to enter this Friday night’s feature action only 34 points off the pace. As Hayes looks to make it four wins in a row, he says that not only is the 3-race streak a first for him in his entire racing career, but he has gone on this streak using the same tires.
“It took us 7 years to get two in a row and now we’ve got 3 in a row and five for the season, it’s incredible,” said Hayes. “The car has been hooked up for the last 3 weeks and we’ve run the same tires on the car for those 3 weeks. We always seem to run good when the [Whelen Modified] Tour is here and my dad always gets the car hooked up, he’s amazing. We’re just hoping that we can keep on having good weeks like this. We’d love to make it four in a row,that would be something else.”
Last year saw Hayes claim the Limited Late Model track championship by a 32 point margin over Duane Provost. Hayes will have to make up almost the exact same margin to climb back to a level status with Saunders in the 2015 standings. Hayes has 7 races left to erase a 34 point gap and should Hayes average 3 positions a night better than Saunders over that 7 race stretch, he will lay claim to a second straight championship.
“We still have 34 points to gain on the 04 so we have to keep on finishing races and finishing in front of him,” said Hayes. “Every week the car is great, we’ve been finding ourselves running up front, and things have been playing out right for us. Our momentum is good and team morale is high, but after 3 straight wins we know we’re going to be starting in the back so we have to try and avoid any mayhem in front of us.”
Hayes’ first opportunity to continue to claw back points in the championship standings will be the Ingersoll Rand Feature Night this coming Friday, Aug. 14. The winners of the Ltd. Late Model, DARE Stock, and SK Modified® feature events will all receive an Ingersoll Rand Tool Prize Pack worth $600. Tickets for August 14th are on sale now and are priced at $17.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is $20.00 for all ages and all ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free parking along with overnight parking available for self-contained Recreational Vehicles.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR