By: Chris Santos
4/19/23... Placerville California: On Saturday Night, Luke Hayes would be back in action in Placerville with the Thompson's Winged 360 Sprint Cars for their 3rd points race of the season. 20 Winged 360 Sprint Cars would be in the pit area ready to rip on Saturday Night.
Luke would hit the track for time trials, as he would be the 3rd car to hit the track. Despite going out early, Luke would not lay down the lap he wanted. He would lay down a lap of 11.355 which would put him 11th quickest overall.
"We usually qualify good but not Saturday. We ended up 12th, which was not so good."
That would set Luke up for a pole starting position in his heat race. He would need to win the heat race to make the redraw. Unfortunately, Tony Gomes would get by him & Luke would end up finishing in the 2nd position, missing the redraw.
"In the heat race, we messed up by letting Gomes get around me & finished 2nd."
For the feature event, Luke would roll off from the outside of row six in the 12th spot. It would be a crazy main event. Despite the crazy feature, Luke would end up battling hard on a very tough to pass Placerville Speedway & finish where he started in 12th.
Saturday did not go how Luke wanted it to go. Despite that, he would still manage to bring home a 12th place finish.
Luke would like to thank his sponsors; Hayes Farms, Finley Farms, Inter State Oil, and Farm Logistics.
Next Race: TBA
2023 season stats: 10 events, 6 features, 0 wins, 1 top-5, 3 top-10's