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Mike Leaty Captures First Win of the
2008 Season Leaty started the first feature from the eleventh starting position and in just two laps had worked his way up to the eighth running spot. A lap twelve multi-car wreck propelled the #25 into fifth. Leaty held his ground and waited for the leaders in front of him to make a mistake. Mistakes by the top four cars proved extremely costly for them as the race leader was spun out, another car penalized two positions on the track, and then another leader was spun out. After the mayhem, Leaty was in sole possession of second place. With passing almost non-existent on the flat oval, Leaty was prepared to settle for a lucky second place finish. However, the car ahead of him had made contact with the leader to take over the top spot. Due to this infraction he was docked two positions in the finish. So even though Leaty crossed the finish line second, he was awarded the victory. It was Mike’s 11th career modified win at Spencer Speedway. It seemed as though the teams luck was beginning to turn around as they prepared for the second of the Twin 25 Lap Modified features. The #25 started from the fifth position in the second feature and quickly moved into the third slot by the utilizing the inside line on the racetrack. Leaty began applying heavy pressure to the racecar in front of him, glued to his bumper around the track and pressuring for the second spot. Unfortunately the two cars would make contact getting into the third turn and sent the second place car spinning. With barely any room to go, Leaty was unable to avoid hitting the spinning car. To add to the problems the car behind Leaty also had no place to go and slammed into the back of the #25. The MPL Motorsports car suffered left front damage and was forced to retire the car for the night, taking home a last place finish. "We had an up and down night for sure" said Leaty. "Our season up until this point had been full of just poor racing luck but that finally changed tonight. It was an honor to win our first race with the US Army as sponsor. I really think we had a good chance at that second race as well because the car was really fast after the break. This team will regroup and get ready for the busy part of our season coming up". Leaty and the #25 US Army/RSTW team currently sits in seventh position in the Spencer Speedway Modified points standings. The team will carry the momentum of their win into their next scheduled race – the Whelen Modified Tour 100 at Spencer on Saturday, July 12th. Leaty will be competing in this prestigious event for the first time and will be racing against the best of the best of the NASCAR Whelen Tour. The two-time Spencer Champion will surely have an advantage over the outside competition with his knowledge of the unique racing surface. For all of the up to date information on #25 MPL Motorsports visit www.mikeleaty.com |
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