(Bill W) May 22, 2013 – Brad Loyet used a unique weekend where he could race a 360 and a 410 sprint car to set up a busy week with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series. A fourth place finish with ASCS at US36 Raceway near Osborn, Missouri, and a second place finish with the 410 MOWA series at Montgomery Motorsports Park in New Florence, Missouri made for a good weekend. This week, he’ll see action with ASCS at venues in Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas.
With a heavy track at US36 on Friday, Brad was one of the few to pass some cars in a heat race. A move took him from fourth to the win. “We had a really good car,” he says. “We were almost too tight, but the car was really fast. I kind of made a move on the top that I didn’t know was going to work or not. It ended up winning the heat race for us, so that put us in the redraw. Unfortunately, the redraw didn’t go as well.”
The worst possible scenario in the draw saw him draw an eight. In a frenzied 35-lap feature that saw plenty of action, Brad would advance to fourth at the checkers. “I think (winner) Johnny (Herrera) was in a whole different league that night,” he says. “I was running fourth there at the end, and all of a sudden he blew by me on the outside. I didn’t know if he had had a problem and went to the tail, or what was going on. That was kind of shocking.”
The Sunset Hills, Missouri driver hopes consistency will pay off in an ASCS championship. “Our goal with the point championship is to knock down top fives,” says Brad. “We’re sitting in third behind Johnny and Jason (Johnson), two guys that have run national circuits all over the country for almost longer than I’ve been racing. I feel we have a good shot at winning this deal if we keep running in the top five.”
The MOWA show in New Florence on Saturday saw a good heat draw. Brad would win from the pole, and then go from fourth to third in the Dash. “We borrowed a motor from one of our sponsors, Dan Pace,” he says. “It was our first night running that motor. We were pretty good in the heat. We were maybe a little free. We tightened it up for the Dash, and we were good there.”
Brad would back up a bit after starting inside of row two in the main event. “I kind of made some mistakes early on,” he says. “I wasn’t driving the car hard enough. I tried running the bottom, and there wasn’t really anything there.”
That’s when he would adjust his driving style, and advance to second at the checkers. “I pulled the wing back and ‘put it in the trunk’ and started running the cushion,” says Brad. “I started going pretty well after that. The yellows kind of came out at the wrong time for us. I thought I had a shot at winning that deal. It was a case where the driver made some mistakes early that may have cost a win.”
This week’s schedule gets busy for the Loyet Motorsports #o5. Wednesday night, ASCS will visit Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri, before moving to the I-80 Speedway near Greenwood, Nebraska on Thursday. Things will conclude on Saturday with the Steve King Memorial at the Jetmore Motorplex in Jetmore, Kansas.
Brad and the Loyet Motorsports team would like to thank primary sponsors: Vacuworx Global, Miller Truck Lines, and Loyet Landscape Maintenance. Associate sponsors: Maxim Race Cars, J and D Performance Racing Engines, Butlerbuilt Professional Seat Systems, KSE Racing, Weld Wheels, Penske Shocks, Wilwood Disc Brakes, Hepfner Racing Products, DMI, Saldana Racing Products, Rod End Supply, Bell Helmets, TI 64, Conroy Control, The Engine Heater, Ealey Transportation, and Speedway Motors.
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