9/3/2015
Brad Loyet
Brad Loyet – Two Near Misses!
Brad Loyet – Two Near Misses!
(Bill W) September 3, 2015 – It’s not a good feeling to get passed late in the race after leading the majority of it. Unfortunately, that was the case, not once, but twice last weekend for Brad Loyet and the Vacuworx Global #o5. That’s the bad news. The good news is the team registered a pair of second place finishes and a hard-charger against salty competition in three shows last weekend. It will be double duty for the Sunset Hills, Missouri driver this weekend as he participates in both his MOWA sprint and USAC Midget ($10,000 to win) at Gold Crown events at the Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois.
Friday, the team competed with the FVP National Sprint League at Randolph County Raceway near Moberly, Missouri. “The driver didn’t do his job in qualifying at Moberly,” says Brad. “There was a hole in turn one and I pretty much just drove right through it. We bounced back well in the heat though and moved up to fourth.”
Starting 13th in the main event, he would end up as the KSE hard-charger. “I got a heck of a start,” says Brad. “We worked our way up to fifth there for a while. I was good on the bottom of one and two there. Then some drivers got by me on top, so I went up there and chugged around the top of one and two. We ended up seventh, which wasn’t bad with the NSL. We would have liked a top five, but we didn’t get to where we needed to be fast enough.”
Forty cars descended on LaSalle Speedway in Illinois for the IRA/MOWA Bill Waite Jr. Memorial. “There were a lot of cars,” says Brad. “We split qualifying into two groups going to the infield. At the tail end of the first group, it started to rain. I was like sixth car out in the second group of twenty. It was still a little bit slimy when we went out. We were just a little bit off quick time, but we ended up sixth.”
Brad would start fifth in the heat and finish third. “We were able to move up in the heat and lock ourselves in the redraw,” he says. “We started fourth in the feature and got to second on the first lap. About ten laps in, we got the lead. The yellow came out, but it was Kody Kinser who spun in the lead. In a sense, I inherited the lead at that point.”
It looked like he would cash in the $4,000 win. “After that, we were really good,” says Brad. “I thought we had it in the bag. We were cutting some very good laps. Coming to the white flag, (Roger) Crockett put it over the cushion and kind of drove it into ‘No Man’s Land’ to make a pass. It worked. We were in traffic the last lap. I tried to make a move, but we didn’t have enough. We ended up second. It was good to be up front again though.”
A 42-car field competed at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin for the NSL/IRA Showdown. Despite coming out 41st in the order, Brad laid down the sixth quick time of the night. “I was worried to go out that late,” he says. “The way that place usually plays out, you’d like to go out early…like pretty much everywhere else. I’d run a lot of laps there. I knew what I thought I had to do to get a good lap there. I kept the car as straight as I could and kept the right rear where I thought it needed to be. It worked out.”
He would start his heat fifth and finish fourth. “I was a little bit worried about making it through starting on the bottom,” says Brad. “My start was subpar. I got into the fence coming off of four on the first lap. I was back in sixth. I decided to muster up some courage, and I think we ended up fourth. That got us in the redraw. We were lucky to draw the pole there.”
Brad would shoot out and pull away when the green flag flew in the feature. “Basically, it felt like we took off and left everybody,” he says. “It was a deal where I was catching lapped traffic, and I wasn’t wasting any time. I think I was getting through it better than anyone. In the end, that didn’t matter, because the yellow came out and those lapped cars went to the tail.”
A restart with nine laps to go saw Danny Lasoski slide in front for the win. Brad had to settle for second again. “It was a deal where (Danny) Lasoski took advantage of the situation,” he says. “He took advantage of jumping high out of line and passing us going into one. It worked for him. I felt we definitely had the fastest car there, and we didn’t get rewarded. Overall, I think we had a great weekend and it’s definitely something for us to build on going forward. We’re not disappointed, but we would have definitely liked to have gotten a win.”
Brad’s Website
Brad’s website was freshly designed for 2015. Visit the new site at www.LoyetMotorsports.com!
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Brad and the Loyet Motorsports team would like to thank primary sponsors: Vacuworx Global and Loyet Landscape Maintenance. Associate sponsors: Maxim Race Cars, J and D Performance Racing Engines, Butlerbuilt Professional Seat Systems, Meramec Heights Collision Center, 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.
Photo: Brad goes by Phillip Mock in Sun Prairie (Rob Kocak Photo)
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Monroe, IA USA