9/16/2015
Brad Loyet
Brad Loyet – Podium Finishes Set up Canadian Nationals!
Brad Loyet – Podium Finishes Set up Canadian Nationals!
(Bill W) September 16, 2015 – Brad Loyet and the Vacuworx Global #o5 followed up their sweep of MOWA events in Granite City, Illinois with two podium finishes last weekend with the series. The Sunset Hills, Missouri driver was a threat to win both nights, and has his sights set on this weekend’s Canadian Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario.
The Herb Barlow Memorial at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois was up first for Brad. He would start sixth and finish fourth in his heat. “It was kind of narrow in the heat race,” he says. “It was tough to get rolling. We got what we could. That put us outside row six for the feature.”
He would work his way forward in the main event. “We had two initial starts that I was able to get up to sixth on,” says Brad. “The third one went, and I only got to ninth. We started plugging away there, picking off one at a time.”
Brad was in the show position in the late stages. “We were third on a restart with three or four to go,” he says. “We were able to get under the second place car, but we got the karate chop across the racetrack. We almost spun into the infield. Honestly, I think we would have rolled by him and had a shot at (leader Jerrod) Hull. We had the bottom working really well, which is out of the norm for that place. We were third when all was said and done, and we couldn’t complain about that.”
Mechanical gremlins surfaced at Spoon River Speedway’s Tom Knowles Memorial near Canton, Illinois on Saturday. “During hot laps, we had a fitting on a water pump crack,” says Brad. “We didn’t have a fitting, so we had to swap motors before the heat. The only motor we had was the one we ran at Sun Prairie that had gotten really hot. We lost a head gasket on it. We dumped it in to see how it would do and how hot it would get.”
He would start third in the heat. “We won our heat, but the motor got smoking pretty fast,” says Brad. “We thought about loading it up and heading home, but we were on the pole of the Dash. We were able to win that, and it didn’t seem to get as hot. We had actually put some Stop Leak in the motor to try to clog up anything we could. It didn’t get quite as hot, so we decided to run the feature.”
He would start from the pole. “I think we led the first ten laps,” says Brad. “We just didn’t have the car to roll the top like we needed to win the race. We settled in behind (Paul) Nienhiser. I got rolling the bottom well again late. We had a restart with five to go, and those were probably my best five laps of the race.”
Brad would resurge and make a push for the win. “We were rolling up on his (Nienhiser’s) bumper, and actually passed him on the last lap in three and four,” he says. “I thought I was going to steal one from him, and we had a drag race to the finish line. He just barely snuck by me. We made a little contact, and we actually crossed the finish line backwards. It was definitely a good night, after what we went through.”
The team is looking forward to the Canadian Nationals this weekend. “We enjoyed racing up there a couple years ago,” says Brad. “Glenn (Styres) has helped us out this year, and we’re looking forward to heading up to Ohsweken.”
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: (John Lee – High Fly’N Photo)
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