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Lonnie Wheatley, LA MONTE, Mo. (June 24, 2011) – Brad Loyet snared his first career winged Sprint Car feature win by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 25-lap Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region main event at LA Raceway.
The multi-time Midget champion from Sunset Hills, MO, gunned into the lead at the outset and never looked back en route to the win aboard the Don Ott-powered Loyet Landscape/Vacuworx International No. 05 Maxim, padding his series points lead in the process.
“It feels real good to get this win out of the way, they always say the first one is the hardest,” Loyet explained afterward. “I think we’ve got what it takes to click off a couple more.”
For the second ASCS Warrior feature in a row, it was Loyet and Kyle Bellm leading the feature field to the green flag. Loyet outdueled Bellm for the point on the opening circuit and, after a pair of cautions in the initial four rounds, the 23-year-old Sprint Car rookie checked out on the field.
Loyet raced on to the checkered flag unchallenged as the final 21 circuits ran off in non-stop fashion, while four-time Warrior champion Randy Martin worked his way past Bellm for second by the 15th round and then edged a surging Tyler Blank for runner-up honors at the stripe.
Blank settled for the show position, with Bellm in fourth. Bryan Grimes picked off a handful of positions to round out the top five, while Tony Bruce, Jr., bounced back from an early spin while running third to salvage sixth aboard the Clifford Young No. 7 entry.
After winning the “B” Main, 16-year-old Miranda Arnold raced from 17th to seventh, with Cody Baker, Josh Stephens and Matt Fox completing the top ten.
Loyet, Randy Hibbs, Bruce, Jr., and Blank topped heat race action for the 31-car field before Arnold won the “B” Main.
Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Results from LA Raceway:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet, 2. 14-Randy Martin, 3. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 4. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 5. 10-Mike Trent, 6. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 7. 19s-Steven Cross, 8. 11c-Dakota Carroll.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2a-Randy Hibbs, 2. 9m-Cody Baker, 3. 65-T.J. Muths, 4. 23F-Matt Fox, 5. 72-Curtis Boyer, 6. 4-Evan Martin, 7. 28-Jonathan Cornell, 8. 14T-Andrew Turley
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 7-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 86-Kyle Bellm, 3. 165-Haley Arnold, 4. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 5. 09-Josh Stephens, 6. 92j-J.R. Topper, 7. 1x-Brad Ryun, 8. 48-David Brown.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 75-Tyler Blank, 2. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 3. 6-Bryan Grimes, 4. 5-Matt Close, 5. 3z-Zach Davis, 6. 3p-Rusty Potter, 7. 9c-Tony Crank.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 2. 10-Mike Trent, 3. 3z-Zach Davis, 4. 4-Evan Martin, 5. 33-Austin Alumbaugh, 6. 92j-J.R. Topper, 7. 1x-Brad Ryun, 8. 72-Curtis Boyer, 9. 19s-Steven Cross, 10. 11c-Dakota Carroll, 11. 48-David Brown, 12. 14T-Andrew Turley, 13. 9c-Tony Crank, 14. 3p-Rusty Potter. DNS: 28-Jonathan Cornell.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet, 2. 14-Randy Martin, 3. 75-Tyler Blank, 4. 86-Kyle Bellm, 5. 6-Bryan Grimes, 6. 7-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 5m-Miranda Arnold, 8. 9m-Cody Baker, 9. 09-Josh Stephens, 10. 23F-Matt Fox, 11. 24-Lanny Carpenter, 12. 165-Haley Arnold, 13. 65-T.J. Muths, 14. 10-Mike Trent, 15. 2a-Randy Hibbs, 16. 3z-Zach Davis, 17. 5-Matt Close, 18. 3-Mark Shirshekan, 19. 85s-Forrest Sutherland, 20. 4-Evan Martin.
Speedway Motors ASCS Warrior Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Brad Loyet 711, 2. Randy Martin 652, 3. Kyle Bellm 587, 4. Cody Baker 557, 5. Mark Shirshekan 544, 6. Jonathan Cornell 539, 7. Josh Stephens 529, 8. Austin Alumbaugh 512, 9. Tyler Blank 506, 10. Evan Martin 423.