Salina, OK (June 4, 2011) – Brad Looney entered the season with a single victory with the MARS DIRTcar Series and now he’s at four and counting.
The 36 year old driver from Republic, MO continued a torrid streak on Saturday night at the Salina Highbanks Speedway, racing to his third consecutive victory on the MARS tour. The series points leader earned $3,000 in adding the victory to a triumph six days earlier in Monett, MO and the previous night at Brill’s Motor Speedway in Meeker, OK.
Looney becomes just the fourth driver in the history of the 11 year old series to record three straight victories. Other driver’s include Terry Phillips of Springfield, MO; Wendell Wallace of Batesville, AR and Bill Frye of Greenbrier, AR. Phillips owns the series record of most consecutive victories, by winning four straight on four different occasions.
At Salina, Looney qualified on the pole by gaining the most passing points from the heat races. To his outside would be 6-time and defending MARS champion Terry Phillips. Phillips would lead the first half of the 30 lap feature and the first caution would wave on lap 16 for Jimmy Miller of Conway, AR and Jeremy Payne of Springfield, MO. Payne would be unable to continue. On the double file restart Phillips would lead the field to green. Looney would benefit from a great restart and challenge Phillips for the lead. The pair would exchange the lead several times over the next three laps before Looney would take control for good on lap 19. The races second caution would wave on lap 21, as Phillips would make contact with Ronny Hollingsworth of Northport, AL. Looney was able to stay out front over the next nine laps and take the win. Rounding out the top five would be Hollingsworth; Tommy Weder Jr. of Woodward, OK; Eric Turner of Springfield, MO and Jason Hughes of Watts, OK.
Looney’s Hatfield-powered Victory Circle Chassis is sponsored by Federal Proctection Inc., Family Pharmacy and Republic Glass.
Next up for the MARS DIRTcar Series will be a doubleheader at West Plains Motor Speedway in West Plains, MO on July 1st and July 2nd. From there the series returns to its home track, the Monett Speedway in Monett, MO on July 3rd.
Feature Finish: 1) Brad Looney, 2) Ronny Hollingsworth, 3) Tommy Weder Jr., 4) Eric Turner, 5) Jason Hughes, 6) Jesse Stovall, 7) Tony Jackson Jr., 8) Terry Phillips, 9) Brandon McCormick, 10) RC Whitwell, 11) Justin Asplin, 12) Jeff Roth, 13) Chris Hawkins, 14) Joey Vaughn, 15) Jason Redman, 16) Jay Rierson, 17) Leroy Johnson, 18) Dan Leatherman, 19) Jimmy Miller, 20) Dustin Mooneyham, 21) Shawn Harker, 22) Jeremy Payne.