(Bill W) March 21, 2016 – Brad Loyet and the Vacuworx Global #o5 sprint car spent their first racing weekend of 2016 in Texas last weekend with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series. A pair of top tens don’t tell the whole story, however, as the Sunset Hills, Missouri driver made a bid for a win at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite on Saturday before suffering some mechanical gremlins. This weekend will see two new tracks for Brad, as ASCS hits the Cotton Bowl Speedway near Paige on Friday and the Bronco Raceway Park near Cleveland on Saturday.
Thursday marked Brad’s first ever run at Heart ‘O Texas Speedway near Waco. “It was an interesting racetrack,” he says. “The top was where you had to be, and everyone was ripping it around the top. I’m not a huge fan of the six or seven car heats. It’s just tough to do much pointwise with that. We made it in (running from seventh to fifth), but barely. We started sixteenth.”
His start outside row eight saw a lot of early action. “We started racing where we were,” says Brad. “We were trying to make some moves. We got caught a lap down, and it really kind of screwed up our night. We got caught back there racing those guys. From there, I basically ran second to (Johnny) Herrera, but I was a lap down. At that point, I had to start thinking like a points chaser. There were other guys who had issues who fell out or crashed.”
Brad would end up tenth. Friday rained out at Devil’s Bowl, leaving a one-night show there on Saturday. “We actually had a really strong car,” he says. “We switched our shock program to FK this year. Matt Hummel has talked with us quite a bit. Devil’s Bowl has been a place we have struggled at times in the past. In the heat race on Saturday, that was the best car I’ve ever had. We went from fifth to second in the heat, and there wasn’t much passing at all in the heats.”
His success continued in the Qualifier. “We were able to drive from fourth to second in the Qualifier,” says Brad. “That left us third in points overall and that’s where we started the feature.”
Brad was hoping to catapult to the front right away. “I got a heck of a run,” he says. “Travis Rilat was on the pole and he almost stopped in one and two. I had to get on the brakes, and coming out of turn two instead of thinking I was going to be in the lead, I was sixth.”
He would climb back towards the front. “We were able to drive our way back up to second,” says Brad. “We had a really good car. We had two red flags in a row at the halfway point. There was a lapped car between Wayne (Johnson) and I on the first restart and we were able to get around that pretty quickly. We were back on Wayne’s bumper and another red came out.”
Something had happened to the car. “After that, my car was completely different,” says Brad. “I didn’t know at the time what had happened. We pulled the shocks off afterwards and dyno-ed them. We had an issue with the left rear shock. It was kind of one of those depressing runs. We went from chasing the leader down, to doing everything we could to hold on to what we had. We ended up eighth.”
Overall, the team was satisfied with their first weekend out. “A lot of these guys have been racing all year, and we haven’t,” says Brad. “I have a brand new crew guy that’s out with us. Overall, it was a learning experience. To come out of the weekend with a top ten at a new track and a chance to win at Devil’s Bowl wasn’t anything to hang our heads about. For the first races of the year, we were happy.”
Cotton Bowl Speedway and Bronco Raceway Park will be new venues for Brad. “Usually I run well on new tracks,” he says. “Waco was kind of an exception. We’ll see what we can do. We’ll take our first weekend for what it was. We did what we had to do as far as points racing goes. We aren’t where we wanted to be, but we survived.”
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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 Loyet at Devil’s Bowl (Serena Dalhamer Photo)
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