Brad chases Brooke Tatnell at LaSalle (Mark Funderburk Racing Photo)
(Bill W) September 27, 2017 – Brad Loyet and the Vacuworx Global #o5 team had a solid weekend. The Sunset Hills, Missouri driver finished seventh at the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway near Wheatland, Missouri on Saturday. Sunday, he raced to an exciting second place finish at the Bill Waite Jr. Memorial at LaSalle Speedway in Illinois. The team has their midget ready for Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois Friday. Brad will take his sprint car to the prestigious “Queen’s Royale” Saturday at St. Francois County Raceway near Farmington, Missouri.
Things started last Thursday at Wheatland, when Brad drew the pole for his heat. “Unfortunately, we went back a spot,” he says. “That put us outside the front row of a Qualifier. I think we ran second in that also. That put us inside row six for the feature. We had a pretty good car in the feature. The track was used up by the time we got out there. There wasn’t a whole lot to get a hold of. We picked up what we could and finished eighth.”
Friday, the track was much different. “They worked the track really hard,” says Brad. “It was heavy for most of the night. In the heat, we went from sixth to fourth. We were almost third, which would have made a big difference…actually for the whole weekend. We started on the pole of the Qualifier and won that.”
Friday’s feature saw Brad starting 11th again. “The first couple laps we passed a couple guys on the bottom,” he says. “I thought it was getting slow down there. I went up top and passed a couple more guys. I thought that was the way to go. About ten cars passed me back on the bottom, the checkered flag came out, and we were 16th! I felt like I let the guys down, because we had a good car. I just made the mistake of going up top. One more spot, and we would have been locked into Saturday, so that really cost us.”
As the first car not lock himself in, he started Saturday’s Qualifier on the pole. “We got a good first start, and there was a yellow,” says Brad. “We ended up running second and starting 13th in the feature. We hit the nail on the head, and we were really good. I kind of got to the top before anyone else, and we were rolling good. We made a gear change that really worked. We were up to sixth at one point and we were really nice. The yellow came out and really killed our momentum. That equaled everyone out. After a couple of on-track incidents, we ended up seventh. That late yellow kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
After little sleep, Brad and the crew drove all night to get to LaSalle’s 1/3-mile oval to race with the IRA and MOWA series. “We went out late in qualifying, and we were able to make the heat invert,” he says. “That worked out for us. We started on the front row outside of our heat and won it. That put us in the feature redraw.”
He drew the five and started inside row three in what would be an edge-of-your-seat main event. “We were really fast on top early on,” says Brad. “It was tough to pass then, because it was tough to slide. We were able to slide up to fourth. On a restart, we went from fourth to second. I had a really good chance at (Brooke) Tatnell, but every time we were ready to make a move, there was lapped traffic there. I went to the bottom to see if there was rubber, and I got close. It just wasn’t enough to get him. We needed a couple more laps. I didn’t see the white flag either. We ended up second in that, and we felt good about it. It was a fun race for sure.”
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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 chases Brooke Tatnell at LaSalle (Mark Funderburk Racing Photo)
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Monroe, IA USA