By Bill W
May 11, 2015 – Winning the Eagle Nationals in 2014 was big for Brad Loyet and the Loyet Motorsports/Vacuworx Global #o5 team, but Friday’s FVP National Sprint League win at Eagle Raceway was just as nice. The Sunset Hills, Missouri driver exchanged the lead with Brian Brown a pair of times late in the going, but surged to a thrilling win on the 1/3-mile high-banked oval. It was a roller coaster weekend, however, as Brad was involved in a scary accident at Knoxville on Saturday. That ruined any chances of him taking home the $20,000 bonus from Phil Durst of Durst Motorplex for a sweep of the weekend.
Brad timed in tenth quick at Eagle Friday. “We had a bit of an intermittent miss in the motor,” he says. “I noticed it in hot laps too. I was a little worried about it, but we were still able to get tenth quick. I heard it out there both laps. I think without that, we would have been a little better. We pulled the plugs out and discovered a crack on one of the electrodes. I think that was probably causing the miss.”
After starting fourth in his heat, he would finish second. “We had a pretty good jump on the start,” says Brad. “We were able to get to second on the high side there. We had a good car. I knew we were good at that point. We were lucky in the redraw to have a little girl draw the pole for us.”
Brad led from the pole early on in the 30-lap main event. “Eagle is a place that I’ve run well at the last several years,” he says. “It really fits my style. I was excited to start on the front row. On the start, we got the jump. I told myself the bottom was really good, but I knew the top of one and two was hairy. I didn’t want to have to be up there. We had all those yellows and reds (the first six laps). I knew I had a good racecar, I just had to keep my head on my shoulders. Once we got going, the rest of the race went non-stop. Lapped traffic was a bear to deal with. It seemed they would go where I was trying to go.”
An epic duel with Brian Brown in the late stages, brought the crowd to its feet. “The last lap I got hung up behind a guy again and Brownie stuck it in underneath me on the back straightaway on the last lap,” says Brad. “I had tried to pass a couple lapped cars in the middle of three and four, and I knew if he slowed down enough, I’d have a good enough run through there to get back by him. That’s what happened. I aimed for that good stuff higher on the track and it worked out. It was good to get our first official 410 win (one at St. Francois Country Raceway was a DQ for the wrong tire). That win is out of our way and we can roll forward.”
Brad had high hopes for the $20,000 bonus at Knoxville, but he timed in 21st, making that hill a steep climb. “We didn’t qualify very well,” he says. “That’s been a place we’ve struggled at. We have our motors running as good as we ever have. I think the problem Saturday was our gearing. We need to compensate for where we are with our motors now. I think I got as much speed out of the car as I could. We were able to get faster as the night went on, and we learned from that.”
Brad would finish second in his heat. “It was loaded with talent,” he says. “Five of the guys made the Nationals last year. (Justin) Henderson got by us on the second or third lap, and we were able to finish second.”
He would line up in row ten for the feature. “On the first lap, you’re always kind of leery starting back there,” says Brad. “You want to make sure nothing happens on the start. I took it easy in one and two, and I passed five or six cars on the backstraight and in three and four.”
Unfortunately, the problems came on lap two. Terry McCarl lost a left front kingpin and was trying to control his machine into turn one. “Coming down the front straightaway, I saw somebody getting sideways and I saw Brown clip him,” says Brad. “I was behind (Davey) Heskin or someone, and by the time I made my entry into the corner, I saw (Terry) McCarl was coming down the racetrack. I was on the brakes and the car got sideways. That was one of the hardest hits I’ve ever had…definitely in a winged car.”
Brad limped back to the pits, while McCarl was taken in a diagnosed with a fractured vertebrae. “It was one of the scariest moments I’ve ever had in racing. After it was done, seeing that Terry was hurting…you just feel bad in a situation like that and you don’t know what to do,” he says. “I wish him the best.”
After feeling mostly knee pain right after the crash, the pain emerged in the back the next day. “I woke up Sunday very sore,” says Brad. “I went to the hospital to check everything out and make sure I was o.k. Anytime you take a hit like that…it’s not easy on your body.”
This weekend, the FVP National Sprint League heads to Jacksonville Speedway to take on the MOWA series in their “Sprints Gone Wild” event. “Jacksonville is a place we definitely enjoy going to,” says Brad. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get out of there with the $5,000.”
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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.