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LOVELLS
END SEASON ON HIGH NOTE
As
the 2007 season finally comes to a close, the Lovell Brothers
have much to celebrate. The team just returned from Phoenix,
AZ with not only one, but two wins! The season finale UROC
Rockcross was held at the Firebird Raceway under what are
usually sunny skies. The weather was not cooperative, however,
as it rained several inches the day before the event. Mud
and standing water was everywhere on the course. “One
thing about rockcrawlers is that they hate mud,” says
driver Brad Lovell, “I think more than one team was
reluctant to drive out of the pits.”
As racing started, the trucks quickly became
indistinguishable brown clods. The Lovells got smart fast
and procured some tear-off goggles. The Lexan windows in
the foot-wells were also removed. Doing so gave them precious
visibility. They had the fastest qualifying time and took
pole position for the first heat race. The green flag then
dropped and 6 vehicles left the line. Brad & Roger got
the hole-shot and lead the pack into the jumps. The tangle
of trucks went around the track but the FABTECH Ranger pulled
away for a win.
In the next round of racing, and while
in the lead, the brothers jarred an oil line loose and were
forced to stop. “Brad kept pushing it after the cloud
of white smoke went away,” recalls Roger, “After
a while I noted the pressure gauge at zero. I don’t
know about other oils, but I think we owe AMSOIL an engine.”
Even with the malfunction, the brothers won the Modified
Class by forfeit as the other qualified vehicles were broken
before the final round.
Next up was the Pure Adrenaline Shootout
which was a race between any vehicles left running. “Campbell
has almost twice the power to weight ratio we do and got
a car length on us before the first turn,” Brad says,
“We were putting some pressure on him and he started
to roll as we entered the turn. He never lifted and almost
carried it through on 3 wheels but missed the corner. We
were fast the first lap but developed an electrical problem
with the fan unit. We held off the rest of the pack but
the fan breaker kept popping and killing the truck.”
In the end, Campbell was DQ’d for missing the turn
and Lovell Racing was once again declared the winner.
The brothers could have taken home their
3rd Championship this year with two wins and a 2nd, but
unfortunately did not enter the Rockcross Series. “Our
initial schedule did not allow us to attend this event and
that changed,” comments Brad, “You can’t
win it if you don’t enter.”
There is not much of a break before the
2008 season takes off. The first event for the team will
be the inaugural King of the Hammers 40 mile Rock Race on
Feb, 22nd. Look for more news and website updates as the
team has many exciting things coming together for 2008.
