And just like that, another solid weekend run for Brad Lovell and his Spider 9 powered Pro Light push him into 2nd place in Traxxas TORC series points. There’s just 4 short course races left, so the battle for 1st is officially on. Below is a press release direct from Lovell Racing, recapping their back to back 2nd place finishes from last weekends Bark River competition.

Also worth mentioning Lovell Racing is also competing in the 4400 Ultra4 class in today’s Vegas to Reno competition. At the time this blog post goes live, we should be at the Vegas to Reno start line where over 300 drivers will race from, you guessed it, Vegas to Reno in what is the largest US off-road race of it’s kind. If you’re looking to stay up on the action, especially from the point of view of Ultra4 drivers, head over to http://ultra4racing.com/live/ where we’ll be adding our own photos throughout the day.

Now, enter Lovell Racing.

TWO AND TWO FOR #44
LOVELL NOW ONE POINT OUT OF SERIES LEAD

Bark River, MI 8/14/12 – Two was Brad Lovell’s lucky number this weekend in Bark River, MI, for the latest rounds of the 2012 TORC season. The track, one of Lovell’s favorites, has not been kind to him in the past. This weekend, however, it highlighted the battle between him and Andrew Caddell for the pro-light championship.

Lovell made the first strike by qualifying 2nd and earning a series point thus closing the gap to 16. Traffic at the start put Lovell in 5th for the majority of the race. Caddell earned a point at the mandatory caution and was poised for a top finish but got a flat and rolled the truck in the moguls. This enabled Lovell to slingshot into 2nd and hold the position for a podium finish. Lovell stated, “We had a bit of luck today and drove a smart race. I worked on staying clean and the team put in a lot of extra effort to make sure we had a winning truck. We have worked really hard to finish every race.” The effort paid off as the team moved into a point leading tie with 2011 pro-light champion Andrew Caddell.

Never content with 2nd place, the team relentlessly worked on the #44 AMSOIL / Torchmate Nissan to squeeze out every last bit of speed. At the start of Sunday’s race, Lovell’s BFGoodrich tires found traction where others could not and gained him 3 positions. He chased down newcomer Matt Cook and put the slide job on him to take the lead in the race and points championship at the midway caution. It wasn’t long before the Caddell and Lovell bolted from the pack and began to battle. A bobble from Lovell on the last lap left the inside open allowing Caddell to bang through and send the #44 into the fluff. “It’s disappointing to loose a battle like this but the war is far from over,” added Lovell. “The next race is in Crandon where we took the track record from Caddell last spring. We’re on the attack and he knows it!” Lovell trails by a mere point with 4 races to go.

Before the ensuing battle at Crandon, however, Lovell will tackle the 530 mile route of BITD Vegas to Reno with his brother Roger. The pair will chase the Ultra 4 Pro Series Championship where they currently sit in 6th place. The race starts Friday, Aug 17th, and live tracking is available through racetheworld.net. Look for the #4432 AMSOIL rock racer of Brad Lovell.

Source: Lovell Racing.