Lovells Bring Home a Pair of Dueces From Temple Canyon

CANON CITY, CO MAY 15, 2011 – Imagine that if for one weekend, it was legal to drive as fast as you dare on your favorite twisting, turning, mountain road and not worry about oncoming traffic. It’s not too good to be true and once a year the Temple Canyon road is closed to the public for all out racing. While it was Roger’s rookie year, Brad has tackled the road twice prior with a class win in Ultra 4. This year, however, Brad took on the Comp Truck division (unlimited trucks) in his #44 AMSOIL Nissan Pro-Light.

Qualifying day involved four runs up the 3.2 mile road. Brad quickly adapted to a different driving style in the 2wd Pro-Light but not before getting a little wild on the road. Brad recalls, “With a lot less tire than an Ultra 4, my braking points were way off and I overshot a couple of turns. It was way out of control and I was glad to reach the top. We did a little tuning during the day and I was able to keep it on the road by day’s end.” Brad qualified 3rd in class and had a fast truck for the two race attempts on Sunday. Roger had strong and consistent qualifying runs as he used the time to memorize the road. His runs were good enough to position him 2nd behind 2010 class champion and Torchmate teammate JT Taylor.

Race day brought a bit of a surprise as rain drenched the typically arid southern Colorado landscape. The showers changed the hard-pack gravel surface to a mud slick. After nearly four hours of rain delays the road was judged to be in good condition and racing ensued. Roger had his work cut out for him chasing down Taylor in Ultra 4. As only the 2nd truck to take the green flag, his first run was a learning lesson for the whole field. Roger adds, “The road was real sticky which made it fast but also made it tippier in the turns and changed my shift points. I had things figured out by the final run.” Roger dropped a whopping 10 seconds on his last run for a fast time of 3:42 and 2nd place finish. JT Taylor ended up setting a new class record and taking the win. “I have to hand it to JT as he is lightening fast. I battled a few issues with the truck that were left over from the last couple races but had a great time and happy to finish 2nd in a sprint race like this.”

Once to the top, Roger radioed back to Brad that conditions were perfect and to run hard. With this knowledge, Brad pushed the truck to the limit and shaved an astounding 15 seconds off his qualifying time and took the class lead with a 3:20.81. “The grip was incredible,” Brad recalls, “The road had just enough time to dry and was perfect for the BFG All-Terrains. They were outperforming race tires!” His final run was good enough for a 3:20.55 and 2nd place finish in the class. “Chad DeVries was able to sneak by me for the win. Given the fact that I was facing off against 600+ hp 4wd dedicated hill climb trucks, I am pleased with the way the Nissan Pro-Light performed and look forward to racing on Pikes Peak.”

Video of Roger Lovell’s run: http://www.youtube.com/user/LovellRacing#p/a/u/0/X6TozQLgsAo

Video of Brad Lovell’s run: http://www.youtube.com/user/LovellRacing#p/a/u/1/BfHkbi1kUBY

The team now sets full focus on the TORC season opener in Red Bud, MI May 27 - 29. With a wealth of seat-time, Brad looks forward to a strong start in the expanding TORC Pro-Light field.