LOVELL BROTHERS SET TO TAKE ON KING OF THE HAMMERS
LOVELL BROTHERS SET TO TAKE ON KING OF THE HAMMERS
Colorado Springs, CO 1/28/12 – After season ending crashes for both of the team’s rock racers last year, the brothers are back and ready to take on the toughest rock race on the planet. 2012 will the longest King of the Hammers yet with 165 miles of rock crawling and desert terrain. The week long event now features several races and a chance for competitors to qualify for start positions.
“I think its great that they are letting us qualify,” comments driver Brad Lovell, “We would have won this thing 2 years ago if that was the case and it will help make a fair competition.” The team can be watched qualifying live on Ultra4racing.com/live on Tuesday, Feb 7 at roughly 4 pm PST.
For the first time, Brad and Roger will join forces for King of the Hammers. Roger adds, “Running one truck is a lot less of a headache and will allow us to better focus on winning. With the amount of experience we have racing together, it just makes sense to be in the same truck. Last month, we auctioned my entry and raised $2500 for the Blue Ribbon Coallition and others fighting to keep Johnson Valley open.”
Lovell Racing proudly welcomes back AMSOIL as their title sponsor. Brad elaborates, “I am continually impressed with the integrity and quality of AMSOIL. They are a perfect fit for our team. Combined with Nissan, BFGoodrich Tires, Torchmate, Spidertrax, and Trailready we have a strong team with lots of technology. We are also pleased to add Lincoln Welders to the team as we have always been fans of their products.”
The pair will be piloting the reinvigorated yet familiar #232 AMSOIL Torchmate rock racer. “After the wreck last year it was twisted, bowed, and crinkled,” said Brad,”We should have just cut it up and thrown it away but this truck has won just about everything but King of the Hammers and I’m attached to it.” Eight weeks of labor went into rebuilding the chassis and making improvements to the design. “We did a lot of thinking about safety after the wrecks. Neither of us want to race something we don’t feel safe in so we cut the entire roll cage out of the truck and rebuilt it with stronger material.”
In another first for the team, they will be running 39″ BFGoodrich KRT’s. “We are strong believers in 37’s but think that the 39’s will allow us some extra speed in the unending boulder fields. BFG has re-engineered a soft grippy tread compound that is really going to give us the edge.”
King of the Hammers launches the team’s 2012 racing campaign where they will tackle a variety of races. Highlights include the legendary Mint 400 in March, the 90th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in July, and World Championship short course racing in Crandon on Labor Day. Brad will return for the 2012 TORC Season piloting the #44 AMSOIL Torchmate Nissan Frontier.
Get updates from the team leading up to the race via Facebook/Lovell Racing. Live internet coverage of the race (starting 7:30 am PST Friday Feb 10) and pre-race activities are accessible atUltra4racing.com/live
About Lovell Racing:
25 years ago, Brad Lovell was bouncing around in the back seat of his father’s Bronco in the backwoods of Colorado. The family camping trips turned into a passion for Brad and his brother Roger. After spending a decade tackling the toughest off-road trails in the country the pair entered their first rockcrawl and went on to win 6 consecutive season championships. Since then the brothers have earned multiple wins while racing nearly every type of off-road discipline – desert, rocks, hill climbs, and short course racing. The team’s focus is winning the TORC Series where Brad pilots the #44 AMSOIL Torchmate Nissan Frontier. The 2012 season holds a variety of races for the team including King of the Hammers, the legendary Mint 400, the 90th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and World Championship racing at Crandon. Follow Brad at Facebook / Lovell Racing.