MILLSTADT, Ill. — Brad Loyet put his No. 5 Loyet Motorsports Spike Esslinger Ford in front of Daniel Adler on the 30th and final circuit of the POWRi Midgets Dean King Memorial Saturday at the Southern Indoor Center, winning the drag race between the two by .176 second at the flagstand after making his winning pass coming out of the final turn.
Adler led the entire race until Loyet,  who won the Winter Nationals race in January with a last-lap pass over Tim Siner — charged to the front. He kept on Adler’s tail tank for much of the 13-minute, 30-lap race, which was only hampered by two caution periods.
“Awesome,” Loyet said after the race. “I love running this place. We got a good run on him (Adler) coming out of that last corner and I wasn’t going to let up. We’ve won here so many times before and know exactly how to win. That’s what he came to do, and we did it. The car ran phenomenally and we can’t wait to get back for the start of the points-paying season.”
Adler came home second, ahead of Brent Beauchamp, Dave Camfield, Jr. and Hud Cone. Loyet won $3,000 for the race victory. The race also marked a comeback for driver Ryan Pace. Pace was injured in a sprint-car event at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway in 2006 and had not raced since.
In the 25-lap micro-sprint event, Brady Bacon topped an event that began with 86 entrants. Bacon won by 1.587 seconds over runner-up Chad Kendall.