DISNEY, Okla. — Brad Lovell practically had the Ultra4 USA 4600 class championship in his grasp when he arrived at Legends of the Fall.
The only things standing in his way were the wild terrain at the course and the other two Ford Broncos who were close enough to ruin his chances of becoming champion.
This season, it’s been a heart-wrenching battle between Lovell, Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Bailey Cole as they’ve each struggled to secure the title. The trio of Bronco drivers have been topping the leaderboards since the season opened at King of the Hammers in January.
Lovell experienced a mechanical issue at King of the Hammers that interrupted his initially strong run, but he bounced back to finish second. If anything, the result spurred him on to attack the field even harder moving forward.
“We’ve had quite the season,” Lovell said. “We’ve been on a charge ever since then, taking home a couple wins. We won the last round in Crandon, so coming off hot in that.”
Lovell drives the No. 4621 Bronco with his 16-year-old son, Adam.
The two are a new duo behind the wheel, as this is Adam’s first season of competition with his dad. While there’s been a learning curve to overcome, Adam and Lovell arrived at the Legends of the Fall finale first in points. All they had to do was finish in front of Gittin and Cole to secure the championship.
After Thursday’s pre-run, Lovell and Adam locked in their race strategy and familiarized themselves with the new course.
“This facility is awesome. It’s a great mix of water, embedded rock, there’s climbs, there’s sand, there’s even whoops out there,” Lovell said. “Really pumped to be here for the first time.”
Some of the conditions the Ultra4 racers stumble across on the five-mile track were different than anything Adam had seen during his driving career.
“I’ve never done water racing like what we’re going through,” Adam said.
Nearly half the course takes place on a riverbed and several of the obstacles — including The Waterfall and Viagra — are backed straight up to small ponds of water. Depending on the tire selection the Ultra4 racers elect to use this weekend, facing rock walls straight after traveling through water can create quite a challenge.
“There’s a lot of challenging lines, but I think we picked a good one,” Adam said.
The father and son strapped into the Bronco at noon on Friday for the 4600 stock finale, keeping a healthy two-minute lead on Gittin for most of the two-hour race. Cole held down third and Jon Schaefer rounded out the top five in his No. 4688 Jeep as the clock read 30 minutes to go.
Despite wrestling with a flat tire near the mid-point, Lovell was able to make it first to the checkered flag with nearly a minute-and-a-half gap on Gittin. At the podium on Friday afternoon, Lovell became the first Ultra4 USA champion to be crowned this weekend.
“We did what we had to do, but that’s not easy. What an intense race we had going with Vaughn [Gittin Jr.],” Lovell said. “It’s a pretty big deal. People have told me, you don’t realize you’re making history when you’re doing it, but these are great memories for our family.”
The remaining championships — including the 4500, 4800 and 4400 Unlimited classes – will be decided on Saturday.
Follow along on SPEEDSPORT.tv for every pre-race, post-race and mid-race moment.