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Photo by http://www.MMRacingPhotos.com
Jonathan Allard races to career best 3rd place finish at 55th Gold Cup Race of Champions
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – September 6, 2008…Going into the 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions, Chico’s Jonathan Allard looked to run up front and that’s exactly what the ’08 "King of California" did as he raced his way to a fine third place finish in the 40 lap feature on Saturday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
The $50,000 to win Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Series sanctioned event got underway on Thursday night with the opening prelim and it saw 52 strong cars doing battle to gain points towards Saturday’s feature line-ups.
Allard came out 35th in the qualifying order and his fastest lap of 11.649 was good enough for second quick behind World of Outlaw star Craig Dollansky. The Chico driver then moved forward in his heat race to score a second place finish and give him a shot to draw for a dash starting spot within the first four rows.
After doing a quick interview on the front stretch, drivers pulled the pills and Allard drew the number seven to put the K & N Filters, JP’s Paint & Body Works No. 0 in the fourth row for the dash. The track was ‘hooked up and haulin’ early on, but for the dash it began to widen up and lose some of its grip, which created some good racing and it saw Allard make a mid race pass of current Outlaw point leader Donny Schatz to move into fifth where he would go on and finish.
Starting fifth in the competitive 30 lap preliminary night feature, Allard held his own for the entire distance as he ran amongst a top five that included some of the top drivers with the World of Outlaws Sprint Series. “JA” battled with Daryn Pittman early on before having to contend with a fast moving Schatz and the pair traded positions a couple different times, until Schatz made the move stick on lap 11. Allard then played it safe in fifth until he got a big break on lap 24 when the drivers running second through fourth all tangled in turn two.
With those drivers out of the picture it bumped the Red Line Oil, Platinum Powder Coating No. 0 up to the runner-up spot and Allard drove the final handful of laps smoothly to bring home a second place finish and score the second most points of the drivers that ran on Thursday evening. “We’re definitely happy with getting a second tonight and I just love running up front with the Outlaws,” Allard said following the opening night of action. “They are the best in the business and being competitive with them certainly makes us happy.”
Following another round of prelim action for the second half of the field on Friday, Allard saw himself sitting third in the overall weekend points out of a whopping 106 cars, which put him on the inside of the second row for the $50,000 to win Gold Cup Race of Champions main event. As the green flag came out in the 40 lap feature the 32 year-old racer settled into fourth behind Outlaw stars Jac Haudenschild, Craig Dollanksy and Jason Meyers. When lapped traffic came into play Allard closed in on the top three drivers, but each time he looked to be getting a chance to make something happen, a caution would appear and take the opportunity away.
The scheme of the race then changed on lap 26 when leader Meyers was taken out of the running when a car spun in turn two leaving him nowhere to go. It moved Allard up to third for the restart and he motored on over the final 14 laps to bring the Williams Motorsports machine home in third, marking his career best Gold Cup finish. “I’m so happy right now I don’t what to say as I’m just so ecstatic for my team and have to thank all my sponsors, my car owners Morrie & Katie Williams, as well as my great crew with Ashley Smith, Bob-Oh and Shawn,” Allard commented following the race.
Allard’s overall weekend couldn’t have been better as he was strong each night and the car was expertly prepared by Smith and the crew, especially in the main on Saturday. “This car was perfect tonight and I was just trying to be patient and waiting for lapped traffic,” the Chico native said. “In traffic I was able to get alongside a couple of the guys in front of me and I felt we were a little better than them, but in the open track they’re all so fast it’s tough to make things happen. On the last restart we got strung out and I wanted to play it safe because there was no sense in risking a podium finish at the Gold Cup,” Allard concluded.
Stay tuned to http://www.allardmotorsports.com for updates on future races for Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports.
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Chico, California driver Jonathan Allard brought home a third place finish Saturday night during the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Series sanctioned 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at the Silver Dollar Speedway. Joining Allard on the podium was winner Jac Haudenschild & second place Craig Dollanksy. Photo by http://www.GraphXDesigns.com
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