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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Jonathan Allard 2007 season recap
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - December 1, 2007...Chico, California’s Jonathan Allard put together another solid season of competition on the West Coast in 2007 and reached double digit victories for the third straight year driving for Oakhurst, CA based car owner Morrie Williams. Since joining Williams Motorsports in 2005 Jonathan has become one of drivers to beat on the West Coast each and every night and everyone is looking towards the upcoming season with a lot of anticipation.
Jonathan started out this past year utilizing a J & J Chassis, but overall the performance level didn’t seem to have the kind of consistency that Williams Motorsports had seen during the past couple years. In late April a Maxim Chassis was brought out and right away you could see Jonathan’s comfort level go up while competing on the track. His ‘07 season saw a total of 12 victories throughout the year and a number of great runs that didn’t end up in victory lane, but those events definitely showed the kind of success that he and team are capable of having. The overall season stats for JA also show 37 top five finishes and 53 top tens in 77 starts.
A year after winning the Golden State Challenge Series title Jonathan came back in ‘07 to finish in a tie with Jason Statler for fourth in the final season standings. Despite missing the final three events of the season Jonathan tallied 16 top five finishes with GSC, the second most of any driver in the series. Along the way he picked up four victories and pushed his career win total with the tour to 17, putting him fourth on the all time Golden State Challenge win list. His biggest victory with GSC this season came on Memorial Day weekend when he picked up his first ever win at the historic Calistoga Speedway during the 24th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.
A couple of the bigger 410 winged sprint car events on the West Coast are the Gold Cup Race of Champions in Chico and the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit. This season saw Jonathan be in position to take home both of them and although each finished up with tough endings, the ability to have the opportunity to win at both of those events is something to be proud of. At the 36th annual Dirt Cup in June Jonathan was looking to become the first driver to ever win the event three straight years and despite suffering flips during both of his heats on the prelim night’s, he found himself on the front row come Saturday.
Bouncing back from the adversity on Thursday and Friday, Jonathan jumped into the lead in the 40 lap Dirt Cup finale and did a fantastic job while fending off former WOO regular Brandon Wimmer as they navigated through traffic. Just when it looked like Jonathan was going to become a three time Dirt Cup champ, everything changed on lap 34 when he attempted to get by the lap car of Jeff Hodgson. As JA went to the high side in turn four, Hodgson swung wide and Jonathan had to get out of the gas to avoid hitting the wall. This allowed Wimmer to get by and Jonathan had to settle for a second place finish in the $25,000 to win event.
With the Dirt Cup disappointment behind him Jonathan headed for the 54th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions in early September. With the world’s best drivers converging at the 1/4 mile clay oval Silver Dollar Speedway, Jonathan and the Williams Motorsports team claimed a special victory during opening night of the event. "It pretty much made my whole year," Jonathan said. "I’ve been trying for so long to win an Outlaw event and to do it in my own backyard was pretty awesome." With the prelim win under his belt, he came back on Saturday night for the 40 lap $50,000 to win finale. Starting on the front row, JA fell into third as the green flag waved and over the first 15 laps he did battle with Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell, two of sprint car racing’s all time greats. Jonathan was able to execute a picture perfect slide job on Swindell around lap 15 to claim second and he then looked to track down leader Joey Saldana.
When the halfway mark of the main event was hit Jonathan made his move and took the lead from Saldana on lap 21. It didn’t last however, as a red flag occurred and JA was put back to second for the restart. He spent the rest of the race trying to run down Saldana before getting passed by Jac Haudenschild with a few laps remaining. Things turned more sour when the No. 0 machine suffered a flat tire coming for the white flag, which pushed Jonathan back to a 10th place finish at the checkered. It was a disappointing end, but it’s always a good thing when you can run up front with that kind of competition.
Jonathan also did quite well in limited starts with a 360 engine under the hood this season. He finished in fifth place during both the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals in Chico and the 1st annual Fred Brownfield Memorial Sprint Challenge at the Gray’s Harbor Raceway in Elma. During the NSCS Speedweek in July he tallied three top five finishes en route to a fourth place finish in the week long standings. The Speedweek ended with the annual Skagit Speedway 360 Nationals where Jonathan finished fifth, just like the Fall Nationals and Brownfield Challenge. The top five finish at the Skagit 360 Nats came after charging from the 19th starting position.
Competing in the annual 360 Nationals at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, he charged from the 24 starting position to finish the event in the 10th spot. Putting an end to the season and finishing off the 360 action for '07 Jonathan finished seventh in the final standings during the 14th annual Trophy Cup at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway.
All in all this season would have to be considered a success and Jonathan is hoping for more in 2008. "We had a good season and it’s testament to my great team and all of our outstanding sponsors who supported us all year. I have to thank Morrie and Katie Williams for all their support of me and my whole team who put in a lot of hard work all year long," the former King of California said. "I’m looking into next year with a clear head and can’t wait to get back on the track to show what we’re capable of."
All of us at Allard Motorsports would like to wish everyone out there a happy holiday season and wish everyone the best in the upcoming year. Keep posted to http://www.allardmotorsports.com for updates during the next couple months.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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