|
Photos by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
Jonathan Allard fights through adversity at the Tulare Thunderbowl
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – March 30, 2008…Rebounding from a hot lap incident Chico’s Jonathan Allard and the Williams Motorsports team soldiered on and through it all were able to record another top five finish in Golden State Challenge Series competition.
The event on Saturday night at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway marked the fifth race of the GSC season and it saw 32 winged 410 sprinters convene at the 1/3 mile clay oval. Going into the show Allard sat second in points behind Tim Kaeding, but the night got off to a rough start as the driver of the K & N Filters, Red Line Oil No. 0 caught a hole in turn one and went for a ride in hot laps.
After being towed to the pit area, crew chief Ashley Smith and the rest of the Zero Heroes went to work changing the rear end and putting a pair of fresh wings on the car. A bit of luck was bestowed upon the team as the automatic scoring system had an issue, which delayed qualifying a bit. Along with that Allard was the very last car scheduled to hit the track for qualifying. After thrashing away he was able to get back onto the speedway for qualifying and his best lap of 13.358 put him 11th fastest in the field.
Allard then started third in his heat race and made a great move to cut underneath the front row going into turn one to claim the lead at the start. The 31 year-old proceeded to charge away from the pack and pick up the 10 lap victory aboard the Sharp Insurance, Chris Jones Racing, Matt & Glass No. 0. The qualifying time didn’t allow him to compete in the dash however, and the former King of California lined up 10th in the main event.
Starting in the fifth row Allard got himself into seventh early on before the Williams Motorsports machine began to come in and he moved forward quickly. The No. 0 sprinter was launching off the corners and Allard was able to get by both Brent and Tim Kaeding by a caution period on lap eight, moving into the fourth spot. After biding his time over the next few laps he went to work on World of Outlaw regular Shane Stewart and the pair traded the third spot on the 16th circuit.
Lap 17 however, saw Allard get into the wall and lose a lot of momentum falling back to about seventh. After this the car didn’t seem to be the same and he was able to march on to get back up to fifth by the checkered flag. “I think we might have broken a shock in the main event because this thing was a rocket ship prior to the contact,” Allard said. "I thought we had a shot to win the deal because this car was that good. We'll now move on to next week and try to put this No. 0 machine up front again."
It was another solid run as he spent time in the feature battling with some of the top drivers in the business including Tim and Brent Kaeding, Shane Stewart, Mike Henry and Blake Robertson. Ashley Smith and the crew put a great set up in the car and Allard drove right on the ragged edge after putting the hot accident behind him.
This coming weekend will see Allard and Williams Motorsports take to the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico on Friday night and then it’s off to the Antioch Speedway on Saturday. The event at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds track will be the sixth round of action in the GSC season.
For more news and info on Jonathan Allard visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com
----------------------------
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
|
