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Photos by Fletcher Motorsports

Jonathan Allard finishes 3^rd in Elma before bad luck ends strong run on Sunday

By Gary Thomas

Elma, Washington – May 27, 2008…With the Golden State Challenge Series taking this past weekend off it allowed current point leader Jonathan Allard the chance to compete in the inaugural event for the newly formed ASCS Northwest Region Series. For the event at the beautiful Grays Harbor Raceway Park Allard sat behind the wheel of the Mike and Janie Doyle owned No. 1 sprinter.

In the off-season it was announced that the ASCS Northwest Region Series would take over for the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series, which was run by the Wilskey’s last season. The schedule for the new ASCS region shows 15 dates to be run throughout the year and it all began this past weekend with the double-header in Elma.

Like all ASCS series' there is no qualifying held as drawing pills and using passing points in the heat races is what determines who goes into the A and B-mains. Allard kicked off the weekend by driving to victory in the night’s fourth and final heat race which locked him into the main event.

The inaugural ASCS Northwest Region main event saw the Chico driver move up to third after a couple laps were completed. The duration of the 30 lap feature then saw him battle it out with Roger Crockett and Henry Van Dam before crossing the line in fourth aboard the Doyle’s Harley Davidson, Screaming Eagle No. 1. Post race tech however, saw Crockett get DQ’d and it moved Allard up to third in the run down.

Allard and the team came back on Sunday hoping to move up a couple of positions and began the final night by scoring a runner-up finish in the heat race, locking up another A-main starting birth. On this night the former King of California was forced to start from the fifth row in the feature, but it was apparent early on that it didn’t matter as the Paul Silva wrenched Maxim was on a rail.

“JA” was coming through the pack like a rocket ship and was up to the top three before 10 laps had even been completed. After 11 laps were down Allard then charged by Seth Bergman for the runner-up position and was going after the leader when a lap car spun and left him with nowhere to go. He contacted the spun car and damage was too severe to continue on, which put an unfortunate end to the weekend.

It was a tough way to end the weekend for Allard and the Doyle’s Harley Davidson team as it looked like nothing was going to keep the No. 1 machine from the win. “This thing was absolutely awesome tonight which makes it tough to swallow,” Allard said. “I felt like I could put the car anywhere I wanted on the track and definitely think we would have ended up in victory lane. I just have to thank the Doyle’s and this team for giving me the opportunity to drive the car this weekend,” he concluded.

Allard will be right back in action this weekend aboard the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0 as the Golden State Challenge Series is set for a double-header in Watsonville and Placerville. “JA” will go into Friday’s event at the Ocean Speedway holding a 51 point lead over Tyler Walker in the GSC standings. During the previous series stop at Ocean Speedway Allard had a night of second’s as he timed in second quick, finished second in both his heat race and the dash and then finished runner-up behind young Shane Golobic in the main event.

On Saturday the Golden State Challenge Series makes its final season stop to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds track of Placerville Speedway. Allard has been one of the most consistent competitors in 410 racing at the track over the last few years with six top five’s in the last seven GSC visits, including five finishes of second or better. During the previous event at Placerville in March the Chico native battled with the top few cars all race long before crossing the stripe in the fourth position.

More pictures and news on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com

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