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Photos by Johns Racing Photos
Jonathan Allard scores runner-up finish in Placerville
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – May 31, 2008…Returning to California after a weekend away Chico’s Jonathan Allard came back to turn in another consistent performance at the Placerville Speedway with a runner-up finish in the main event on Saturday night. The result marked Allard’s sixth finish of second or better in his last eight visits to the high-banked bullring.
A beautiful day greeted competitors to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds track and a total of 23 teams were in attendance for the 14th race of the Golden State Challenge Series season. The night of racing was sponsored by NMI Industrial Contractors and the main event paid a nice $3,900 to win.
After timing in third quickest Allard brought home finishes of third in his heat race and fourth in the dash to give him a second row starting birth in the 30 lap feature. The Placerville Speedway had the trademark cushion up top and was very racy during the night, but a number of cautions and red flag periods slowed the pace of the race and made it difficult to get into any kind of a rhythm.
Allard settled into third at the waving of the green flag and after a few laps began to apply some heat to Mike Henry. Traffic did come into play for a little bit at one point, which allowed the top three to put on a good show navigating through it, but the longest any green flag run lasted during the main event was only six laps and it made things difficult to do anything with the leaders.
Following several laps of running close to Henry for second Allard was able to power to the low side in turn four on lap 22 and complete the pass to put the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0 into the runner-up spot. After making the pass however, a caution & a couple of reds appeared and never allowed him to get into traffic to anything with leader Tim Kaeding.
With the fast moving Kaeding out front Allard continued on in second and tried to get a run down low on the final two restarts, but couldn’t get the traction and settled for a second place finish at the checkered. “My guys did a great job tonight and with Tim out front we really needed some traffic to make something happen,” Allard said. “I want to thank all the fans for coming out tonight and it’s neat to come back to Placerville and see all the support.”
Allard also competed with the Golden State Challenge Series on Friday night at the Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway where he brought home a fourth place finish in the main event. During the 30 lap contest the Chico driver started in the third position, but was able to claim the lead from Tyler Walker in turn two before a lap had ever been completed. “JA” led for three laps until Walker got back by to retake the top spot.
The well prepared track saw a couple different grooves and Allard returned the favor on the sixth lap to put the Red Line Oil, Sharp Insurance Maxim back out in front. He would lead until a caution came out on lap eight and then under yellow was put back to second for the restart as it was determined that a lap hadn’t been completed. The rest of the race saw him battle within the top five and at one point had fallen back to fifth, but was able to regroup and get by brother Stephen on the very last corner to cross the stripe in fourth.
Following the weekend of racing on the two bullring tracks Allard continues to sit atop the Golden State Challenge Series standings and will go into next weekend holding a 46 point advantage over Tyler Walker. The next event for the traveling 410 series will be this coming Saturday night at the Petaluma Speedway clay oval. Allard has won three of the last five GSC main events at the fast 3/8 mile track, including this event last season.
During the first GSC visit to Petaluma this season Allard started the feature in eighth and had charged to second in 18 laps, before he and leader Tyler Walker were crashed out while battling in traffic. On Friday night “JA” is scheduled to be in action at his home track of Silver Dollar Speedway for the 10th point race in the Feather Falls Casino weekly season. He currently sits in a tie for third in the track standings with youngster Mason Moore.
For more news and info on current Golden State Challenge Series point leader Jonathan Allard log onto our website located at http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports in victory lane during the June Golden State Challenge Series stop in Petaluma last season
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