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Photo by Graph X Designs
Jonathan Allard runs 5th in Tribute to GP to become 2-time King of California
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – July 26, 2008…Chico’ Jonathan Allard tallied a fifth place finish during the Golden State Challenge Series season ending event at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Saturday and it was good enough to secure the second King of California title of his career. With the championship Allard now joins Campbell’s Brent Kaeding and Fresno’s Steve Kent as the only drivers with multiple titles in GSC history.
With four races remaining in the Golden State Challenge Series season Allard possessed a 41 point lead and used a methodical approach the last couple weeks by not taking too many risks, but doing exactly what he needed to do to become a two-time King of California. “I’m glad we finally got this deal over because it’s been a tough last couple weeks with just driving smooth and clean and not really being as aggressive as we’d normally be,” Allard said on the front stretch in front of his home town crowd.
When Allard won the King of California title in 2006 he captured it with ease by winning seven main events, but this season was a bit different as he claimed one victory and used a strong amount of consistency to bring home the championship. “This title is all about my car owners Morrie & Katie Williams and my great team I have behind me with Ashley Smith, Bob-Oh, Shawn and everyone who helped us out this season. A few times it looked like we’d be headed for a tough night and these guys worked their tails off to get us back out and make up points each and every night,” the Chico driver said.
Going into the final weekend of racing with the Golden State Challenge Series Allard held on to a 31 point lead over Los Angeles racer Tyler Walker and knew that finishing around the top five both nights would be virtually good enough to bring home the title. With Walker winning on Friday and Allard running sixth, the lead was down to 21 heading into the Tribute to Gary Patterson which marked the final night of the GSC season. Allard drew a late number on Saturday but was able to cut a great lap to put the K & N Filters, JP’s Paint & Body No. 0 third fastest in the field.
The 31 year-old driver then charged from sixth to second in his heat race, before scoring a fifth place result in the dash to place him in the third row for the final main event of the GSC season. Allard drove a very smart and conservative feature race as he held the bottom of the speedway for much of it and after 30 laps of racing brought the Platinum Powder Coating, Sharp Insurance Maxim home in the fifth position. It was his 16th top five finish of the GSC season and the 21st top ten result in 22 races this year. “I really have to thank all of our sponsors who helped get us out to the track every weekend and also want to thank the fans for all their support because it really does mean a lot to myself and this team," Allard said.
This year’s Golden State Challenge Series was as competitive as it’s been the last handful of years with a number of top drivers competing on a near weekly basis as well as special entrants being on hand during select times. “This season was definitely tough as you had guys like Tim Kaeding, Tyler Walker, Bud Kaeding, Brent Kaeding, Mike Henry and more running every week and it really makes you step your game up,” Allard commented. “It’s a lot of fun to be able to run against drivers of that caliber every weekend and we’ll now move on and look forward to trying to run good and represent California this next month when we hit the road,” he concluded.
With the King of California title under his belt Allard will now look forward to getting back to really racing and trying to get some wins as the season progresses into a very busy stretch. It will all begin with this coming week as the Williams Motorsports team will make the haul back to the “Midwest Mecca of Mud” to compete in the 18th annual Knoxville Raceway 360 Nationals. Last year Allard was running second during his prelim night when contact knocked him out of the running and cost him a lot points that could have been used for an up front starting spot on Saturday.
Allard then came back on the final night of the 360 Nationals to transfer out of the B-main and make a strong charge from 24th to 10th in the short 25 lap feature. The Chico native will take to the Knoxville Raceway for his qualifying night at the 360 Nat’s this coming Friday and will look to run near the front as he competes on a half-mile track for the very first time this season. For fans in the area please stop by the Williams Motorsports rig as we’ll have T-shirts on sale as well as hand out cards to give away.
For more pictures, news and info on 2-time King of California Jonathan Allard please log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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Jonathan Allard will look for good results this coming weekend at the 18th annual Knoxville Raceway 360 Nationals. Photo by Johns Racing Photos
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