This message was edited on
October 20, 2008 at
12:42:21 PM by Gary Thomas
Photos by http://www.JohnsRacingPhotos.com
Jonathan Allard finishes WOO weekend with 8th place run at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – October 20, 2008…Two-time King of California Jonathan Allard continued his solid late season run this past weekend by tallying a pair of top 10 finishes with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Series and capped the double-header with an eighth place effort at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday.
The final California visit of the season for the world’s best winged sprint car drivers began with the fourth ever event for the series at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville on Friday evening where a 44 car field showed up for competition. With the large and talented field on hand it made qualifying extra important and Allard’s lap in the session placed him 17th overall, which unfortunately missed the heat race inversion by just one spot.
Allard then lined-up in the third row of his heat race and made a nice move to get under Bud Kaeding early on to put the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0 into the fifth & final transfer spot, where he would go on and finish. The track surface had been extremely fast all night long, but by main event time it had widened out and made for some great racing on the tight bullring. Starting 17th Allard put on a methodical charge early on as he got under Tyler Walker & a couple others for position and continued to move forward as the race went on.
As the 40 lap event wound down Allard was into the top 10 and battling Paul McMahan for the seventh position when a problem with the throttle linkage on the No. 0 machine forced him to take evasive action to not hit McMahan, which resulted in him spinning sideways onto the infield, but he was able to keep going and only lost a couple of spots. At the checkered flag Allard crossed the line in 10th to cap off a good run in the main event. “We were really good in the feature, probably the best I’ve ever felt at Watsonville and definitely think we would have had a shot at a top five if the problem with the throttle didn’t happen,” Allard said.
Following Friday’s event Allard and the rest of the competitors headed down to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway for the first race at the track since June 28. Like the previous night a 44 car Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Series field was on hand to battle for the $10,000 top prize. Allard was able to cut a great lap in qualifying to begin the night and place the Weld Racing, Red Line Oil, Butler Built No. 0, seventh fastest overall. A third place finish in his heat race then transferred him into the main event where he started from the 14th position.
Much like Friday’s event the track had widened out considerably for the feature and created multiple lanes for drivers to work with. Allard was quick right from the get go and got by a few cars to put himself into the top 10 in the first part of the 35 lap contest. During the middle parts of the race he was locked in an entertaining battle with Jason Meyers, Tim Kaeding, Brooke Tatnell and multiple others as they diced it up on the racy 1/3 mile clay oval. Allard then had near disaster when he caught the wall, but made a great save and continued on, losing a few spots in the process however. The Chico driver then made a late race charge as he moved a little higher on the track and got by Tommy Tarlton for eighth with just a couple laps left and set his sights on seventh place Roger Crockett.
Allard however, got a bit loose coming to white flag and it allowed Tarlton the chance to get back by, but the driver of the Williams Motorsports sprinter charged into turns one and two extremely hard and was able to gas the No. 0 machine to the high side of turn three and rail Tarlton for the eighth spot coming off turn four to the checkered. “It was really a good weekend for us and Ashley and the team had the car great all weekend,” Allard said. “It could have even been better, but we missed a front row starting spot in our heat race by one on Friday and two tonight and that makes it tough because you really need to get a spot in the dash to have a chance at winning one of these things.”
15th annual Trophy Cup up next:
Using the momentum from the last month ½ Allard and Williams Motorsports will finish off the Northern California season this weekend with the 15th annual Trophy Cup at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway. The 32 year-old driver has been one of the faster cars at the event over the last few seasons, but for various reasons hasn’t been able to take home the Cup title. “The Trophy Cup is one if the biggest races out here and we have been really quick at it, but with the kind of format it uses, it really brings a lot of luck into the equation. Whenever you have to pass cars and come from the rear you’re always going to be in a position where you’re in packs of race cars and a lot of the time that can spell disaster if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Allard commented.
Last season Allard charged from 19th to seventh in the 40 lap main event on Saturday night at the Trophy Cup and ended the overall weekend seventh in points out of 82 cars. The previous season saw him start at the rear and charge forward, but ended the main event upside down after the infamous turn one rut at the Thunderbowl reared its ugly head multiple times during that weekend. The year before that was possibly his best shot to take home the title when he set fast time, finished second in his heat and then moved from 12th to 5th in the feature on opening night, only to have two drivers wreck in front of him, resulting in the 0 sprinter getting upside down.
Coming back on Saturday he still had a shot, but the opening lap in his heat race saw a driver spin directly in front of him, which took out the front end out of Allard’s car, virtually taking away any chance at the title as he finished last in the heat race. The main event however, then saw him carve his way from the fourth row to second and it was good enough to give him a third place finish in the overall weekend points. “It would mean a lot to this team if we could bring home the Trophy Cup this weekend,” Allard said. “We’ve been close before and this weekend will be a lot of fun and will be really competitive with a lot of great drivers on hand,” he concluded.
More news and info on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports can be found at http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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After an 8th place finish with the World of Outlaws this past Saturday, Chico's Jonathan Allard will head back to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway this weekend looking to pick up the $15,000 top prize at the annual Trophy Cup. The action will kick off on Thursday night with the opening prelim.
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