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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Jonathan Allard battles for top 5 in Tulare
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – April 11, 2009…Dropping back a couple of spots early in the feature on Saturday night at the Thunderbowl Raceway, Chico's Jonathan Allard fought back and was able to bring home a fifth place finish with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series.
The event at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday marked the third round of competition for the traveling Golden State Challenge Series and it saw a shorter than usual 19 car field on hand. A well prepared surface was put together and Allard kicked off the event by qualifying fifth fastest.
Starting fourth in the heat race Allard charged to the outside of the speedway and got side by side with leader Tommy Tarlton heading down the back stretch on the start, but entering turn three Tarlton moved up slightly, making contact with the left front on the Williams Motorsports No. 0. The two-time & defending King of California stopped to bring out a caution and after pitting to get the damage fixed he would go on to bring home a fourth place finish at the checkered.
Allard then scored a fifth place finish in the dash to give him a third row starting spot in the main event. At the waving of the Willie Williams green flag "JA" searched around the track to find the right line and like most competitors during the feature found the bottom to be the preferred groove. The lone caution of the main event came out on lap 10 and it saw the K&N Filters, Red Line Oil, Sharp Insurance No. 0 sprinter sitting in the seventh position.
When racing got back underway Allard seemed to kick it up a notch and just after the midway point was able to make passes of both Tyler Walker and Brent Kaeding to move into fifth. He then quickly closed in on fourth place Andy Gregg and third running Kyle Larson. The 32 year-old driver hounded Gregg for the remaining laps, but couldn't get an opening and settled for a fifth place finish after 30 laps of racing on the Thunderbowl Raceway clay.
Up next for Allard will be this coming Saturday's Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series event at the Petaluma Speedway. It will be the fourth round of action for the traveling 410 sprint car series and comes at a track that he has been very successful at in recent years. In fact Allard has won three of the last six events held at the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval.
Last season's April GSC event in Petaluma saw him charge from eighth to second, before he was collected in an accident between the leader and a lapped car. At the second Petaluma race last year he finished fifth in the main event after transferring out of the b-main. The Sonoma-Marin County Fairgrounds track was also the site of Allard's debut driving the Williams Motorsports sprinter in April of 2005.
More news and info on two-time King of California Jonathan Allard can be found at http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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After a fifth place finish in Tulare Jonathan Allard will head to Petaluma Speedway looking to break into victory lane for the first time this year with the Golden State Challenge Series. Allard swept the Petaluma GSC events in 2006 and also won a main event with the series at the track in June of '07. Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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