This message was edited on
February 26, 2007 at
02:51:38 PM by Gary Thomas
Season underway for Jonathan Allard
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, Ca - February 26, 2006... Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports took to the track on U.S. soil for the first time in ‘07 this past weekend at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway competing with the World of Outlaws Sprint Series. With 30 traveling teams in competition at the Thunderbowl, it made it extremely tough to even qualify for the A-main both nights and with it being Williams Motorsports first weekend sporting a new chassis, it made it an uphill battle.
In the off-season Jonathan and the team switched to J & J Chassis and the weekend in Tulare was a good tune-up for the Mini Gold Cup, which will be here in less than two weeks.
On Friday night 42 talented sprinters signed into the pits at the Thunderbowl and Jonathan’s first qualifying session with the J & J put him 20th quick. The World of Outlaws invert four in the heat races now so Jonathan was forced to come from behind the inversion in the heat race. A very cold night coupled with overnight rain made the track surface unbelievably fast and it made passing nearly impossible in the heats. Jonathan’s best shot to get a good finish was to get a nice start, and he did just that to settle into fourth. JA felt strong pressure early in the heat from Aussi Brooke Tatnell, but after about five laps Jonathan was able to find a nice groove and pull away to drive on and finish fourth in the Williams Motorsports, GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0.
Jonathan lined up in 19th for the 35 lap feature and with the track being just as fast as earlier in the night, it put a premium on horsepower and handling. JA went down a lap after about 16 circuits and on lap 23 he was tagged from behind and spun out. Jonathan ended up finishing 23rd but making the main event was a feat in itself. To put in perspective how difficult the night was, current WOO point leader Donny Schatz was forced to take a provisional and 20 time WOO champ Steve Kinser didn’t even make the feature.
Saturday night came and qualifying better was a key to get the night started off on the right foot. Jonathan came out early and turned a fastest lap of 13.215 which held on for 14th quick out of 41 cars.
The top 16 in qualifying make the inversion for the heat race’s and Jonathan lined up on the pole of heat two. The top two finishers in each heat race make the dash so finishing top two was crucial. Jonathan beat defending WOO rookie of the year Chad Kemenah into the first turn and took command of the heat. JA looked good early on but after about five laps, Friday winner Joey Saldana began to close in. Saldana hounded Jonathan for a couple laps before taking the lead with a few laps left. JA kept his cool and went on to score a second place finish and give himself a birth in the dash.
Jonathan pulled the number three pill to set himself up with an inside row two starting spot. The first lap proved disastrous however, as a malfunction near the front of the car while running fourth sent Jonathan sideways in front of the rest of the field. The other cars had nowhere to go and piled into Jonathan created major damage to the No. 0 machine. The Williams crew got the car put back together the best they could so Jonathan could take the green flag of the A-main. After completing a lap he pulled off the raceway and scored an official finish of 25th.
Prior to the dash incident the team seemed to have the J & J, Kistler powered machine going good, so the learning curve might not take very long at all with the new chassis.
The Golden State Challenge Series season kicks off in 11 days with the annual Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, weather permitting of course as most races in Chico are in the rainy months of March and April. Stay tuned to www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com for more info and updates on the Mini Gold Cup
Keep up with www.allardmotorsports.com for the latest news from Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports.
Photos courtesy John Meirhofer of www.johnsracingphotos.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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