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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
MSPA Open Wheel Driver of the year award puts Jonathan Allard in prestigious company
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – June 5, 2009…Since hooking up with car owner Morrie Williams in 2005 Chico, California's Jonathan Allard has seen his career skyrocket and last season put together possibly his finest year to date. With that in mind Allard was presented with the '08 MSPA Open Wheel Oval Track Driver of the Year at last months Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial, an award he captured by just a single vote, in what has been said to be one of the toughest categories the association votes on.
This is the 43rd year that the Motor Sports Press Association has given out the awards and they are only handed out in the categories where they believe performance warrants it. "Northern and Central California has an abundance of racing talent in almost every form of the sport that that can go wheel to wheel against any other racers in the country," said Tony Karis, MSPA president. "We appreciate the opportunity to celebrate their talent, which entertains millions of fans and enhances the sport of motor racing."
According to Bill Sessa, Vice-president/Journalism Motor Sports Press Association, "All of the drivers who have been honored by MSPA over the years are at the top of the sport. Winning the "oval track, open wheel" award is tougher than most because there is so much talent in midgets and sprint cars, including Northern California drivers who win in nationwide series. For many years, it has been our most competitive category and Jonathan Allard should definitely be proud of winning the award."
After joining his Oakhurst, CA based Williams Motorsports team in '05; Allard has grown to be one of the top sprint car drivers on the west coast over the last four years and is extremely happy to win the Nor Cal Open Wheel Oval Track Driver of the Year award. "It really is a big accomplishment and I couldn't be more excited to win this award," said Allard, who beat out a number of tough drivers on a ballot that included three series champions on it, including Civil War Series champ Sean Becker. "I owe a lot to Morrie & Katie Williams and my whole team who are just some of the best people around," Allard continued. "We had a really good year last season and I think we're off to another great start this year. We aren't getting as many wins as we want, but they'll start coming because this car has been fast every weekend."
Other competitors receiving Driver of the Year awards from the Motor Sports Press Association included Scott Pruett, Eric Holmes, Alexander Rossi, Team Infineon and Tommy McCarthy. Bill McAnally Racing received the Gordon Martin Award for long-lasting contributions to racing and Tommy Hunt of USAC was awarded with the Motor Sportsman of the Year.
The 2008 season saw Allard became just the 3rd driver to capture multiple championships in the 23 year history of the Golden State Challenge Series. In fact, when taking the now defunct Northern Auto Racing Club into consideration and putting the two 410 organizations together, Allard is just the 5th driver since 1975 to win multiple titles among the two series. The other four drivers in that category happen to be Brent Kaeding, Leroy Van Connet, Steve Kent and Tim Green.
In addition to that accomplishment last year, Allard also brought home an impressive third place finish in the prestigious World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series sanctioned 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway. The 32 year-old driver was also strong during his prelim night at the Gold Cup, having qualified second fastest out of a 52 car field and finishing second in the main event to Craig Dollansky.
The Chico native also picked up a big victory during the 17th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals at SDS, where he started 13th on the grid and charged to victory to beat stacked field of 75 cars. Allard also claimed victory last season during a prelim night at the Dirt Cup in Washington, finished 10th at the Knoxville Raceway 360 Nationals and also scored a trio of wins in New Zealand and a number of top fives, including a fifth place finish during the final night of the $50,000 Sprint Car International at the Parramatta City Raceway in Sydney, Australia.
In 2009 Allard has come back as strong as ever with him currently leading the point standings with the Golden State Challenge Series as he searches for his third career series title, which would make him just the second driver to reach at least three King of California championships. He is currently tied with Fresno's Steve Kent for the second most career titles in GSC history. Allard also picked up his fourth career victory at the prestigious Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial in May, tying him with Brent Kaeding for the most wins in the event.
For Allard it has been a fun season thus far as he's been locked in an entertaining point battle with former NASCAR driver Tyler Walker for much of the year. "It's been a lot of fun running with Tyler every week and then you add in guys like Brent Kaeding, Tim Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Kyle Larson, Jason Statler, Evan Suggs, Kyle Hirst and others and it makes it pretty tough on a weekly basis," Allard said. "The crowds have been good this year and I think the fans are getting their monies worth because all the races have been competitive and they're seeing some of the best sprint car drivers around."
As the month of June begins another big race Allard has had success at is fast approaching with the 38th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup set to kick off June 18 at the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington. "Dirt Cup is always a race I have marked on my calendar," he stated. "We've been fortunate to win it a couple times and almost won it for a third time in '07, but ended up taking second after leading all but the final five or so laps. We definitely will be giving it our all this year and just can't wait to get to Skagit," Allard concluded.
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Jonathan Allard being presented the 2008 MSPA Open Wheel Oval Track Driver of the Year award by Steve Cox of Graph X Designs at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. Later in the night Allard would go on to make a last lap pass to score his fourth career victory in the event, tying Brent Kaeding for most all-time wins at the Bradway.
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