|
Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Runner-up finish on Friday highlights GSC double-header weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway for Jonathan Allard
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – July 27, 2009…With the Golden State Challenge Series season winding down Chico, CA's Jonathan Allard scored two more top-five finishes over the weekend and will go into this coming Saturday night sitting just seven points behind current leader Tyler Walker in the fight for the King of California title.
This past Friday's opening night at Silver Dollar Speedway started off well for the Williams Motorsports, Platinum Powder Coating, JP's Paint & Body No. 0 as Allard set his series leading eighth fast time of the season and brought home a fourth place finish in his heat race to transfer out. The dash draw didn't go so well however, as the 32 year-old driver got the dreaded eight pill to give him the final starting position in the dash.
Allard was able to move up to sixth by the finish of the dash and it gave him an outside row three starting spot for the 30 lap main event. "JA" would settle into fourth after a while and then make the move under Evan Suggs for third, before charging under Kyle Larson for second with just over 10 laps remaining in the race. He then closed in on leader Tyler Walker, but could never get the opening he needed to make a move and crossed the checkered in second.
It marked Walker's seventh main event win with the Golden State Challenge Series this season and was the fifth time Allard has been runner-up in those seven races. "It's been a real consistent season for us and we would have liked to get a win tonight, but Tyler was really good and didn't make a mistake," Allard said. "I just have to get better at my pill draws because when you get a driver like Tyler up front he's gonna be pretty tough to pass. It's been a fun year and this championship battle has been pretty awesome. When you run against guys like Tyler Walker and Brent Kaeding you know you're competing with the best and that's what makes this series so great."
Allard came back on Saturday for the 26th annual Tribute to GP and fought through ignition problems in hot laps to turn the 12th quickest lap in qualifying aboard the K&N Filters, Red Line Oil, Sharp Insurance No. 0. A runner-up finish in his heat race and a sixth place effort in the dash for the second night in a row put him on the outside of row three for the feature. Early in the going Allard would run among the top five until contact following an open red flag period broke the right front shock with just six laps down.
With the surface being very rough in the high-groove Allard had trouble keeping the car settled down to the track with the shock issue, but made some great saves when it looked like he would be heading off the track, due to the car bouncing around so violently through the ruts. The two-time King of California wrestled the car around the speedway over the remaining distance and scored a fifth place finish at the line for the second year in a row at the Tribute to Gary Patterson.
After the weekend of racing Allard moved up one position in the Golden State Challenge Series standings to second and goes into this Saturday's event at the Petaluma Speedway seven points behind new leader Tyler Walker. The season's first event at the Sonoma-Marin County Fairgrounds facility saw Allard make a late charge in the main event to finish a very close second to Walker at the stripe after battling through heavy traffic over the final few laps.
The 3/8 mile clay oval in fact has been very good for Allard with that finish marking his fourth result of second or better in eight GSC starts at the track since 2005. His three wins in that time span is also tops of any driver and he'll look to make it number four this weekend to try and help move in on Walker's point lead. "Petaluma has been a pretty strong track for us and it's usually really racy so that makes it fun," Allard said. "We always seem to be fast there and hopefully we can have some luck come our way and get a victory this weekend."
More news on Chico's Jonathan Allard can be found at http://www.allardmotorsports.com
---------------------
With just three nights remaining in the Golden State Challenge Series season Chico's Jonathan Allard will go into this Saturday's event at the Petaluma Speedway looking to close in on Tyler Walker's seven point advantage in the standings. "JA" has won three main events at the 3/8 mile clay oval since the series returned to the track in 2005.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
|
