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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Jonathan Allard runs 5th at Petaluma Speedway after engine problem takes away front row starting spot Friday in Chico
By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA – August 3, 2009…So far in 2009 Chico, CA's Jonathan Allard has been a mark of consistency and it continued this past Saturday at the Petaluma Speedway by scoring his Golden State Challenge Series leading 15th top-five finish of the season.
The result wasn't quite strong enough to help in the GSC point chase however, as current series leader Tyler Walker scored his eighth victory of the season to stretch the gap to 16 markers with just two races left. "It wasn't the kind of weekend we were hoping for, but sometimes you have that and all you can do is try to come back next week and get 'em," Allard said. "I have to congratulate Tyler and those guys though because they're doing a great job."
The weekend started out on Friday at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico where Allard dominated his heat race and was set to start from the outside of the front row in the 25 lap feature. As he idled around the track during A-main warm ups though, it was obvious something had broken in the engine and he was unfortunately forced to pull back into the pit area and call it a night.
After swapping engines the Williams Motorsports team made the tow to Petaluma on Saturday for the 22nd round of action with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series. The two-time King of California qualified fourth fastest to begin the evening and then scored finishes of fourth in both the heat and the dash. Starting on the outside of row two in the main event Allard settled into fourth at the waving of the green flag aboard the K&N Filters, Red Line Oil No. 0 sprinter.
A very fast and hooked-up track made passing chances very tough to come by and "JA" spent much of the race hounding Evan Suggs for third, before slipping a bit off turn two and allowing Kyle Larson the chance to take over fourth on lap 21. Allard would drive the remaining nine laps smoothly in position and cross the checkered flag in fifth. "The track was pretty tough tonight and just didn't get as racy during the main event as it usually does here," the Chico driver said. "Everyone was pretty much the same speed, but I just got jammed up a bit there in traffic late in the race and Kyle did a good job to make the pass off the corner."
The Golden State Challenge King of California Series will now head for its penultimate event of the season this Saturday night at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. Going into it Allard will try everything possible to help shorten the 16 point deficit between himself and Walker, while at the same time trying to hold off Brent Kaeding who sits just two digits back in third. "I have to give big thanks to my whole team for everything they've done this year," Allard said. "This car has been consistently fast night-in-night-out and that's really all you can ask for as a driver."
So far in his career Allard has yet to win a 410 sprint car main event at the Ocean Speedway, although he has been extremely close the last couple seasons. In the April GSC event this year he led 29 laps in the feature and looked to be on way to victory, until Tyler Walker was able to make a last lap pass to steal the win away. In late May "JA" then charged to a third place finish after starting from the fifth row. "We've been gaining ground in Watsonville the last couple seasons and I have felt more comfortable at the track than I ever have the last few times we've raced there," he commented. "We'd really like to get another win before the GSC season ends so we'll be trying hard on Saturday."
After this Saturday's action Allard and the Williams Motorsports hauler will then head back to the Midwest for the 49th annual Knoxville Nationals at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, which begins on Wednesday night August 12.
More news on Chico's Jonathan Allard can be found at http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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Jonathan Allard scored a fifth place finish on Saturday night at the Petaluma Speedway to maintain second place in the Golden State Challenge Series standings. Photo by http://www.sprintcarworld.co.nz/default.asp
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