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Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
Stephen Allard tallies podium finish at Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational after starting from last row
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – September 15, 2009…Making his first start in a month Chico, CA's Stephen Allard returned to his home track of Silver Dollar Speedway this past Wednesday and utilized some great driving early on in the main event and some veteran experience late to bring home a third place finish after starting from the 22nd position during the annual Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational.
The result marked Allard's third podium finish of the season with the California Sprint Car Civil War Series and came in what was also his first appearance at the Silver Dollar Speedway since Memorial Day weekend. "It's really cool to get my team a good finish tonight and I just can't thank them enough for putting in all the hard work this season," Allard said. "The track was pretty tough tonight and I tried to be as easy as possible on my tires so thankfully they held up and we're standing here on the front stretch."
The evening didn't get off to the kind of start that Allard and the Double-D Motorsports team were hoping for though, as the former two-time Silver Dollar Speedway track champion fought the car around the curb of the surface that had developed and his fastest lap was good enough for just 26th quick out of 32 cars. A fifth place finish in the heat race then put him into the b-main where he lined-up from the 10th spot and scored sixth at the checkered, which was good enough to earn the final transfer into the feature.
Starting dead-last on the grid Allard fought not only very slick track conditions early on, but also numerous yellows and reds that slowed the pace to a near crawl. In-between the stoppages though the Chico driver was able to pick off cars and steadily begin to make his way forward through the pack. With rubber quickly developing on the speedway, race officials decided to cut the amount of laps in the main event back to 20 as multiple cars had already fallen victim to flat tires. With the event winding down Allard had placed himself into the third position and was forced to hold off the strong challenges of Visalia's Stephen Tiner and Elk Grove's Kyle Larson with just a handful of laps remaining.
Tiner was able to get to the outside of Allard a few times, but each occasion saw the driver of the Double-D Motorports, JP's Paint & Body, Medi-Pro Billing No. 4 sprinter get drive off the bottom of the surface and stay ahead. The 37 year-old veteran would charge away from Tiner on the final circuit and cross the checkered in third to finish off a solid end to the night. "I got by a lot of guys early on, but once the rubber laid down we had to pretty much follow whoever was in front of us like most everyone did," Allard said.
The finish helped Allard maintain fourth in the Civil War 360 Series standings as he's competed in 10 of the 11 events held so far in 2009. "We've been really good each and every night and just wish we could run more with this car," he said. "We've had some tough luck here and there, but we've been consistently up front so that's definitely a good thing. I want to thank Dorothy Lee and all our sponsors for helping out because without them we couldn't be doing this."
For more on two-time Silver Dollar Speedway track champion Stephen Allard visit http://www.stephenallard.com
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Chico's Stephen Allard made some nifty moves early on and conserved his tires late in the going to carve his way from 22nd to third during this past Wednesday's Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational at the Silver Dollar Speedway. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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