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Jonathan Allard Wins Opening Night at Silver Dollar SpeedwayBy: Troy Hennig
March 30, 2007
(Chico, CA 3-30-07)…Chico's hometown boy Jonathan Allard scored the opening night win during the Feather Falls Casino / Hoosier Tire / Coors racing Friday night championship series. Allard and his Morrie Williams team pocketed the $2,000 for the win. Circle Race Wheels was the event sponsor and helped add to the purse. In victory lane Allard thanked his sponsors and car owners but added a special thanks for his mom who flew in from Florida to watch the race. This marked the second win of the year at Chico for the GT Trends #0. They won the opening night of Mini Gold Cup earlier this month.
Matt Streeter, driving the Orth family sprint car #24, won an exciting 20-lap wingless main event. Streeter led the race for all 20 laps but was seriously challenged by BJ Martin and Billy Wallace throughout the race. Streeter, who has experience in midgets and sprint, is a talented guy who looks strong in the Orth owned sprinter.
Mike Sohnrey was the class of the field in the dirt-modified division. Only eight cars attended the nights racing, however, the main event was action packed with five drivers within a few car lengths most of the race. The dirt modifieds always put on a good show and tonight was no exception. Chico's Mark Abouzeid moved into the second spot near the end of the race. Abouzeid and Richard Papenhausen raced hard all night. Papenhausen secured the third place finish at the checkered. Joe Flower led the first half of the race and ended up finishing fourth. Scott Lenz came home in the fifth position. All in the entire main event was a very exciting race.
Allard lined up with Brandon Wimmer on the front row of the 25-lap winged sprint main event. Allard took the early lead over Wimmer. Both drivers have spent time on the road with the Outlaws and it's a pleasure to have that kind of talent racing at Chico on a weekly basis. Following those two were defending track champion Andy Forsberg and Grass Valley's Brad Sweet. On lap four the first yellow was brought out when rookie driver Mason Moore spun in turn two. He also spun in the same spot on lap seven and was disqualified from the race. It was a tough finish to what had been an impressive beginning. Moore qualified fifth quick out of 27 sprint cars.
On lap 10 the race was halted when Eddy Lewis went for a nasty tumble down the backstretch and into turn three. Lewis, who had a tough wreck at Mini Gold Cup, was uninjured but the car was trashed. Hopefully the Ashley Furniture #7x can get some better luck in future races. The race continued with Allard as the leader. On lap 16 Wimmer bounced through turns one and two allowing Sweet to drive by. Tonight's track was extremely fast and filled with various ruts. On lap 17 Robert Stice had a flat tire and stopped in turn three. Also during the lap, Stephen Allard and Herman Klein locked nerf bar with front bumper and coasted into the infield. They were untangled and Stephen continued on.
On the final restart Allard led Sweet and Forsberg to the stripe. It took about five laps for the leaders to catch the back of the field. Each time previous, Allard had maneuvered the slower cars with ease. This time things were different. After receiving the white flag, Allard got pinched down to the inside of the speedway going into turn one. This was Sweet's chance. Sweet drove the GP Development #6 into turn one running the cushion for all it's worth. Sweet drove by Allard for the lead coming out of turn two and seemed to make the pass for the win. However, behind those two, Sean Becker hit one of the ruts going into turn one and flipped the #35m on its lid. The red flag quickly waived and the race was stopped. Scoring went back to the previous lap and gave the lead back to Allard. The final two laps saw Allard pull away and secure the win. Sweet took home second. Wimmer nipped Forsberg at the line for third. Jason Statler in the Tom Rolfe Trucking / DF Rios Construction #10 was fifth. Statler is an amazing individual. He once again charged hard and passed eight cars on his way to a fifth place finish. Yet, the hardest charger during the night in my book was Matt Shelton. Shelton started dead last in twentieth spot and finished eighth. Nice job by the Chico resident.
Matt Streeter started on the outside of the front row and took the lead away from Justin Funkhouser at the start of the wingless feature. B.J. Martin moved into the third spot while Billy Wallace held onto the fourth spot. The race continued until lap six when Cody Smith got upside down in turn two. As the leaders approached the wreck, Streeter missed but second and third place drivers, Funkhouser and Martin, both locked wheels and hit Smith. Funkhouser got the worse of it and was left with a left rear flat. He went to the work area and had to restart last. Martin was able to continue. Streeter was still leading when the next red came out for Nathan Johnson a few laps later. Also stopping was RC Smith, Cody's older brother. On lap 15 Funkhouser stopped off turn three with front end damage and needed to be towed off. The final five laps were very exciting with Martin and Wallace trying to run the top of the racetrack and pass Streeter who was driving the bottom to perfection. In the end Streeter was too much for everyone else and got the win. Martin drove a fantastic race to finish second. Wallace was exciting in his third place finish. Jay Youngman finished fourth. Doug Butterfield finished fifth.
Shain Matthews won the 12-lap B main event for the winged sprint cars. Stephen Allard finished second. Jeff Delte was third. Mason Moore and Matt Shelton grabbed the final two transferring spots.
Joe Flower won the only dirt modified heat race.
BJ Martin started the night off by winning heat one in the wingless division. Billy Wallace took home the win in heat two. RC Smith won the third and final heat race.
Robbie Whitchurch held off Brandon Wimmer to win heat one. Jason Statler powered to the second heat race win. Johnny Gray took the third heat race.
Andy Gregg started the night off by turning the fastest lap in qualifying with a 12.246.
Upcoming race on April 6, it will be Ashley Furniture Night at the races. They will give away a free bed to one lucky fan. We will also celebrate Easter with an Easter egg hunt to take place on the infield. Children 11 and under will get in free to the races on this night also.
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Results
Sprint Cars
Fast Time: Andy Gregg: 12.246
Heat 1: Robbie Whitchurch, Brandon Wimmer, Brett Miller, Herman Klein, Gregg
Heat 2: Jason Statler, Kevin Sharrah, Korey Lovell, Andy Forsberg, Eddy Lewis
Heat 3: Johnny Gray, Robert, Stice, Jonathan Allard, Sean Becker, Brad Sweet
B Main: Shain Matthews, Stephen Allard, Jeff Delte, Mason Moore, Matt Shelton, Jim Richardson, Jeff Flure, Zack Mason, Zack West, Clint Wilson, David Tarter, Gary Paulson
A Main: Allard, Sweet, Wimmer, Forsberg, Statler, Lovell, Miller, Shelton, Whitchurch, Matthews, Gray, Stice, Gregg, Becker, S. Allard
Dirt Modified
Heat 1: Joe Flower, Scott Lenz, Mike Sohnrey, Richard Papenhausen, Mark Abouzeid
A Main: Sohnrey, Abouzeid, Papenhausen, Flower, Lenz, Chris Compton, Darin Ruley, George Magenheimer
Wingless Sprints
Heat 1: BJ Martin, Justin Funkhouser, Cody Myers, Lucas Nerlove, Tony Richards
Heat 2: Billy Wallace, Matt Streeter, Jay Youngman, Doug Butterfield, Brandon Davis
Heat 3: RC Smith, Kyle Hirst, Jimmy Steward, Cody Smith, Mason Myers
A Main: Streeter, Martin, Wallace, Youngman, Butterfield, C. Myers, Davis, Brett Youngman, Nerlove, Jim Neher, Michael Makemson, Mason Myers, Steward, Funkhouser.
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