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Photo's courtesy Matt Sublett of http://www.pbase.com/mmracephoto/
Jonathan Allard scores first career Antioch Speedway 410 sprint car win on Saturday night with Golden State Challenge Series/ Return visit to Tulare on deck this weekend
By Gary Thomas
Antioch, CA – April 5, 2010…Former two-time King of California Jonathan Allard had been close to reaching victory lane at the Antioch Speedway numerous times over the past handful of years and each occasion came up just shy, but that all changed this past Saturday night when he put together a dominating flag-to-flag effort to tally his first career 410 win at the track.
The last couple seasons had seen Allard score one win each year with the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series and so far in 2010 he has already doubled that in the first two weeks after also winning in Placerville the previous Saturday. "It feels nice to finally get a win at this place with GSC because we've been real close before in the past, but just hadn't been able to get it done," said Allard, who has now led every lap during both main events so far in 2010 with the series. "This car has been perfect the last couple weekends and has been really fun to drive so I can't say enough about my guys who have been doing a great job."
Last season Allard led the Golden State Challenge Series in fast-times, besting the field on nine separate occasions and despite a later draw on Saturday he continued his always strong qualifying prowess by stopping the clocks at 11.840 seconds to earn quick-time aboard the Williams Motorsports, K&N Filters, Sharp Insurance No. 0 sprinter. A fourth place finish in the heat race then transferred him into the dash where he drew a front row starting spot for the second week in a row, which he parlayed into an easy victory in the six-lap contest to earn the pole for the feature.
When the green flag waved in the 30-lap main event Allard jumped into the lead ahead of the always fast Kyle Larson and in the early stages would feel intense pressure from the 17-year-old phenom from Elk Grove. The two drivers put on a show for the top-spot over the first handful of laps and when traffic came into play on lap seven Allard was able to split a pair of lappers in turn one to stretch the lead out slightly heading down the backstretch. What looked like it was going to be a race-long fight for the lead never materialized however, as on that same lap Larson caught the wall and turned over while trying to avoid a spinning lapped car. Following that incident Allard would have his way with things up front the rest of the going and cruised off to net his 21st career Golden State Challenge Series victory.
It also marked the third career Antioch Speedway 410 win for car owner Morrie Williams, who also tasted victory in 1997 with Jimmy Carr at the wheel and in 2006 with Dennis Moore Jr. "They've done some nice things to this track the last couple years and it's become a pretty fun place to drive," said Allard. "It was tough what happened to Kyle early in the race because we've had some rough luck like that as well the past couple season's so we know how it feels, but he's a great driver and will be up front all year long. I also want to congratulate Evan Suggs for getting second and Brent Kaeding for running third tonight because those guys are going to be strong all year and it's never going to be easy to win out here."
Next up for Allard and Williams Motorsports will be this Saturday's Chris & Brian Faria Memorial at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare. It will be the third round of action for the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series and will also be the 33-year-old's first visit back to the 1/3 mile clay oval since a grinding crash during the World of Outlaw event in early March. "We're looking forward to getting back to Tulare this weekend," said the two-time King of California. "Even though the weekend didn't go like we wanted in March we always love running Tulare and it would be nice if we could get some redemption and make it three in a row with GSC on Saturday. There will be some fast guys wanting to change that though I'm sure so it should be a fun night and we hope everyone comes out to support the event."
Allard was the winner of the Faria Memorial in 2003 at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway as he held off the challenges of Easton's Tommy Tarlton for the victory that night while driving the Wright One Construction No. 35 mount. Last season "JA" scored a pair of third place efforts with GSC at the track aboard the Butler Built Performance, JP's Paint & Body No. 0 to mark his best finishes of the year at the Tulare County Fairgrounds facility. The front gate will open at 5pm this Saturday with Reserved Grandstand seats costing $18 and General Admission Bleacher tickets being just $15. Also on hand this weekend will be the USAC West Coast 360's and the Central California Modifieds to make for an action-packed night.
For more news on Chico, California's Jonathan Allard visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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Jonathan Allard and team in the pit area after the Chico driver claimed his 21st career GSC win and first ever at the Antioch Speedway on Saturday night. Allard also set fast-time and captured the dash, with a fourth place finish in his heat race the only thing keeping him from a clean sweep for the evening. Rounding out the top-5 in the feature were Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs, 13-time GSC champ Brent Kaeding, '04 GSC titlist Jason Statler and defending Silver Dollar Speedway champion Bobby McMahan.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
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