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Top 5 in Antioch highlights weekend for Jonathan Allard
By Gary Thomas
April 9, 2007... Chico’s Jonathan Allard competed in a pair of events over the weekend at two different tracks and in two distinct regions of the state of California. On Friday evening it was a night of action at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and on Saturday it was on down to the Antioch Speedway in Antioch, CA.
On Friday Jonathan was fourth out in qualifying aboard the Williams Motorsports, Kistler powered, J & J and he turned a fastest lap of 12.911, placing the No. 0 12th quick overall out of 30 cars. JA lined up on the outside of the second row in the fourth and final heat race, and moved up to second by lap two. He then closed in on leader Shawn Wright and gave him a couple looks, but couldn’t get by and settled for a second place finish to transfer the GT Trends, K & N Filters, Red Line Oil No. 0 into the night’s 25 lap main event.
The night was running long and officials decided to cut the laps for the main event back to 20 in an attempt to get all the classes done by the state mandated 11 pm curfew. Jonathan started on the outside of the fourth row and had to make quick movement with the limited amount of laps. JA was on the hammer right from the get go and was up to third within two laps. On lap five he biked in turn three, which allowed Bradon Wimmer to get by, but a red flag on lap seven for second running Matt Shelton, moved the Weld Racing, Graph X Designs, Chris Jones Racing, BR Motorsports No. 0 back up to third. Jonathan made a great move on the restart to drive under Wimmer and claim second. A spin by Willie Croft on lap nine brought out a caution and put Jonathan on the back bumper of leader Sean Becker. As the green flag came back out Wimmer drove to the inside of Jonathan and as the pair raced into turn three, contact ensued which sent both of them flipping off turn three. It put an end to a promising night and finished with the Williams Motorsports 0 being scored in the 14th position.
Saturday brought Golden State Challenge Series Round #7 at the Antioch Speedway and Jonathan came into the night second in points, 10 behind Sean Becker.
Jonathan began the night be being the very last driver to hit the track for qualifying and he turned a 12.098 to place the Spy Optic, Bell Helmets, FK Rod Ends, Matt & Glass Race Car Bodies No. 0 fifth quick out of 25 cars. He then lined up on the inside of the third row in the second heat race. The Williams crew had the 0 machine flyin’ and Jonathan was the only driver in the heats who was able to make passes. After carving his way from sixth he was on the rear of the leader as the white flag was unveiled from starter Willie Williams. JA utilized a picture perfect slide job in turn three on the final lap to steal the win away from youngster Evan Suggs and gain five points towards the championship. The crowd gave its approval with the loudest roar of the night as Jonathan and Evan exited the track.
Jonathan started third in the six lap dash and moved to second within the first set of corners. He gave leader Ronnie Day all he could handle but settled for a second place finish to give himself an outside front row starting spot for the 30 lap feature. The track for the feature became very tough which is what Antioch is known for. It took three starts for the feature to get underway and the one that stuck saw Jonathan fall to third after his attempt to go high was blocked in turn one, and allowed Brent Kaeding to take advantage and sneak into second. Around lap five Jonathan lost a spot to Sean Becker and JA ran in fourth for pretty much the remainder of the race. The last couple laps saw Jonathan lose one more spot however, after checking up for a slower car and he would drive on to finish fifth in the Platinum Powder Coating, Sharp Insurance, JP’s Paint & Body, Butler Built Performance No. 0.
It was a weekend that saw a bit of everything and ended with track conditions being very difficult on Saturday. Jonathan now sits third in the Golden State Challenge Series point standings, four behind second running Brent Kaeding and 12 behind leader Sean Becker.
This coming weekend will see Jonathan and Williams Motorsports compete at Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night for Round #3 of the Feather Falls Casino point series in Chico. On Saturday it will off to the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville for Golden State Challenge Series Round #8. The Santa Cruz County Fairground track has reportedly been widened so it will be interesting to see how it is for the night of action featuring the GSC 410 winged sprinters.
Last year the Golden State Challenge Series competed at Ocean Speedway twice. In the first event Jonathan finished a close second to Robert Ballou and in the second one he led 16 laps before getting upside down while battling Jason Statler for the top spot.
For more news and info on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports log onto www.allardmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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