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Stephen Allard & 1m Racing score runner-up finish in Chico
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - April 22, 2007... Stephen Allard and 1m Racing have had a tough start to the ‘07 season, but it looks like things are beginning to look up following an extremely solid night of action at Silver Dollar Speedway Point Race #4. Stephen drove the 1m Rocket to a season best qualifying effort, as well as a season best finish in the 20 lap main event.
The previous Friday in Chico saw SA and the team run strong all night until getting upside down midway through the feature following contact with another competitor. Point Race #4 served as Chico Volkswagen night and expectations were high since the performance level for the team has been much improved since switching chassis manufacturers a couple weeks back.
25 cars showed up on Friday night and Stephen was the 14th driver to hit the track for qualifying. He cut a fastest lap of 12.489 aboard the Johnny’s Lock & Safe, Miller’s Glass, Cross Creek Trucking No. 1m which held up for seventh quick overall. Qualifying has been a bit rough for Stephen and 1m Racing this year, but the last two weeks have seen it improve and SA looks much more comfortable in the car as opposed to earlier in the season.
Last Friday saw Stephen catch a good break in his heat race when the driver in front of him jumped the start and moved him up to the front row. Well it happened once again in his heat race this week as outside front row starter Mason Moore was caught jumping and put to the back. This moved Stephen up to the front row and he jumped out to the lead as the green flag waved. Stephen handled the field for the whole eight laps and brought the Finley Farms, Hunt Magnetos, JP’s Paint & Body Rocket home in first place to score a heat race win for the second Friday in a row.
Fast qualifier Sean Becker pulled the number six pill for the inversion and with one of the faster cars not making it through the heats, it put Stephen on the pole of the scheduled 25 lap feature. The track wasn’t as rough this week for the main event which made for some good racing up front. Stephen fell into second at the waving of the green flag. He lost a spot to Sean Becker after a handful of laps, but kept his cool and ran solidly in third as the laps wore on. Midway through the race it was announced that the feature would be cut back to 20 laps as the 11 pm curfew loomed ahead.
The car began to come to Stephen and he closed in on second running Andy Forsberg as the race neared the end. SA was all over Forsberg and on lap 18 he made a beautiful pass down the back stretch to move the Chico Bail Bonds, Tom Rolfe Trucking, Platinum Powder Coating No. 1m into second. After 20 laps of hard racing Stephen brought home a great season-best second place finish.
The runner-up is also Stephen’s best finish since he and 1m Racing rejoined forces last July. The run is a big confidence booster for the former Silver Dollar Speedway track champion and it shouldn’t be too long before the 1m Racing team ends up in victory lane.
Next up for Stephen and 1m Racing will be Silver Dollar Speedway Points Race #5 next Friday. Stephen has moved up to eighth in the Silver Dollar Speedway point standings, 24 back of his brother and point leader Jonathan Allard. For more news and updates on the team log onto http://www.stephenallard.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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After scoring his best finish of the season, Stephen Allard will look to go one better next Friday in Chico. Photo's by Davy Thomas
A couple from www.johnsracingphotos.com taken a couple weeks ago
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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