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Jonathan Allard scores podium finish at Pombo/Sargent Classic
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - April 30, 2007... Chico’s Jonathan Allard came into the Pombo/Sargent Classic fresh off a win Friday night in Chico and kept the momentum going in Tulare with his best Golden State Challenge Series finish since the season opening Mini Gold Cup in March. Williams Motorsports brought out a new ‘07 Maxim Chassis on Friday night in Chico and on Saturday Jonathan drove it to his best Thunderbowl Raceway finish of the year at the Pombo/Sargent Classic. The defending King of California gained two points on GSC point leader Sean Becker and he was also one of the few drivers up front able to make a pass as track conditions were very tough during the main event.
Jonathan began the night by qualifying sixth aboard the Williams Motorsports, GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0 with a lap of 13.769 around the 1/3 mile clay oval. He then lined up on the inside of row three in the second heat race. JA was on the move early and he made his way up to second by lap two. He closed in on leader Craig Stidham and ran close to the No. 3 car the rest of the way, but he couldn’t get by and brought the Sharp Insurance, Red Line Oil, Weld Racing, Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim home in the runner-up position.
The six lap dash saw Jonathan start from the sixth position and he settled into fifth after a couple laps. JA then put some heavy pressure to the back of Jason Statler in the battle for fourth. Jonathan was up on the wheel as he drove the Chris Jones Racing, Graph X Designs, Spy Otic No. 0 to the limit and put on an exciting show as he tried to get by the No. 10 car. Jonathan was diamonding the corners in turns one and two to get huge momentum off turn two and he then looked to the outside of Statler in three and four on the final lap, but couldn’t get the bite and had to settle for a fifth place finish.
With the fifth place finish in the dash it put Jonathan on inside of the third row for the 30 lap Pombo/Sargent Classic feature. The track was very difficult in the main as turns three and four had become one lane on the bottom and extremely dusty to the point where you couldn’t even see the cars in turn four. Jonathan settled into fifth early on and ran his own race being careful not to loop the car as it had slicked off tremendously in turns three and four. Turns one and two were fine though and Jonathan was able to drive the Kistler powered Maxim right up top near the wall and got some good runs coming off of turn two. The difficult thing however, was the fact that Jonathan, like everybody else, had to get back down low and hug the bottom in three and four because if you didn’t you’d be hung out to dry.
Around lap nine Jonathan diced it up with GSC point leader Sean Becker before he dispatched of Becker by driving up top in turns one and two and cutting across the groove to get underneath the No. 35m machine going down the backstretch. JA used a similar move the next time around as he sailed the BR Motorsports, FSR Racing Products No. 0 up high in turns one and two and cut across the groove to slide underneath Jason Statler going down the back stretch. He and Statler were side by side as they raced each other very clean on the extremely icy surface off of turn four. Jonathan was able to inch ahead and take over the fourth position. JA ran in fourth the rest of the way until leader Ronnie Day broke with a couple laps left moving him up to third for a final two lap shootout. Jonathan drove a clean last couple laps and brought the Williams Motorsports machine home in third place.
Next up:
This Friday will see Jonathan and Williams Motorsports compete at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. JA leads the Silver Dollar point standings by six over Jason Statler going into the sixth point race of the season at Jonathan’s home track. Front gates open at 5 pm this Friday as opposed to 6 like it usually is, to allow for an autograph session to place.
Ocean Speedway in Watsonville will be the destination on Saturday for Golden State Challenge Series Round #10. GSC was set to run at Ocean Speedway a few weeks back, but that event fell victim to rain. Jonathan will go into the night 10 points behind current point leader Sean Becker and eight behind second running Brent Kaeding.
For more news and info on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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