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Photo by Davy Thomas
Allard scores a pair of second place finishes to kick off GSC month of June
By Gary Thomas
June 3, 2007...Defending King of California Jonathan Allard had a very consistent weekend to kick off the month of June as he drove the Williams Motorsports No. 0 to a pair of runner-up finishes at two of California’s tightest bullrings. A week after claiming his second Golden State Challenge Series win of the year, Jonathan came back and put himself in position to win both night’s as Ashley Smith and the crew have gotten the Kistler powered Maxim running strong each and every night as we approach the 36th annual Dirt Cup which is less than two weeks away.
Even though it is now June, temps on Friday night at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway were very chilly. Added together with overcast skies and a lot of water put on the 1/4 mile, it made for one of the best prepared tracks we’ve seen in some time at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds bullring. Jonathan came out very early in the qualifying order and even with a still greasy track he ripped off a 12.056, which held as fast time all the way till the next to last qualifier Ronnie Day turned a 12.036 to put JA second quick. Jonathan then ran fifth in his heat race to transfer the GT Trends, Sharp Insurance, Chris Jones Racing No. 0 into the dash. JA started the dash in fifth and moved up to fourth early on before applying heavy pressure to third running Greg Decaires. Jonathan gave Decaires a few looks but settled for a fourth place finish.
Starting the 30 lap feature from fourth, Jonathan had moved the K & N Filters, Graph X Designs, Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim up to second by lap two after getting around Jason Statler. The Chico native then closed in on Brent Kaeding and gave him a few looks to the inside over the next 15 laps, but could never find the bite to get the pass completed. After trying to chase down Kaeding, JA then had to battle with Jason Statler as Statler was able to get under the 0 machine on a lap 20 restart. Jonathan kept his composure, closed back in on Statler and on lap 28 he powered back under Statler to re-claim the runner-up position where he would go on and finish. Not a win, but a very good run nonetheless as the night went much better than the previous Ocean Speedway date in May.
The following night Williams Motorsports made the haul over to Placerville Speedway to compete in another night of Golden State Challenge Series action. Jonathan began the night by setting the fastest lap in qualifying as he blew around the Placerville Speedway in 10.265 seconds to earn his third fast time in the last four GSC races. Fourth place finishes in both the heat and the dash put Jonathan on the outside of the second row for the 30 lap main event.
JA settled into third on the start and after a handful of laps he was able to get under Andy Forsberg for second, but a red flag occurred simultaneously and the pass was negated. Throughout the rest of the race Jonathan motored on in third as he sat behind a torrid battle for the lead between Brent Kaeding and Forsberg. Jonathan’s best chance to do anything with the leaders came as traffic became extremely thick on lap 18. JA was right on the leaders’ back bumpers when a caution came out on lap 20. When the green came back out Jonathan remained in third and on lap 24 he took advantage of Forsberg jumping the cushion to move into second. He closed a tiny bit on Kaeding but didn’t have enough time and settled for a second place finish. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened had the caution not come out on lap 20, but that’s racing and sometimes the cautions work in your favor, and sometimes they don’t.
The momentum is definitely building for Jonathan and the team as we head for the Summer months. JA has scored five straight finishes of fourth or better and is getting back to the strength that he had last season. The whole crew has been working very hard and it has payed off.
There is only one more weekend left before we head North for the 36th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup. This coming Friday will see Jonathan and Williams Motorsports compete in Chico for the first time in three weeks. The next night we’ll be in Petaluma for another round of Golden State Challenge Series action. Jonathan had a good run at Petaluma on May 25, finishing in fourth place and was one of the fastest cars on the track during the feature.
Following the night in Petaluma there won’t be long to rest as it will be time to head up North on I-5 to be in Medford by Monday to compete with the Golden State Challenge Series at the Southern Oregon Speedway. Last year’s GSC date at Southern Oregon Speedway was rained out and the previous year saw Jonathan finish the Medford event in second place.
After Medford on Monday we’ll continue up I-5 to Alger, Washington’s Skagit Speedway for the $25,000 to win Dirt Cup. Jonathan is the two-time defending champion of the Dirt Cup and will look to become the first driver to ever win the event three times in a row.
For more info on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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