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Allard Continues His Winning Ways at Chico
By: Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 6-9-07)…Chico's Jonathan Allard continued to show why he is one of the best sprint car drivers in the sport. Allard decisively won the 25-lap sprint car main event on Friday night during Ashley Furniture night at the speedway. Allard is posting Hall of Fame type numbers at the speedway this year. In nine Friday night starts, Allard has now won four of them and is batting near .500 for the year. As usual Allard was very humbling in victory lane and put all of the credit toward his crew and car owners Morrie and Katie Williams. "I can't express enough how much hard work my team puts into this deal that allows me to just get in it and drive," said Allard. He also expressed some nice thoughts about two fellow racers who had their best finishes of the year. "It was nice to race with Robert Stice and Johnny Gray tonight," said Allard. "I'm glad they were up there having good nights." Gray finished a season best second place driving the Jessee Heating and Air Bud Powell prepared #71. Stice, who led for the first three laps, finished fourth in a photo finish but did all of this while using a 360 motor instead of his 410. Chico's Brett Miller was the driver who nipped Stice at the line and he finished third.
Stice jumped out in front of the 20-car starting field for the night's main event. On lap two, Allard passed Stice for the lead but a red flag was needed for Chris Masters who did a Tommy tip-over in turn four. Also involved was Sean Becker. Becker was able to resume while Masters was done for the night. This gave the lead back to Stice. He went on to lead the next lap until Allard pulled off the same maneuver down the back straight and took the lead. The next 13 laps were run non-stop, as drivers were able to mix it up and put on a great race for the fans. On lap 12 Johnny Gray was able to pass Stice for second. Lap 15 brought out the yellow when Kevin Sharrah stopped on the back straight. A lap prior to that Jason Statler rolled into the infield and stopped.
On the next restart Trevor Green flipped down the front straight and brought out another red flag. It's been a tough run for the Aussie who was hoping to have a better finish tonight and avoid another accident. The final caution of the night waived when Andy Forsberg started to spin in turn two and collected Mason Moore in the process. Forsberg was towed off and suffered his first DNF of the year. Moore continued and tried to salvage the best finish he could with only three laps remaining in the Mike Clarke prepared #22.
Allard restarted the race and once again pulled away for the win. Gray finished second and was followed by Miller in a photo finish with Stice. Chico's Stephen Allard came across the line in fifth after starting the race in the thirteenth spot. It was his sixth top five of the year. Dan Menne crossed the line in the sixth spot. Robbie Whitchurch finished in the seventh spot followed by Greg DeCaires. Andy Gregg crossed the line in ninth. Zack Mason finished tenth and secured his first top ten finish of the year.
Stephen Allard, Zack Mason and Jim Richardson all won their eight lap heat races. In heat race three a scary crash occurred when Korey Lovell launched over a right rear tire and went hard into the front straight crash wall fence. The car was tore up and so was the fence, but Lovell emerged and walked away. A few moment's later fans came up to the announcing booth and started a roll-over fund for Lovell. We were able to present it to him on the front straight. During the interview he was very gracious and also was able to joke about the accident. The night before the crew had just put together a brand new car.
Primetime Mason Moore won the 12-lap B main event. The California Flash Dan Ochs followed him. Chris Master, Sean Becker and Zack West all finished in the top five and transferred into the main event.
It was only fitting that on Ashley Furniture night that one of their sponsored drivers Dan Menne earned the quick time of the night. The recently turned 40-year old turned a 13.120 in qualifying to get the award.
Results
Fast Time: Dan Menne – 13. 120
Heat 1: Stephen Allard, Jonathan Allard, Greg DeCaires, Andy Forsberg, Menne
Heat 2: Zack Mason, Robbie Whitchurch, Trevor Green, Kevin Sharrah, Brett Miller
Heat 3: Jim Richardson, Robert Stice, Andy Gregg, Jason Statler, Johnny Gray
B Main: Mason Moore, Dan Ochs, Chris Masters, Sean Becker, Zack West, Jeff Griffin, Eddy Lewis, Mike Stallings
A Main: J. Allard, Gray, Miller, Stice, S. Allard, Menne, Whitchurch, DeCaires, Gregg, Mason, Moore, Becker, West, Forsberg, Sharrah
END
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