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Photo by Graph X Designs
Early race issues slow Stephen Allard in Chico
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - July 16, 2007... Chico’s Stephen Allard had the makings of two more strong runs at Silver Dollar Speedway over the weekend, but an unfortunate pair of early race problems slowed his chances. Although the finishes weren’t what everyone had hoped for, the strength was there, even when the out of town drivers of the Golden State Challenge Series invaded the Chico bullring.
Friday night saw Stephen bring the Silver Dollar Speedway point lead into the 16th race of the Feather Falls Casino point series. Stephen started the evening by qualifying ninth fastest and driving to victory in the night’s second heat race aboard the Johnny’s Lock & Safe, Finley Farms, Cross Creek Trucking, JP’s Paint & Body No. 1m. The main event saw him start eighth and after getting a great bite on the outside during the opening lap, SA found himself in fourth place. A caution came out after one lap was complete and during the stoppage Stephen brought the 1m Racing machine to the pits with engine problems. A broken rocker arm put him out of the race, which was disappointing after getting such a great start.
Saturday night saw the Golden State Challenge Series in competition at Silver Dollar and Stephen was back at it for another night of racing. After running strong in hot laps, SA cut a great lap in qualifying to place the Platinum Powder Coating, Chico Bail Bonds, Miller’s Glass No. 1m fifth fastest overall. He then brought home a fifth place finish in his heat to put him in the dash where he started from the outside of the front row. Stephen fell to third on the start and then had a great run coming out of turn four on the second lap, but the driver running second shut the door hard and nearly forced him into the wall. SA got out of the gas and saved it to bring home a fourth place finish after six laps.
Starting fourth in the feature, Stephen had to react quick as a car in front of him got out of the gas a bit and SA got caught in the loose stuff on the front stretch and got into the wall before spinning off turn one. He went to the work area and got back out for the restart, but retired to the pits shortly thereafter.
Friday night point racing at Silver Dollar Speedway will now take two weekend’s off to allow for a couple special events at the track. When it resumes in August Stephen will be sitting in second place, but point leader Jonathan Allard will not be running any races at Chico that month, so it will give 1m Racing the point lead. There are four races left before the Silver Dollar Speedway champ is crowned and with a solid and steady month in August, Stephen should have a great shot at becoming the track champ.
The next scheduled race for Stephen and 1m Racing will be the two day Golden State Challenge Series finale at Silver Dollar Speedway on July 27 and 28. There is also a possibility that the team will travel to Medford, Oregon on Monday night July 23 for the NSCS Speedweek race at Southern Oregon Speedway. Stay tuned to http://www.stephenallard.com for updates. Right now it is up in the air as to if Stephen will run anywhere this weekend, but if he does look for him to be in Chico and Petaluma for the Civil War Series races.
Photo by Davy Thomas
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