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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Jonathan Allard set for NSCS Speedweek
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - July 18, 2007... After running in California though the first part of this season, Chico’s Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports are set for the teams’ usual travel period to end the Summer. It will come a couple weeks earlier this season, however, as we’ll be heading North this week to compete in the annual Northwest Speedweek, this year sanctioned by the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series. The NSCS is a winged 360 sprint car series ran by Shawna & Dick Wilskey and is in its first year of competition after taking over for the now defunct Northern Sprint Tour. Jonathan and Williams Motorsports competed during the three Oregon Speedweek events in 2005, but this will be the first time partaking in the entire week of action.
The schedule for NSCS Speedweek is a little different than in years past. Normally the Speedweek has opened up in Oregon, but this season opens on July 20 & 21 with the first ever Fred Brownfield Memorial race at Gray’s Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. The event held in honor of former Northern Sprint Tour, National Sprint Tour and Grays Harbor Raceway promoter Fred Brownfield, is sure to be one of the biggest and best on the west coast as it pays a sweet $10,092 to win on Saturday night. Jonathan has experienced success at Elma in the past and nearly won a prelim feature with the World of Outlaws at the track in 2005. JA also set a fast time when the National Sprint Tour competed in Elma during the Big E weekend last August. Fred Brownfield was a very important person to Jonathan and he definitely wants to win the first event held in his honor.
Following the Brownfield Memorial in Elma, a travel day is given to the teams on Sunday before Speedweek kicks back into gear with the annual Oregon portion of the week, which begins on Monday night July 23 at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford. Jonathan has finished runner-up three times during the last few season’s in Medford, including the NW Speedweek race in ‘05 and this season’s Golden State Challenge Series event. After Medford it will be on up I-5 to the Cottage Grove Speedway for Tuesday night’s event. The 1/4 mile bullring is a bit similar in shape to Silver Dollar Speedway and Jonathan brought home a stout third place finish when the National Sprint Tour visited the track last August. On Wednesday night Speedweek will move to the tight & narrow 1/3 mile Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, OR. Jonathan last competed at the track in ‘05 during Speedweek and finished the race in third. Willamette Speedway is one of the tougher tracks on the west coast as it’s long straights and tight corners make passing a very difficult task. It’s a track that requires patience and a good bit of skill to get around.
Thursday July 26 will be another travel day before NW Speedweek is capped off on July 27 & 28 with the two-day Bob’s Burgers & Brew 360 Nationals at the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. This will be the first time that the Skagit 360 Nationals finishes off NW Speedweek and the winner of Saturday night’s main event will receive $10,000. Jonathan of course is no stranger to the Skagit Speedway having won two Dirt Cups and finishing runner-up this season at the event. JA had an eventful weekend at this year’s Dirt Cup and even with getting upside down in his heat on both Thursday & Friday, and having to change an engine on Saturday night, he very nearly became the first driver to ever win the Dirt Cup three times in a row.
Points are accumulated each night during Speedweek and the driver with the most points at the end of the week will get a nice $2,000. The winner of NW Speedweek will be announced on Saturday night after the Bob’s Burgers & Brew 360 Nationals at Skagit.
Following Speedweek, Jonathan and the team will be heading back to the Mid-West to do battle for a few weeks, which will be highlighted by the 47th annual Knoxville Nationals presented by Super Clean. The Knoxville Nationals pays a whopping $150,000 to win and $7,000 to start on Saturday night. In addition to running the 410 Nationals, Jonathan will also be competing in the Knoxville 360 Nationals, the Front Row Challenge and select other events while following the Outlaws back to California through the West Coast swing. The next scheduled race for Jonathan in California is the two day Harvest Classic at the Calistoga Speedway in the Napa Valley wine country.
To keep up with Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports during the trip log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com
Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Photo by Davy Thomas
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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