Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

Photo by Johns Racing Photos

Jonathan Allard charges to 14^th at Dave Helm Memorial

By Gary Thomas

Tulare, CA - October 14, 2007...Battling an extremely fast and treacherous racetrack on Saturday at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, Chico’s Jonathan Allard fought back from a late race spin to charge forward and earn a 14^th place finish in the World of Outlaws sanctioned Dave Helm Memorial. The 2006 King of California had a perfectly set up race car from Ashley Smith and he put the Williams Motorsports No. 0 on the high scary side where few competitors dared to run during the later portions of the feature.

The night started out with 42 competitors taking to the clocks for single lap qualifying runs. Jonathan came out 22^nd in the qualifying order and his lap of 14.143 put the K & N Filters, Red Line Oil machine 17^th quickest, just two one-thousandths of a second behind the 16^th fastest car . This played big for Jonathan because the World of Outlaws format only takes the top 16 drivers in qualifying for the heat race inversion and with him having to finish top two in his heat to make the dash, it made for a tough path ahead. He was able to do a nice job in his heat though and brought home a third place finish to transfer into the feature.

When the 35 lap Dave Helm Memorial main event lined up on the track it saw Jonathan starting from the 17^th position. The Tulare area had received some rain the previous day and the 1/3 mile clay oval remained hooked up and tacky all night long. It made for tough conditions as the track remained fairly narrow and was choppy up top which made for some old school cowboy it up style sprint car racing. The traffic deep in the pack was very thick and Jonathan had to pick his spots wisely.

Jonathan was on the move early as he could maneuver the GT Trends, Sharp Insurance No. 0 anywhere on the track. JA was attacking the Thunderbowl Raceway clay and got around big name drivers like Jac Haudesnchild, Paul McMahan and Danny Lasoski, before closing in on the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9 of Joey Saldana for a top 10 spot. After hounding Saldana for a few laps he had to deal with McMahan again and while he was battling with the Tony Stewart Motorsports machine, he spun to a stop in turn two on the 25^th circuit. Jonathan was pushed back off and rejoined the rear of the field for the final 10 lap shootout.

He continued to run on the edge as the green came back out and was able to get around a handful of cars by the time the final yellow of the race flew on lap 33. When the green lights flashed again he stuck the K & N Filters, Williams Motorsports No. 0 to the high side and charged around several competitors over the last couple laps to bring home a hard fought 14^th place finish. "The only thing I was worried about was running out of tear offs," Jonathan said after the race. "We had a great car and are happy to be able to race neck and neck with this kind of competition. I gotta thank all of our sponsors for supporting us and we’ll now move on to Manzi and Perris this coming weekend."

The 2007 racing season is quickly coming to an end as the final month of action is now underway. Jonathan and Williams Motorsports are scheduled to run with the World of Outlaws once again this weekend as the Zero machine will take to the track at the Manzanita Speedway in Arizona on Friday and the Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California on Saturday. Following this weekend Jonathan is scheduled to compete at the Cotton Classic in Hanford on October 27. For the latest news and updates as finish off the ‘07 season log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com