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Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
Jonathan Allard & Williams Motorsports persevere through weekend for podium finish in Tulare
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – April 26, 2008…Battling back after a scary flip while leading on Friday night in Chico former King of California Jonathan Allard put it behind him and brought home his seventh top five finish in nine Golden State Challenge Series races on Saturday at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway.
The Williams Motorsports crew worked extremely hard to build a new car for Saturday’s event and it paid off with Allard having another consistent run to maintain his lead in the GSC standings.
Friday’s event in Chico however, marked the fourth Feather Falls Casino point event at Silver Dollar Speedway and for the second week in a row Allard found himself on the pole of the 25 lap feature. At the waving of the green flag he battled side by side with Auburn’s Andy Forsberg and settled into second on the first lap. Allard didn’t wait long to claim the lead though as he sliced underneath Forsberg on the third lap to put the K & N Filters, Red Line Oil No. 0 out in front.
The track surface was very racy on this night and Allard began to walk away from the field in traffic, but on lap 10 as he was lapping Nevada driver Mike Monohan, the pair made contact and it resulted in both flipping wildly off the first set of corners. Both drivers got out ok, but the Williams Motorsports Maxim was damaged enough to force the team to pull down a new car and put it together in time for Saturday’s event in Tulare.
Finishing up the work on the car right before the night’s action was set to get underway at the Thunderbowl, Allard and the Ashley Smith led team came out strong right out of the box by setting the second quickest lap in qualifying and winning the heat race in exciting fashion. Allard then lined up on the outside of the front row in the six lap dash and on the start he fell to third, but got up on the wheel and drove back into second after a couple laps were completed.
He then proceeded to close in and have an exciting battle with leader Tim Kaeding over the final handful of laps before bringing home a second place finish, giving himself an outside row one starting spot for the 30 lap main event. After making final adjustments the field was pushed onto the speedway and as the green flag waved Allard jumped into the lead. The Chico racer led for three laps until Kaeding was able to get by for the top spot.
The Tulare Thunderbowl was prepared well and the racing heated up as the feature neared its end. Allard had been motoring along in second but had to deal with a hard charging Tyler Walker with about six or seven laps left in the contest. On lap 24 the pair put a high speed straddle on a lap car as they went three wide on the front stretch, which saw Allard hang on to the runner-up spot. Following this exciting exchange both drivers rapidly gained ground on Kaeding and with just a couple laps left Allard slipped under Kaeding, but Walker got by both for the lead up top.
If that wasn’t wild enough Kaeding was able to get back by both and Allard now found himself sitting third where he would go on and finish at the checkered flag. “It was a good run and I just can’t thank my team enough for all their hard work today,” Allard said. “It was a lot of fun racing with Tim and Tyler and the track was really good tonight, which was a lot of fun.”
The finish allowed Allard to extend his lead in the Golden State Challenge Series standings as the traveling 410 circuit makes its way to the American Valley Speedway in Quincy next Saturday night. Last season Allard set fast time and brought home a fifth place finish in the feature at the 3/8 mile oval. The Williams Motorsports No. 0 will also be in action this coming Friday at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway along with several other GSC regulars.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
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www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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