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Photo by Joe Martinez
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Stephen Allard moves up to 3rd in Civil War points going into Wild Winged Wednesday at Placerville
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – July 21, 2009…Utilizing a seventh place finish this past Friday night at the Ocean Speedway Chico, CA's Stephen Allard was able to move up a spot in the California Sprint Car Civil War Series standings as the traveling 360 tour heads for a pair of events this week.
Allard went into the event at the Ocean Speedway on Friday sitting fourth in the Civil War standings as he continues his campaign with the 360 series driving the Double-D Motorsports, Medi-Pro Billing, JP's Paint & Body Works No. 4 sprinter.
Despite being the very last car out to qualify in the 39 car field Allard was still able to time-in fifth fastest overall as the track remained consistent all the way through. "When I saw we were the last car to qualify I was a little worried, but the track stayed pretty much the same for everybody so that was definitely nice," Allard said.
Starting fifth in the opening heat race Allard fought hard for a transfer, but would come up one spot shy and be forced into the 12-lap semi, where he would eventually bring home a runner-up finish to move into the main event. Lining-up ninth on the grid the two-time Silver Dollar Speedway track champion tried a number of different lines on the quarter-mile bullring and after 30 laps of racing crossed under the checkered in the seventh position behind the wheel of the Double-D Customs, Butler Built Performance Maxim.
The main event finish was good enough to move Allard up to the third spot in the California Sprint Car Civil War Series standings, just five points behind second place Herman Klein and 36 back of current leader Sean Becker. "We would have liked to finish a little higher in the feature, but this was a good field of cars so seventh isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things," said the 36 year-old driver. "I have to thank Randy V, Russell Moore and this whole team for working hard and it would be nice if we could get win here really soon to get some momentum rolling."
Allard will be in search of his first victory of the season when the Civil War Series resumes this Wednesday evening at the Placerville Speedway for the second Wild Winged Wednesday of the year. At the first Wild Winged Wednesday event on June 3 he had a solid run going in the main event until contact while running third took the Double-D Motorsports machine out of contention.
Then on Saturday the Civil War tour will head to the Petaluma Speedway for the third time this season in what will be the ninth round of the year for the series. "We're looking forward to both races this week and just can't wait to hit the track," commented Allard. "We were really good during the first Civil War show in Placerville, but it certainly didn't end like we wanted it to so hopefully this time around it'll turn out in our favor."
At Petaluma this year Allard has been solid with Civil War having finished third at the track in April and also running sixth just two weeks ago after starting from the eighth row in the feature. "Petaluma is usually a pretty racy track and we've had a good set-up during the two events there so far," he said. "The last race we had to come from a ways back and the car felt really good, so I think if we can start a little further up front we'll have a good shot at getting into victory lane if we have the car like last time."
For more news on Chico's Stephen Allard log onto http://www.stephenallard.com
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Chico's Stephen Allard will be looking for his first win of the season when the California Sprint Car Civil War Series heads for the Placerville Speedway this Wednesday night. In 2005 Allard captured victory at a Wild Winged Wednesday event when it was sanctioned by the Golden State Challenge Series. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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