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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Following seventh place run in Santa Maria Jonathan Allard looks for good things at Antioch this Saturday with GSC
By Gary Thomas
Santa Maria, CA – July 14, 2009…After a less than hoped for outing at the Santa Maria Speedway this past weekend Chico, CA's Jonathan Allard will look to rebound in Antioch this Saturday with just six races remaining in the fight for the King of California title.
The night of racing this past Saturday marked the first GSC visit to the Santa Maria Speedway since 2005 and it got off to a rough start as Allard had trouble hooking up to the extremely greasy track in qualifying and timed-in just 13th fastest out of 16 cars. During heat race action the surface remained very slippery and the two-time King of California brought home a sixth place finish after starting from the fourth row.
After making adjustments prior to the main event Allard then lined-up 13th on the grid and when the green lights came on the car was visibly the best it had been all night. "JA" moved forward and after a handful of laps found himself in seventh and then made the move under Brent Kaeding for sixth on lap 10. A caution on lap 11 created a restart however, and during it Allard got into turns one and two a little bit tight and it gave "BK" the chance to steal back the sixth position.
The rest of the race saw Allard try everything to get by Kaeding, but even though he appeared to be quicker there wasn't much he could do with the track still being very heavy and hooked-up. The Chico driver got a number of strong runs through turn one to look to the outside of Kaeding, but had to back off each time exiting the second corner to avoid contact with the outside wall due to the narrow racing groove. By the end of the 30 lap contest the drivers running fourth through eighth were bunched in a tight pack and it allowed leader Tyler Walker the chance to close in and he would eventually put Allard a lap down shortly before the checkered.
At the finish the Williams Motorsports No. 0 crossed the line in seventh. "It definitely wasn't a night we were looking for and just didn't hit it at the start of the program," Allard said. "Qualifying put us too far behind with the way the track was and even though we were really fast in the main event there wasn't much I could do without other drivers making mistakes. I have to thank my guys because we got this thing figured out for the feature and the next time we come back here we'll be pretty good."
Walker's main event win and heat race win coupled with Allard's seventh place finish in the main event and sixth in the heat was enough to move the Los Angeles driver up to the top spot in the Golden State Challenge Series standings. Allard now finds himself just two points back in second and will look for a strong run this coming Saturday night in Antioch to re-claim the top spot. The extremely tight fight for the King of California title sees third place Brent Kaeding just four back of Allard for second and six back of Walker for the lead.
The lone GSC event at the Antioch Speedway this season saw Allard lead the first 26 laps of the main event until traffic slowed him slightly and gave Walker the chance to shoot by and claim the win. "We're looking forward to getting back to Antioch and seeing if we can get a win at that place because we've been close the last couple years, but just haven't been able to seal the deal," said the driver of the K&N Filters, Red Line Oil, Butler Built No. 0. "We want a win bad and we'll go into Saturday trying our hardest to make it happen."
For more news and info on Chico, California's Jonathan Allard visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com
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Two-time & defending King of California Jonathan Allard will go into the Antioch Speedway this Saturday sitting two digits back of Tyler Walker for the lead in the Golden State Challenge Series standings. The first season event at the track saw the 32 year-old finish runner-up in the feature to Walker after a thrilling late race duel in traffic. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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