Photo by Johns Racing PhotosJonathan Allard to bring 31 point lead into final GSC weekendBy Gary ThomasWatsonville, CA – July 21, 2008…Despite a tough break in traffic during the main event this past Saturday night in Antioch former King of California Jonathan Allard will head into the final two nights of the Golden State Challenge Series season possessing a 31 point lead in the standings. Allard looked to be on way to a consistent two nights of racing this past weekend, until contact from a lapped car on Saturday left him upside down and forced the crew to work extremely hard to get him back in action to make up as many points as possible. Despite heavy damage to the car he was able to get back out on the track and it was a good thing since a number of cars had already gone a lap down and he was scored in the top 10 at the finish. The next to last weekend of the Golden State Challenge Series season began with an event on Friday at the Ocean Speedway where a very heavy racing surface was presented to competitors on a pleasant Summer day in the Watsonville area. Allard kicked off the night by qualifying ninth fastest in the field, before bringing home a second place finish in his heat race and then a third place result in the dash to put the K & N Filters, Red Line Oil No. 0 in the second row for the main event. Allard settled into third on the start of the 30 lap feature and after a handful of laps had been completed was able to close in on second running Tyler Walker and leader Brent Kaeding. With traffic coming into play the Chico driver cut to the inside of both drivers on the back stretch to nose into the lead in turns three and four. Allard was side by side with Kaeding as they crossed the stripe, but going into turn one a lapped car slowed JA’s momentum and allowed BK to jump back in front. Just as that was happening however, a caution waved and since Allard was scored in the lead at the line he was placed out in front for the restart. He would hang on to the top spot until a lap 12 restart when Walker was able to shoot by for the lead. Allard then had an exciting battle with Tim Kaeding as the race wore on and the two would exchange the runner-up spot on a pair of different occasions, until TK got a big run down the back stretch on lap 26. With Walker running out front Allard knew he had to play it safe and didn’t force the issue as Kaeding got by in turn three. The final few circuits saw JA bring the Sharp Insurance, Bell Helmets Maxim smoothly home in the third position to score his second podium finish of the season at the Ocean Speedway bullring. “I just kept telling myself to remain composed and not take too many crazy risks because finishing races is what we need to do right now,” Allard said. With the podium finish under the team’s belt it was off to the Antioch Speedway on Saturday where Allard looked for much of the same as he did on Friday. The 31 year-old driver lined-up in the second row for the 30 lap feature and moved up to second on lap two, but a yellow flag negated the pass and he was put back to third for the restart. Allard would then lose a spot to Tyler Walker on the fifth circuit and proceeded to run a conservative race on the bottom of the speedway, which had become rough and bumpy in certain areas. With just eight laps remaining in the main event JA attempted to move to the outside of a couple lapped cars and as he was going by on the back stretch, one of them slid up and cut across his front end, sending the Williams Motorsports No. 0 upside down wildly to bring out a red flag. The car was badly damaged and was towed to the work area where a number of crew members went to work trying to get him back out for the restart. The crew did a great job doing the best they could in the limited time and Allard was pushed off to rejoin the field. JA was able to hang on for the remaining eight laps and was scored in the ninth position at the checkered flag to make it a much better ending than what it had the potential to be. One more weekend to go:The Golden State Challenge King of California Series season began in early March at the Silver Dollar Speedway and will come to a conclusion this weekend at the Chico based track with the annual two-night finale. Allard took over the series point lead following the April 5 event in Antioch and has held it ever since as he and the Ashley Smith led team have worked extremely hard throughout the year to get to this point. Going into the next to last event on Friday Allard will hold onto a 31 point edge over Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker and will look for a consistent night to maintain the mark heading into Saturday’s Tribute to Gary Patterson. Last season saw Allard claim victory in the Tribute to GP which was also his very first victory at the Calistoga Speedway. This year the event has moved to Silver Dollar Speedway and Allard will look to make it back-to-back wins in the race, as well as end up on the front straightaway as the King of California come Saturday night. For more news on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports please visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com---------------------2006 King of California Jonathan Allard will look to join Brent Kaeding and Steve Kent this weekend as the only drivers to have captured multiple titles in the 23 year history of the Golden State Challenge Series. Photo by Davy Thomas
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