Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
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Photo by Davy Thomas

Jonathan Allard caps off weekend with Tribute to GP win

By Gary Thomas

Calistoga, CA - May 28, 2007... The past couple weekends hadn’t been exactly picture perfect for Chico’s Jonathan Allard, but it was all put behind him on Sunday night at Calistoga Speedway’s 24^th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson. The defending Golden State Challenge Series King of California set fast time and led every circuit of the 25 lap feature to pick up his very first Calistoga Speedway win and first GSC victory since opening night in March. It came just one night after running out fuel on the final lap while leading the Salute to Walter T. Ross and gives a huge boost to the whole Williams Motorsports team. Crew Chief Ashley Smith and the entire crew have been working extremely hard trying to get back into victory lane with GSC and it all payed off this past weekend with three strong runs.

Jonathan and Williams Motorsports began the three night Golden State Challenge Series Memorial Day weekend triple header at Petaluma Speedway on Friday. JA started off the night by qualifying fourth quick, but an incident in the heat race took away a chance to make the dash and he was forced to start the A-main from behind the dash cars. Lining up ninth Jonathan put on an exciting charge aboard the GT Trends, K & N Filters, Weld Racing, BR Motorsports No. 0. The track was very heavy and Jonathan was running a tad bit higher than the rest of the competitors and he was able to make up a lot of ground as the laps ticked off.

JA got around Jason Statler for fourth on lap 23 and quickly closed in on second and third running Brent Kaeding and Willie Croft. Just as Jonathan was getting ready to make the move around Croft, a red flag came out on lap 27. After going back green JA tried to get around Croft but couldn’t make it happen and brought the Chris Jones Racing, Red Line Oil, Graph X Designs, V-Mac Racing Products No. 0 home in fourth. It was a very solid run for the team as Jonathan was the fastest car on the track over the last 10 laps and gave Williams Motorsports some momentum and confidence heading into the Calistoga weekend.

The Salute to Walter T. Ross at Calistoga Speedway on Saturday marked GSC Round #14 and Jonathan began the night by earning fast time for the second year in a row at the event with a lap of 16.878 aboard the Spy Optic, Sharp Insurance, Tom Rolfe Trucking, Butler Built Performance Maxim. He then lined up sixth in the first heat race and ran in fifth until he got under Jason Botsford on the final lap to finish fourth. JA started sixth in the dash and drove up to a fourth place finish to earn an outside row number two starting spot for the 25 lap feature.

The Walt Ross main event saw Jonathan settle into fourth on the start and he moved up to third on lap four when leader Brent Kaeding broke a rear end. On the restart Jonathan gassed the Kistler Engines, JP’s Paint & Body, Matt & Glass No. 0 up to the high side and made a beautiful power move to pass Calistoga Speedway ace Ronnie Day for second. JA then closed in on leader Brandon Wimmer and on lap 10 used a slick move to get under Wimmer and take over the top spot. Heavy lap traffic was directly in front of Jonathan though and Wimmer used it to get back under the 0 machine the next time by to re-take the lead. Shortly thereafter Wimmer’s wing panel collapsed and he came to a stop in turns one and two.

Jonathan inherited the lead and pulled away from the field on the restart. JA had a big lead when Toni Lutar spun with just five laps remaining in the race. Now sitting in second was Sean Becker but Jonathan pulled him on the restart and looked to be on his way to victory when Dan Simpson spun into the infield in turn two after JA had taken the white flag. Instead of throwing a yellow/checkered the yellow lights came on and the yellow flag was unveiled from the starters stand. It set up a green/white/checkered restart and as Jonathan took the white flag after going back green the car sputtered as he was out of gas. Going down the backstretch he slowed considerably and limped across the line to score a fourth place finish. It was very disappointing as it looked like he was well on his way to winning his first Calistoga race and to have it end like that was a big downer. Jonathan wasn’t even the only car to run out of fuel as multiple cars including second and third running Becker and Day also ran out during the final restart.

Jonathan and Williams Motorsports came back on Sunday for the 24^th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson and JA turned a 16.822 to set fast time for the second night in a row. He then finished third in the opening heat and second in the dash to earn a front row starting spot for the 25 lap Tribute to GP main event. Jonathan got the jump on Brent Kaeding and held him off all the way to become the first Chico driver to ever win the Tribute to Gary Patterson.

The victory marked the 15^th win of Jonathan’s Golden State Challenge Series career and moves him into a tie with Tim Green for fourth on the all time win list.

Jonathan and Williams Motorsports will be right back in action this Friday with the Golden State Challenge Series at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. Following the night in Watsonville GSC moves over to the Placerville Speedway on Saturday evening for the series’ final appearance of the season to the tight red clay bullring. For more info on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com

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

Where are the results from Sunday night at Stoga? For some reason they have not been posted on the GSC site and fans have only posted the top three. What gives???

Jonathan Allard was finally able to break through and win a feature at the historic Calistoga Speedway 1/2 mile during this past Sunday's 24th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.

Photos by Davy Thomas

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

Oakland Sprint fan, do you not go to any races? The scorer didn't fax any results right after the races and as of this morning we still didn't have them..Oh well.

Photos by Johns Racing Photos
www.johnsracingphotos.com

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