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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Eventful weekend ends with runner-up finish at Dirt Cup for Jonathan Allard
By Gary Thomas
Alger, Wash - June 18, 2007... Chico’s Jonathan Allard did just about everything but win the 36th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway this past weekend. The defending King of California put on some exciting charges during the preliminary night features to put himself in position to win a third straight Dirt Cup, but lapped traffic would decide the outcome just five laps from the finish on Saturday. The Williams Motorsports team fought through adversity all weekend and bringing home a second place finish was a feat in itself.
The 36th annual Dirt Cup presented by Foley RV & Camping World was kicked off on Thursday night with an evening of prelim action and Jonathan began his bid for a third straight triumph in the race by clocking the night’s fourth fastest lap in qualifying. He started sixth in the fourth heat race and the opening lap turned out disastrous. As the field was racing down the backstretch, NW driver Rod Perkins was cut off by another car and when he got out of the gas, it left Jonathan with nowhere to go and JA went over Perkins right rear and flipped in turn three. Jonathan was done for the heat but the crew was able to get the damage fixed and get him out to line-up third in the B-main.
The B-main turned out to be a marathon, but JA hung tough and brought home a third place finish to transfer the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters, GT Trends, BR Motorsports No. 0 into the main event. The prelim night’s during Dirt Cup feature a 16 car invert and B-main transfers line-up behind it, so JA was forced to start from the 19th position in the 30 lap feature. On the initial start a bunch of cars got sideways mid-pack and it left Ronnie Day and Brandon Wimmer tangled on the inside of the track and Jonathan couldn’t avoid it as he slid into them. Jonathan was pushed into the work area as the No. 0 machine was suffering some overheating issues. As the light was getting ready to be turned off Jonathan was pushed back onto the surface and rejoined the field at the back.
Jonathan remained composed and methodically worked his way through the field as the laps ticked down. JA ran strong and picked off multiple cars on the bottom of the track and by the finish he had made it up to seventh, to salvage a good points night out of an evening that had the makings of tough one. Even with the heat race dnf, Jonathan ended the first night of action fifth in overall Dirt Cup points.
Friday morning brought about rain showers and cloudy conditions for much of the day, but just before the front gates were about to open, the drizzle let up, the sun came out, and we were ready for another evening of preliminary competition to gain points towards Saturday’s starting line-up.
Coming out late in the qualifying order wasn’t a disadvantage for Jonathan as he qualified the Karsten Homes, Chris Jones Racing, Graph X Designs, Platinum Powder Coating No. 0 fourth fastest for the second straight night. The de ja vu continued in the heat race, however, as the two cars in front of JA banged wheels on the front stretch at the start and it resulted in both of them, as well as Jonathan getting upside down heading into turn one. The two other cars included Kyle Hirst and Sean Becker to make it three California cars upside down in one fell swoop. It took awhile to get Hirst out of the car as he had his bell rung and it gave a little extra time to work on the 0 machine.
Some serious work had to be done to the car and after getting some assistance from the Williams Motorsports crew, other teams and chassis experts, Jonathan was able to get back out onto the track. Following all that drama Jonathan ended up finishing second in the heat race after getting around Trevor Green with a few laps left. The heat race took an amazing 37 minutes to be completed.
With the large invert Jonathan was forced to come from the back again in the feature and he was on the hammer during the 30 lap contest. He made it all the way up to battle with Brent Kaeding for second before falling a couple spots and finishing with a still solid fifth place effort aboard the Red Line Oil, Sharp Insurance, Spy Optic, Matt & Glass No. 0.
Going into the final night of action, Jonathan sat atop the points to give him the pole for the evening’s A-scramble. Forecasted weather called for rain sometime during the day, but although it was overcast and drizzled at times, not much rain had fallen as cars hit the track for wheel packing. Just after opening ceremonies the sky opened up a tad bit and dropped a little harder precipitation, but it wasn’t too severe and after a while the track was worked back in.
The moisture helped make the track ultra fast all night and it made for some serious high speed action. The Skagit Speedway clay was hooked up and after scoring a second place finish in the scramble, Jonathan was set for an outside front row starting spot for the 40 lap Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup main event. It wasn’t that easy though as the engine in the Williams Motorsports No. 0 needed to be swapped out. The car was pushed out to the back where the haulers are kept and after getting the engine changed in time, Jonathan was able to hit track for A-main hot laps. During the session he was one of the fastest cars on the track so it looked good as the main event crept closer.
The anticipation was huge as the lights were turned off following the four wide salute and fire work display. The first two starts of the main, however, were aborted for a red flag and a caution. The third time was the charm and Jonathan blasted out into the lead. Early on he had to deal with Roger Crockett but quickly it became Brandon Wimmer in the Roth 83jr. who was the main challenger after he moved under Crockett into second.
After a handful of laps Jonathan worked the bottom of the track and was very fast as he kept the other competitors at bay. He had no issues with traffic early on and when he did get into traffic around the midway point he worked it beautifully as he had some hard chargers breathing down his neck. The track was fast which made it tough to even get past lappers, but Jonathan was patient and did a great job through the first half of the 40 lap race.
With less than 15 laps left in the feature Jonathan was in traffic and looked to the inside of Jeff Hodgson to put him down a lap, but as they entered turn three Hodgson chopped down to the inside and boxed Jonathan in which allowed Wimmer and Crockett to close. A couple laps after that Jonathan got a break as the caution came out to give a clear track ahead.
The restart saw Jonathan hit it perfect and pulled Wimmer as the green flag waved. It was getting down to nail biting time as the five to go signal was creeping up. Jonathan would have to deal with traffic before the finish and as he clicked off lap 34, he entered lap traffic and it let Wimmer slightly close in. The first lap car JA had to deal with was Hodgson and as he went into turn three on Lap 34, it looked like Hodgson was going to go low this time, so Jonathan attempted to rail him on the outside. Midway through the corner, however, Hodgson swung wide and forced JA to get on the binders. Jonathan was able to save the car from spinning out but it allowed Wimmer to sneak by and take the lead. After this JA couldn’t get back up to Wimmer and had to settle for a second place finish. On the front stretch after the race Jonathan thanked the crew and everyone else who helped them change the engine prior to the feature as well as helping fix the car during the two heat race accidents the previous two night’s.
It was disappointing to finish second after being so close to picking up the first 3-peat in Dirt Cup history, but it continued the strong runs that Jonathan and Williams Motorsports have had over the last month. Discounting the two prelims where the fields feature a large invert, Jonathan hasn’t finished worse than second since the opening night of Calistoga over Memorial Day weekend where he ran out of fuel while leading with less than two laps remaining. Other than his seventh place finish during opening night of Dirt Cup, he hasn’t been out of the top five in a main event since May 19. Ashley Smith and the crew have given him some great cars and Jonathan is very sharp right now as the weather is heating up and Summer is upon us.
This weekend will see things calm down a bit as a more relaxed atmosphere welcomes the teams back to California. Friday night will see a point race at Silver Dollar Speedway and Saturday will see the Golden State Challenge Series makes its first ever appearance at the American Valley Speedway in Quincy.
For more on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports log onto http://www.allardmotorsports.com
Photo by H2H Photos
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