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Jonathan Allard holds slim point lead coming into GSC Round 5 at Placerville on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA - March 20, 2007...Defending Golden State Challenge King of California Series champion Jonathan Allard of Chico brings a three point lead into the high-banked Placerville Speedway 1/4 mile this Saturday night March 24. The evening will mark the fifth round of competition for the west coasts premier traveling 410 winged sprint car series.
Allard, driving for Oakhurst, CA based car owner Morrie Williams, has scored one win so far this season and has finished in the top five twice and has been in the top 10 every race. Last weekend in Hanford he had finishes of seventh and eighth, but had to deal with much adversity as he ran out of fuel during the final lap on Friday and suffered a flat tire on Saturday, forcing him to charge back through the field. The defending King of California had a pair of strong finishes on the red clay of Placerville Speedway last season picking up a win and a second place finish. Allard be challenged by nearly 30 drivers in what should be an action packed night of racing.
Sitting just three points out of the lead is 2005 GSC King of California Sean Becker of Oroville. The easy-going likable pilot has been the most consistent driver so far this season having scored three top five’s and four top 10's. His appearance this weekend in Placerville was up in the air as of last weekend however, as his Main-Fisher Motorsports team doesn’t have adequate funding to stay on the road with GSC full time. A press release put out by Fisher/Main Motorsports PR Manager Troy Hennig stated that they are trying to secure money to continue and have Sean run for the GSC title, but as part owner Tom Fisher says in the release, "This is an expensive sport and we can't do it on the budget we have at the moment." It would be a shame for everyone’s sake if they weren’t able to continue running with GSC full time this season.
12 time GSC King of California Brent Kaeding is currently third in the point standings and will be a top contender this weekend in Placerville. Kaeding’s best finish so far this season is a second and it shouldn’t be too long before the winniengest driver in GSC history finds victory lane aboard his Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69.
So far in 2007 one of the bright spots has been the emergence of Elk Grove driver Kyle Hirst. The 2005 GSC rookie of the year has been one of the fastest drivers at every race and has quickly become one of the drivers to beat night in night out. Hirst has been driving the Mcmillen Motorsports, Tom Rolfe Trucking, Weld Racing No. 2 and looks extremely sharp behind the wheel of it. He started out the season by finishing second on opening night at Mini Gold Cup and had an outstanding run going on Saturday night of that weekend having charged from 17th to fourth before being taken out by an accident that started in front of him. At Kings Speedway this past weekend he qualified fourth fastest out of 30 cars on Friday, won the dash and had a top five run going before a tire issue forced him to pull to a stop late in the main event. He came back on Saturday and scored fast time, drove from sixth to second in his heat race and finished fourth in the 30 lap main event. Hirst runs very well at Placerville and last season won $5,000 at the Mark Forni Memorial in July. He currently ranks fourth in the GSC point standings, just 15 out of the lead, but unfortunately for the California crowd he’s not going to be running for points this season as he’s getting ready to move back to Indiana to try and further his career.
Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet has a ton of laps around Placerville Speedway and will be tough to beat this weekend. Sweet and his GP Development team have well respected tuner Rod Tiner on board and he helped gear Sweet to a win and fifth place finish last weekend in Hanford.
Undoubtedly the best show at Placerville Speedway comes in the form of multiple time Civil War champion and track champ Andy Forsberg of Auburn. Forsberg, the driver of the A & A Motorsports No. 92 charged from 19th to 2nd in last Saturday’s Civil War opener at Placerville and he always seems to put on a crowd pleasing performance when GSC comes into town.
Medford, OR’s Roger Crockett sits fifth in GSC points and is coming off of a dominating performance Saturday night in Hanford where he picked up his second career GSC win and first with the Henderson Motorsports team. Crockett has always gotten around the Placerville Speedway bullring as good as anybody and will be a top contender if he comes down for the event.
GSC rookie of the year contender Brett Miller of Chico has locked himself into seventh place in the points after four races. The 17-year-old Chico native and driver of the Care Free Pools No. 1x scored his career best GSC finish with a sixth place effort on Friday night at Kings Speedway this past weekend, in what was his first night of ever racing at the track.
Other drivers expected include: ‘04 GSC champ Jason Statler of San Jose, Sacramento’s Willie Croft, ‘00 GSC champ Ronnie Day of Salinas, Elk Grove’s Greg Decaires, Fairmont, IND’s Brandon Wimmer, Chico’s Matt Shelton, Tracy’s Jason Botsford, Gilroy’s Jon Maiwald, Discover Bay’s Jim Skinner, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Fresno’s Mark Workentine, Stockton’s Shawn Wright and more.
Pit gates open at 3:30 pm this Saturday March 24. The front gate will open at 5 and qualifying is scheduled for approximately 6:30. All seating will be general admission and adult tickets will cost $16 with juniors being $11 and kids $4. A full night of competition is on tap and will feature qualifying, heat races, a dash for the top eight fastest cars that make it out of the heats and it will all be capped off with a 30 lap main event.
Log onto http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com for more info on the event.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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