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Jonathan
Allard picks up hard earned Golden State Challenge Series win at
Petaluma Speedway
by
Gary Thomas
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Petaluma,
Ca - April 22, 2006... Utilizing a brilliant move on a
lap seven restart, Chico's Jonathan Allard drove the GT
Trends 0 to victory in the Golden State Challenge King of
California Series long awaited season opener. It was
Allard's 7th career GSC victory which moves him into a tie
with Jimmy Sills, Randy Hannagan and Greg Decaires for 7th
on the all time win list.
The 30 lap main event started out with pole sitter Peter
Murphy of Australia getting the jump. It was Murphy's
first race with the Redi-Green Motorsports team and he led
the first seven laps before Jim Van Lare flipped in turn
two. Also involved in the accident was 2004 King of
California Jason Statler who was able to return to action
minus the nose wing.
The lap seven restart order saw Murphy, Kaeding and Allard
as the top three.
Coming down to the green flag Kaeding got his front wheels
up in the air which allowed Allard to get a run on him and
going into turn one Allard powered to the outside of
Kaeding in exciting fashion to make the pass for 2nd. He
wasn't done there as he then went after Murphy into turn
three and by the time they crossed the line Allard was the
new leader
On lap 14 Murphy would fade to third after Kaeding passed
him up high in turn two for 2nd.
One lap later, Ronnie Day up from his 8th starting
position, passed Murphy in turn two to take over third.
Lap 15 saw a caution wave for GSC Rookie of the Year
contender Matt Shelton.
Allard pulled away from the field on the restart but it
didn't last long as Jeff Delte brought out the red flag on
lap 17 after flipping in turn four. As cars slowed down,
Jerry Bonema didn't see the light and hopped over Murphy's
right rear tire which launched him into the turn three
crash fence. Bonema emerged okay but the same couldn't be
said for the fence as it caused a lengthy delay to repair
it. Under the red flag Murphy's mount was taken to the
pits to repair a flat right rear tire which was caused
when Bonema got over it.
When they finally went back to green, Allard led the field
with Kaeding and Day following close by waiting for any
mistake. By lap 23 you could throw a blanket over the top
three as they entered traffic but with the track getting
slicker and slicker it made it more difficult to pass. The
top three all ran the bottom but put on a great show while
having to deal with lapped traffic. Shane Matthews caught
the infield berm on lap 26 causing him to flip directly in
front of the leaders and bring out the red flag.
Fortunately everybody was able to avoid him and continue
on.
Allard led the final four laps without any worries to take
the checkered flag. Kaeding held on for 2nd with Day
completing the podium. GSC Rookie of the Year contender Robert
Ballou drove a solid race to finish 4th and
last year's Rookie of the Year Kyle Hirst charged his way
through the field to finish 5th after starting 17th. 6th
through 10th were Jason York, Mike Henry, Brad Furr,
Willie Croft and Stephen Allard.
The 12 lap B-main was shortened to 6 laps because of time
constraints and saw Jason York pick up the win with Willie
Croft, Jim Van Lare, Carl Droivold, Jerry Bonema and Jeff
Delte also transferring into the feature.
A new twist to the GSC program this year is a six lap,
eight car Trophy Dash that sets up the top four rows of
the main event. The eight fastest drivers that transfer
out of the heat races each pull a pill to see where they
start in the dash. Peter Murphy pulled number one and held
the bottom for six laps to pick up the win and score the
pole position for the main. Fast qualifier Mike Henry
finished 2nd with Kaeding, Allard, John Gray, Ballou,
Dennis Moore Jr. and Ronnie Day completing the field. Day
had drawn number two but was a no show for the dash.
Robert Ballou utilized
a high side pass of Andy Gregg midway through to win the
1st heat race.
Kyle Hirst dominated heat race number two en route to
victory.
In his first race driving the Family Auto Service 98x,
Sean Becker held off Kaeding to win heat race number
three.
The final heat saw 6th starting J.Allard pass Jason
Statler midway through the race and drive away from the
field to pick up the win.
Mike Henry's quick time of 12.923 was a brand new GSC
track record for Petaluma Speedway.
Results:
Quick time- Mike Henry (NTR) 12.923
Heat 1: Robert Ballou,
Andy Gregg, Mike Henry, Stephen Allard
Heat 2: Kyle Hirst, Matt Shelton, John Gray, Dennis Moore
Jr.
Heat 3: Sean Becker, Brent Kaeding, Ronnie Day, Brad Furr
Heat 4: Jonathan Allard, Jason Statler, Shane Matthews,
Peter Murphy
Trophy Dash: Peter Murphy, Mike Henry, Brent Kaeding,
Jonathan Allard, John Gray, Robert
Ballou, Dennis Moore Jr. (DNS, Ronnie Day)
B-main: Jason York, Willie Croft, Jim Van Lare, Carl
Droivold, Jerry Bonema, Jeff Delte
A-main: J. Allard, Kaeding, Day, Ballou,
Hirst, York, Henry, Furr, Croft, S. Allard, Gray, Moore Jr,
Statler, Becker, Droivold, Gregg, Matthews, Murphy, Delte,
Shelton, Bonema, Van Lare
Full results and points will be up shortly on
www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
Next Saturday night the Golden State Challenge Series will
take to the always exciting Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway.
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