|
Tulare, Ca - May 21, 2006... In just their
sixth Golden State Challenge Series race as a
combination, Stephen Allard and the RPM Motorsports
team found victory lane Saturday night in the annual
Chris Faria Memorial at Tulare’s Thunderbowl
Raceway. It was quite a comeback for the team after
failing to make the feature last weekend in Chico at
the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. It was the Chico
veteran’s third career GSC victory and first ever at
Thunderbowl Raceway. The win didn’t come easy though
as he had to get his elbows up and fend off a very
determined Brent Kaeding.
S. Allard started on the pole for the scheduled 30 lap
feature by way of his win in the six lap dash.
Alongside of him was 2001 Rebel Cup champion Craig
Stidham of Fresno. Going into turn one, however, it
was third starting Steve Kent of Fresno getting
underneath both front row starters and claiming the
lead. That didn’t last long though as going into
turn three on that same lap, S. Allard executed a
slide job to claim the lead. Also getting moisture
down low off of turn four to pass Kent was Stephen’s
brother and current GSC point leader Jonathan Allard,
but by the time they reached the flagstand, disaster
struck for the driver of the Williams Motorsports 0.
As the top three bunched up it ultimately led to
contact which resulted in J. Allard spinning into the
infield and bringing out a caution. One lap was scored
complete so it would bring forth a single file restart
which saw the point leader restart at the tail end of
the 22 car field.
On the restart Campbell’s Brent Kaeding made the
move around Stidham to take third before a caution
appeared on lap two for Gilroy’s Jon Maiwald. Four
more laps were completed after the next restart and
then the caution appeared on lap six for Oroville’s
Sean Becker who was stalled in turn four.
The action began to intensify on the restart as
Kaeding immediately went to work on Kent for second.
The two former King of California’s went nose to
tail for a few laps before Kaeding made a high side
move stick down the backstretch to take over second.
In just a few laps Kaeding cut down a huge lead Allard
had amassed and made it a two car battle for the lead.
Lap 16 saw a breathtaking moment for the leaders as
they went at it in an intense wheel to wheel duel with
lapped cars directly in front of them. Kaeding made a
hair raising move as they crossed the flag stand to
make it three wide with the lap car of Maiwald on the
inside and leader Stephen Allard on the outside.
Kaeding got crossed up, however, and had to slide
across the groove on the slick 3/8 mile track to hit
the cushion and keep his momentum up. The red flag was
brought for a flip by Sean Becker on the same lap
though which set up another single file restart.
The order with 16 laps complete saw S. Allard
continuing to lead with Kaeding, Kent, Robert Ballou
and Stidham in the top five. Tulare’s Tommy Tarlton
was having an impressive run before the red flag came
out. In laps 13-16 he was able to get by Shain
Matthews, Jason Statler, Dennis Moore Jr and Ronnie
Day to move into sixth.
Tarlton continued his run on the restart passing Craig
Stidham for fifth then going to work on Robert Ballou
for fourth. On lap 19 Craig Stidham’s strong run
ended with him hitting the wall in turn two and
ultimately stopping in turn three to bring out a
caution. Tarlton was scored in fifth when the caution
came out.
The fight for the lead heated up again after the
restart. Kaeding followed Allard around the track for
a few laps before making his move down low in turn one
on lap 24 to take the lead. Allard wasn’t ready to
give it up as he then made a brilliant move down low
in turn for to reclaim the top spot as they battled
through the slower traffic. Lap 25 saw Kaeding make an
aggressive move down low in turns one & two
attempting a slide job on Allard, but it resulted in
Kaeding having to check up as the wall was fast
approaching. This gave Allard nearly 15 car lengths of
breathing room as it showed just how fine of line it
was to be smooth and mistake free on the extremely
slick racetrack.
Tarlton continued his charge on lap 26 dispatching of
Kent to claim third after earlier passing Ballou for
fourth. Lap 28 saw a scary flip by Chico’s John Gray
down the frontstretch which brought out the red flag.
The 11 pm state mandated curfew had come and the
checkered flag was unveiled to end the Chris Faria
Memorial with 28 laps officially completed.
The win for Allard was also his first top five finish
of the season and he was understandably jubilant in
victory lane. The second place finish for Kaeding was
the third time he has been runner up with GSC this
season. Tommy Tarlton’s third place finish was the
first time he has finished on the GSC podium since
June 25th of last season. It was a terrific
run for the former two time Thunderbowl track
champion.
Steve Kent scored his first top five of the year
ending the race in fourth while youngster Robert
Ballou rounded out the top five tallying his third top
five finish of the year. Finishing 6-10 were Ronnie
Day, Jason Statler, Dennis Moore Jr, Jonathan Allard
& Brian Coehlo.
Dennis Moore Jr. passed Shain Matthews midway through
the B-main to claim the 12 lap victory. Brian Coehlo
and Carl Droivold were also able to get by Matthews to
finish second & third respectively. Matthews hung
on to fourth with Danny Faria Jr. & Jason Botsford
also transferring into the A-main. Faria Jr’s run
was most impressive in the fact he had to start in the
back of the pack after stopping on the first lap
because the hood had come loose on his #17v. He rode
the ragged edge of the 3/8 mile track to make it up to
his fifth place finish.
Stephen Allard led all six laps to score his first
career Golden State Challenge dash win. Craig Stidham,
Steve Kent, Jonathan Allard, Ricci Faria, Brent
Kaeding, Ronnie Day and Peter Murphy followed him
across the line. Murphy’s tough year continued as
his Redi-Green 1k suffered engine issues after the
dash which resulted in him scratching from the
feature.
Jonathan Allard started sixth in the first heat and by
lap five had assumed the top spot when leader Danny
Faria Jr. exited to the pits. Allard would go on to
dominate the race and garner his third heat race
victory of the year. Heat race number two was all
Jason Statler who won by a straightaway from his
outside front row starting spot. Brent Kaeding started
in the third row of heat race number three and passed
Mike Henry midway through to pick up his first heat
win of the season. The fourth and final heat saw
another dominating performance, this time by Robert
Ballou who went on to capture his third heat race win
of the season.
Fast time was set by Jonathan Allard for the second
week in a row and third time this year. He toured the
3/8 mile in 13.369 seconds
Results May 20 Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway
Fast time: Jonathan Allard 13.369
Heat 1: Jonathan Allard, Craig Stidham, John Gray,
Sean Becker
Heat 2: Jason Statler, Stephen Allard, Tommy Tarlton,
Ricci Faria
Heat 3: Brent Kaeding, Mike Henry, Steve Kent, Jon
Maiwald
Heat 4: Robert Ballou, Ronnie Day, Peter Murphy,
Lawrence Edlund
Dash: Stephen Allard, Craig Stidham, Steve Kent,
Jonathan Allard, Ricci Faria, Brent Kaeding, Ronnie
Day, Peter Murphy
B-main: Dennis Moore Jr, Brian Coehlo, Carl Droivold,
Shain Matthews, Danny Faria Jr, Jason Botsford. 1st
alternate Brian Azevedo was awarded the 22nd
starting spot for the feature when Peter Murphy
scratched.
A-main: S. Allard, Kaeding, Tarlton, Kent, Ballou,
Day, Statler, Moore, J. Allard, Coehlo, Matthews, D.
Faria, R. Faria, Edlund, Droivold, Maiwald, Botsford,
Azevedo, Gray, Stidham, Henry, Becker
Next weekend the Golden State Challenge Series will
head for two night’s of action at the high speed
Calistoga Speedway ½ mile.
|
