By Gary Thomas
Antioch, CA – April 3, 2010…With a number of tracks falling victim to rain in Northern California this past weekend the Antioch Speedway was luckily one of the fortunate ones able to run and when all was said and done it was Chico’s Jonathan Allard standing in victory lane for the second Saturday in a row with the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series.
Allard withstood an early challenge from Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson and then pulled away late in the race to score his second flag-to-flag victory in as many weeks with the traveling 410 winged sprint car series. “I have to thank all my guys again because this thing has been perfect the last couple weekends and it’s been pretty fun to drive,” said the two-time King of California, who also set fast-time to begin the night and by winning the main event earned his first ever 410 triumph at the track. “I drive for a great owner in Morrie Williams and my guys Ashley Smith, Tres VanKeuren and everyone who helps out with this team has been doing a great job all year.”
Starting from the pole position for the second consecutive weekend by way of winning the dash Allard shot into the lead at the waving of the green flag in the 30-lap Golden State Challenge feature. Early on however, he felt heavy pressure from young 17-year-old Kyle Larson, who was running a little higher line in turns one and two, which gave him much momentum exiting the second corner aboard his Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill Casino No. 99 machine. With traffic coming into play on lap seven it gave Larson a shot to make a move at the top-spot, but Allard was able to split a pair of lapped cars in turn one and gave himself a little extra breathing room.
The complexion of the race would change on that same lap though, as a lapped car spun around in turns three and four directly in front of Larson’s path, leaving the youngster nowhere to go. As he tried to take evasive action up top the defending GSC Rookie of the Year caught the wall and flipped to bring out the red flag and unfortunately end his chances at a second career series victory. It was a tough break for Larson, who was making just his third career start at the track, yet looked like a veteran at the 3/8 mile dirt oval, much like he does at every other track the series goes to. It certainly won’t be the last heard from Larson as he’ll be a threat for victory each and every weekend in 2010 driving the potent BK Motorsports entry.
With Larson out of the race it moved Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs up to second and on the restart the 23-year-old went to the highline and stayed with Allard for a couple of laps, but following that the Chico racer began to pull away to a sizable advantage over the rest of the field, just as he did the previous Saturday in Placerville. Campbell’s Brent Kaeding then began to make some noise and was able to get around Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan on lap-16 to claim third after battling with the former NARC Speedweek champ for a number of laps through traffic. The 13-time King of California then closed in on Suggs and looked to find a way by for the second position at the helm of his Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69.
The final caution of the race would appear on lap-21 when Golden State Challenge Series sophomore driver Brandon Carey of Ripon went up in smoke on the front stretch. For the restart the top-five drivers on the raceway were free of lapped cars and when the green lights came back on Kaeding attempted to power under Suggs and was able to get a wheel under him, but the Scotts Valley driver showed no intimidation and kept his foot in the throttle to charge back around off the second corner and maintain the runner-up spot. The closing laps saw Allard once again rocket away from the field aboard his Williams Motorsports, K&N Filters No. 0 to cross under the checkered flag ahead of Suggs and Kaeding to score his second GSC victory of the season after 30-laps of racing.
It was the 21st win of Allard’s career with the Golden State Challenge Series as he sits seven victories shy of tying fellow two-time King of California Steve Kent of Fresno for third on the all-time win list. “They’ve done some nice things to this track the last couple years and it’s become a pretty fun place to drive,” said the 33-year-old. “I want to give props to Evan Suggs for getting second and Brent for running third tonight because those two guys are going to be up here all year and these things are never going to be easy to win.” It also marked car owner Morrie William’s third career triumph at Antioch Speedway with him also claming a main event win during NARC Speedweek 1997 with driver Jimmy Carr and a GSC victory in 2006 with Dennis Moore Jr. at the helm of his familiar No. 0 sprinter.
For Suggs the second place result tied his career best Golden State Challenge Series finish as he also tallied a runner-up during last year’s Doug Fort Memorial at Santa Maria Speedway in July. “It feels awesome to come out of here with a second tonight and hopefully this makes my mom happy because she couldn’t be here tonight,” said the driver of the Suggs Racing, Lucas Oil Products No. 33e, whose mother Linda had never missed a sprint car event he competed in and hadn’t missed an actual race for him since an IKF National Kart event in 1997. “The car has been fast every night and I have to thank my team because we’ve found some consistency this year so that’s definitely given me some confidence and hopefully we can win one of these real soon.”
Kaeding gave it a hard run after Suggs for the second spot, but came up just short and crossed the line in third to score his second podium finish in a row to begin the Golden State Challenge Series season. “BK” started the race from sixth and made some nice moves like he always does at the Antioch Speedway to score another strong finish at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds track. “I have to congratulate Jonathan and Evan tonight for doing a great job and thank my team for giving me a good car in the main event,” Kaeding commented. “It was a nice way to finish the night after pulling the eight pill in the dash and I was able to get through traffic pretty good to get around a couple guys. The track stayed pretty fast, but it was racy and they’ve done a pretty good job with this place the last few times we’ve been here.”
Grass Valley’s Jason Statler did a solid job in the feature to come home in fourth aboard the DF Rios Construction, YAK Graphics No. 00 and rounding out the top-five was McMahan, who scored his second consecutive top-five finish behind the wheel of the Racing for the Troops, C&H Veteran Enterprises No. 26b mount. Completing the top-10 was Penngrove’s Alissa Geving, who tied her career best GSC finish, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Placerville’s Andy Gregg, Roseville’s Colby Copeland and American Canyon’s Matthew Davis.
Allard claimed the dash for the second week in a row with the three 10-lap heat races being picked-off by West Linn, Oregon’s Zach Zimmerly, Fremont’s Shane Golobic and Princeton’s Mason Moore. Both Zimmerly and Moore were making their first career starts at Antioch Speedway during the night. Allard’s fast-time of 11.840 to begin the night was also the fastest time ever recorded since the track’s reconfiguration and lengthening last year. Full results are available at http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com
The Golden State Challenge King of California 410 Sprint Car Series will now head for the always entertaining Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare next Saturday night for the annual running of the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial.