By Troy Henning
(Chico, CA 5-7-10)…There’s no place like home. Chico’s Jonathan Allard returned to his home track for the first time in 2010 and won the 25-lap sprint car main event. Allard passed early leader Kevin Sharrah on lap 11 and held off a charging Shane Stewart for the exciting win. “It’s always a pleasure to come back to Silver Dollar and win in my hometown,” Allard said in his post race interview. The win was not an easy one. In Allard’s heat race he was pushed up the track that resulted in him flipping upside down. It took help from a lot of teams to put the Morrie and Katie Williams #0 back together again. “I have to thank the McMillen’s, John Steck, Tiner and a whole bunch of people who helped put the car back in one piece. It was pretty torn up after the flip”
Orland driver BJ Martin scored an impressive win during the Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Shootout Series main event. It was round three of the traveling series that will see 12 races at three different track. “Wallace gave me a strong run off of turn four on the last lap and somehow I was able to beat him to the line for the win,” said Martin. He was referring to Billy Wallace who made a last lap charge on the top of the track for the win. He came up a car length short.
Other winner during the Friday night Feather Falls Casino / Riebes Auto Parts championship series were Yuba City driver Jerry Bartlett and Chico’s Dillon Silverman. Bartlett said, “That 88 car was fast again but we were able to hold him off. Even with the low car count I think we still put on a good show for the win.” Silverman was very happy in victory lane. “I came out to this track as a kid and grew up in the stands watching my favorite drivers. This is like the most excited I have ever been for a win.”
Allard started the night off with the Motor Wear International quick time award by blistering the speedway at an 11.532. After the strong start he wound up flipping in the heat race. >From there he started on the pole for the B main event. He went on win the 12-lap race. Allard started in the third row, fifth spot, but by lap two he was in third. On lap six he moved into the second spot when Brett Miller’s right front tire tore away from his car and the potent 1x car came to a stop in turn four. Allard chased Kevin Sharrah for the next four laps until he was able to make the pass. Sharrah would stoop a few laps later. At first Sharrah thought it was a rear end problem but during their post race inspection they discovered a drive line problem.
ManCamp Motorsports and the Mootz Family sponsored the Friday night race. They gave away many gifts to the fans and over 200 individual bags of candy to the kids. Handy Racing Promotions wants to thank them for their support.
Shane Stewart moved into the second spot on lap 12. The National ASCS Champion and current point leader was a surprise entrant for the weekend’s racing action. Stewart began to chase down Allard for the top spot. On lap 20 Stewart was running the top of the track and closed to the the rear of Allard’s car. However, going into turn on, Stewart missed the top just by a fraction and he also lost control of the car. He gathered it back up but was not too far behind Allard to close the gap. Allard cruised on the final few laps to record the win, his 39th career win at Chico.
Andy Gregg finished in the third spot. It was a strong run for the Guts Racing/7 Industries Clothing #16x. Gregg is a true ambassador of the sport and plans on doing some in depth videos this summer about the sport of sprint car racing. Traveler Logan Forler had an amazing run. Forler started 16th and finished in the fourth spot. Alissa Geving scored a top five finish. Geving started 14th and was competitive all night battling with the likes of Andy Forsberg and Jason Statler.
Chico’s Kenny Allen scored his first 410 sprint car heat win in front of his hometown crowd. Allen led all 8-laps in heat one. Geving scored the win in heat two. Dan Simpson did an impressive job to hold off Brett Miller in heat three. Reno, NV driver Mark Tabor Jr. won the fourth heat race. It was a good run for a driver that always seem to support the Bradway Jr. weekend.
Twenty-seven wingless sprints showed up for round three of the Joe Hunt Magnetos series. Orland driver BJ Martin scored the win in exciting fashion. Martin held off a charging Billy Wallace on the last lap. Martin shot out of the gate as the leader. On lap six Terry Schank Jr. passed Martin for the lead. Schank then proceeded to extend his lead. While Schank closed in on the back markers, one of the cars spun and collected Schank Jr. He stopped on the track and it brought out a yellow. Schank Jr. restarted at the rear of the field and passed enough cars to finish ninth. Behind the top two were Johnny Reeves and James Swenney. Reeves solid finish will keep him at the top of the points standings. Swenney was the hardest charging car all night. He started in the 18th spot and moved all the way to fourth. Sweeney is an exciting young driver that runs both the wingless cars and winged 360’s. Fifth place went to Chico driver Mitch Miller. Another strong charge towards the front was from Taylor Simas. The star basketball player now turned wingless sprint car driver started in the 17th spot and finished sixth. The wingless driver brought an exciting style of racing tonight that has a lot to do with the hard work by all the local promoters and Joe Hunt Magnetos. Simas won the 10-lap B main event. Timmy Sherman Jr. won the first heat. Rowdy McClenon won the second heat. Ryan Bernal started third and went on to win the third heat. Fast Eddy Lewis lead all the laps to win the fourth heat.
Jerry Bartlett clean swept the Dirt Solution Late Model night. He won the eight lap heat race and held off Tom Arbogast to win the 15-lap main event. Five cars attended tonights racing action. Hopefully the word gets out and by the next race that is in five weeks the turnout will be better. This class is exciting to watch and would put on a great show if there is enough of a car count.
Dillion Silverman won the ASCS Midgets main event. Silverman also won the the divisions heat race. Silverman is a high school senior at Chico and drove a dominant race tonight. He was followed by Tom Doherty and Lonny Alton.
Full results can be found at www.silverdollarspeedway.com