Jonathan Allard looking for success at upcoming “Western Swing” on way to the $40,000-to-win Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup

Jonathan Allard
Jonathan Allard

By Gary Thomas

Chico, CA – June 4, 2011…Following some tough luck recently Chico, California’s Jonathan Allard will look to rebound with a busy stretch of races on deck, starting with this coming Friday’s King of the West sanctioned “Tribute to Gary Patterson/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial” at his home track of Silver Dollar Speedway.

Allard last Sunday had a solid night going at the Calistoga Speedway with the Golden State King of the West Sprints, having set fast-time to begin the evening, but got upside down in the third and fourth corners while trying to charge his way to the front in the feature.

The two-time Golden State 410 champion currently ranks fourth in the KWS standings and is 64-points behind current series leader Tim Kaeding. Despite being up front at every race so far this season, a trio of dnf’s have cost him some valuable points that he will be trying to make up with 13-events left on the schedule.

“It hasn’t been quite the start to the year that we’ve been hoping for, but there is a lot of racing coming up and this is usually when we start to hit our stride,” Allard said. “Ashley Smith and my guys have been giving me some real fast cars and a few of the finishes just weren’t indicative of how good we’ve been.”

The big stretch of racing will kick-off with the “Tribute to Gary Patterson/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial” next Friday June 10 at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway. Extra money and awards will be on the line all night long at the event that is expected be the biggest so far this season for the Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series.

In his career Allard is tied with Cambell’s Brent Kaeding for the most wins in Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial history, scoring four overall triumphs at the prestigious race. “JA” was also the winner of the Tribute to Gary Patterson in 2007, which marked the final time it was held at Calistoga Speedway, before being moved to Silver Dollar.

On Saturday June 11 Allard will then bring the Williams Motorsports, Red Line Oil No. 0 machine to the Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Oregon for another round of Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series action. Monday June 13 will then see him in competition at the Cottage Grove Speedway for a non-sanctioned 410 sprint car event.

Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup features $40,000 up for grabs to winner at Skagit Speedway-

All of those events are a lead-up to the huge $40,000-to-win/ 40th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington. The famed event takes place on June 16, 17 and 18 and packs a $175,000 total purse over three-nights of racing. Allard has captured the event twice before and was leading last year’s finale, when contact with a lapped car took away his shot at number three.

Allard and Williams Motorsports will also welcome new sponsors for the 40th Dirt Cup including Blade RV, Longacre Racing and Village Green Resort.

“This is always one of the most fun stretches of the season for us,” commented Allard. “The Bradway/Patterson in Chico will be a big night and then we always enjoy running Medford and Cottage Grove. The Dirt Cup is also as big as it gets out here and we’ve been fortunate to win it a couple times, but have also had it taken away twice when we’ve been in position to win, so you never know what to expect.”

When it comes to drivers to beat at the Dirt Cup, Allard has been right at the front of the mix since he joined the Morrie & Katie Williams owned team in 2005.

After winning back-to-back Dirt Cup’s in ’05 & ’06, the Chico driver proceeded to lead 34 of 40-laps during Saturday’s finale in ’07, until an incident in traffic relegated him to a second place finish behind Brandon Wimmer.

In ’08 Allard was running third in the finale when he got upside down in turn four to put an end to his Dirt Cup that year. In ’09 he had earned a front row starting spot for Saturday’s A-scramble, but motor problems forced him to miss that & put him in the third row for the 40-lapper, where he finished sixth.

Last season Allard won Friday’s prelim feature for the third straight year after starting 13th on the grid and was dominating the finale on Saturday, until contact with a lapped car left him parked in the first corner. Keeping that in mind Allard will be searching to seal the deal this season, with the most money on the line in Dirt Cup history.

For more on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com