From Gary Thomas
Fernley, NV — (May 18, 2013) — After battling through adversity at times early in the season three-time & defending King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series champion Jonathan Allard put it all together on Saturday night at Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway and charged to his first win of the year, during what was the sixth round of competition for the tour.
Allard the previously weekend had scored his best KWS finish of the season up to that point by running second in Petaluma and this past Saturday executed a veteran move on a double file restart to get under rookie contender Cory Eliason for the lead. After that it was clear sailing for the Chico, California veteran as he drove off to claim the $3500 top prize and his 33rd career Golden State/ King of the West 410 Series win, which ranks third all-time.
“We’ve had our ups and downs to begin the season, but my guys have stuck with me and I couldn’t be happier to be standing in victory lane right now,” said a very ecstatic Allard on the front stretch. “This car was a rocket ship tonight and I really have to thank Ashley Smith, Bob Scovel, our new addition this week Randy V and my whole team that works so hard. I also want to thank you fans for coming out tonight and we’ll look forward to seeing you all again soon here in Fernley.”
The second night of the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway weekend saw 26-cars return for the finale and earning the pole in the main event was Visalia’s Cory Eliason, who picked up his first career King of the West 410 Dash victory earlier in the evening. When the green lights flashed on Eliason charged into the lead and took command of the 22-car starting field in the 30-lapper. The Central Valley youngster was also in search of his first ever King of the West win and early on did a great job to hold off the pack of hungry racers.
Eliason soon had Allard breathing down his neck, while at the same time having to deal with lapped traffic around the 3/8 mile oval. “JA” hounded the rear bumper of the Eliason Racing Composites No. 00x mount and looked to find an opportunity to get by, but Eliason hit his marks to perfection. It then became a five car fight for the lead just before the halfway point with Corning’s Bud Walberg, St. Helena’s Rico Abreu and Sacramento’s Willie Croft joining the fray. Just as things looked to get interesting however, the yellow lights would flash on and bring the party to a stop.
With a double file restart on tap Eliason led the field into turn one, but slipped up just enough to allow Allard the opportunity to slice his way to the inside and steal the lead away. Allard showed his strength following that as he blasted away from the rest of the pack and looked extremely motivated to get that first KWS win of the season. With just over five-laps remaining it was then heartbreak city for Eliason, as the throttle linkage broke on his sprinter and caused him to slow to a stop. This moved Abreu up to second, but despite a pair of double file restarts, nothing could slow the fast moving Allard who crossed the checkered by 1.303 seconds for victory in the Morrie & Katie Williams owned No. 0 machine.
Abreu capped a strong weekend by finishing second at the conclusion aboard his Abreu Vineyards No. 24 mount. The 21-year-old has now finished on the podium in all but one King of the West event so far this season, showing great consistency and maturity behind the wheel during his third season in Sprint Car racing. “I have to give a big thanks to Paul Silva, Trevor Canales and all my guys once again,” said Abreu, who hasn’t finished worse than fourth this season with KWS. “I want to congratulate Jonathan Allard on the win and we’re excited to move on to Tulare next weekend.”
Croft also continued his impressive start to the season and came home third at the checkered flag behind the wheel of the Tri-C Manufacturing No. 3c Machine. It marked the fourth podium finish of the season for “Double Down” and his third podium in a row dating back to his win on May 11 in Petaluma. “It’s just been a great start to the season for us and I can’t thank Lee Lindgren and my whole team enough,” said Croft, who is also getting married on Sunday to long time fiancée Samantha Hirst. “I’m happy to be standing up here on the podium again. We really are in a groove right now and I can’t wait for next weekend.”
Bringing home his career best King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series finish in fourth was Bud Walberg, who did a tremendous job all night in the Walberg Inc. No. 55 mount. The former dirt modified driver also qualified fifth quick and ran third in the Dash to complete a very impressive night. Rounding out the top-five and rebounding nicely after a first lap incident was Sydney, Australia’s Peter Murphy in the Dalton’s Landscaping No. 1nz Sprinter. It marked Murphy’s best finish of the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series season up to this point. Grass Valley’s Jason Statler scored sixth for the second consecutive night at RTF Speedway. The “Big Guy” in fact has finished in sixth the last three events.
Youngster Chris Martin from Des Moines, Iowa claimed his best ever KWS finish in seventh after winning the Last Chance Qualifier and starting 14th in the feature. Fresno’s Craig Stidham crossed the stripe in eighth, with Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst and Laton’s Geoffrey Strole completing the top-10. For Strole it also marked his first career top-10 finish with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series and earned him the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award after starting 19th.
As previously mentioned Chris Martin won the LCQ, with Cory Eliason claiming the six-lap Dash. Kaeding Performance heat race wins went to Jason Statler, Cory Eliason and Kyle Hirst. Willie Croft paced the 26-car field in BR Motorsports qualifying by turning a new track record at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway. Croft toured the 3/8 mile oval in 13.673 seconds.
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will return to action next Saturday & Sunday May 25 & 26 at the Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California. The Memorial Day Weekend double-header will pay tribute to brothers Chris & Brian Faria in the annual “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial” at the one-third mile clay oval. Advance tickets can be purchased by contacting the Thunderbowl box office at 559-688-0909 and for more info on the track visit www.thunderbowlraceway.com