PETERSEN MEDIA
Hitting the dirt on possibly the smallest venue of the year, Jonathan Allard rallied from a 17th place starting spot to score an 11th place finish at the Merced Speedway on Friday night.
Just narrowly missing the qualifying inversion, Allard timed his Tri-C Machine/King Racing Products/K&N backed No. 3c in 17th fastest, putting him in the third row of his heat.
On a track that is traditionally very tough to pass on, Allard held the fifth spot all race long, and transferred safely into the feature event.
Lining up in the ninth row of the 40-lap affair, Allard focused on keeping his nose clean on the short-track and slowly pick up positions as they came to him.
He did just that as he slowly worked towards the top-10 when the race went green.
Chasing after Terry McCarl much of the race, Allard crept around the bottom of the speedway for much of the race, though he was able to pick up a few spots as he worked a lane higher then most at times.
Continuing to claw his way forward, Allard was able sneak past Tommy Tarlton late, and ended up picking up an 11th place finish.
“This place is always tricky,” Allard said. “We just narrowly missed out on being on the front row of our heat, and being in position to contend for a Dash spot, but we were able to move forward in the main, and that is a good thing,”
2014 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-5, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top 10’s-1.
ON TAP: Allard and his team will now head to the Calistoga Speedway this Saturday and Sunday night for two more World of Outlaw shows.