PETERSEN MEDIA
Placerville, CA)-Saturday night at the Petaluma Speedway Chico, CA pilot, Jonathan Allard, became the first repeat winner with Civil War Series Presented by Flowmaster of the 2015 season in dominating fashion as he also earned the series’ final lock in position to the 55th Annual Johnny Key Classic.
Sharing the front row with local product, Jake Haulot, Allard showed he was the man to beat early in the race as he ran away from the field in the opening three laps before the race’s first caution would fly.
The lap three caution would start a string of four cautions and a red over the next five laps, though Allard could continue to lead the way but behind him things were getting interesting as Colby Copeland and Andy Forsberg were right on his tail.
A restart on lap eight saw Allard lift his front wheels off the ground, as he did this Copeland was able to jump into the lead, only to the see the caution flag fly and negate his pass.
The ensuing single file restart would see Allard again set sail on the field, as Copeland continued to run in the second spot as Andy Forsberg flanked him, while seventh row starters, Justin Sanders and Geoff Ensign worked their way inside the top-five.
Just as the race reached the halfway point, another string of cautions would slow the race’s pace, and under a yellow on lap 14, it was apparent that second place running Colby Copeland had a rear tire going down, and he would ultimately pull to the work area.
When the race went green for the final time on the 16th lap, Allard did as he did all night and got away from the field, but the battle inside the top-five was very entertaining. With Sanders pressuring Forsberg for the second spot, Herman Klein worked his way forward from his 17th starting spot, and challenged with Jason Toft for a top five position.
As the laps clicked down, Sanders would clear Forsberg in very thick lapped traffic to take over the second spot, while Allard continued to lap cars up front at a frantic pace.
With the Ed Entz checkered flag waiving in the air, Jonathan Allard would grab his second Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster win of the season, while Sanders finished in the second spot, and Andy Forsberg rounded out the podium.
“It is great to get another win with this series, and get our second win of the weekend,” Jonathan Allard said as he was also victorious during unsanctioned competition on Friday night. “These guys have been working so hard, and it is nice to be up here. This entire team really thanks Clyde and Marion Lamar for letting us compete weekly.”
After finishing third during the series’ visit to the Petaluma Speedway in March, series point leader, Justin Sanders, talked about his second place run on Saturday night.
“I thought this was one of the best Petaluma surfaces I have raced on in a very long time, and had a blast,” Sanders explained. “We had a really good car, and had fun battling with Andy Forsberg late in the race, and working our way forward from the 14th starting spot.”
Now competing weekly at the Petaluma Speedway in 2015, Andy Forsberg claim the final spot on the podium.
“Our night got off to a rough start in time trials, but luckily things went our way in the heat race, and we earned a spot in the dash,” Forsberg added. “It was a strange feature event, but we were able to find ourselves on the front stretch with a podium finish, and we will certainly take it and move forward.”
Geoff Ensign would finish in the fourth spot while Jason Toft would round out the top-five. Herman Klein would finish sixth, Trevor Schmid seventh, Tommy Laliberte eighth, Koen Shaw ninth, and Colby Copeland would rebound from his late race flat to finish in the 10th spot.
All in all 26 cars were in action on Saturday night, with Sean Becker kicking the night off by setting quick time honors during qualifications.
Heat race wins went to Jonathan Allard, Colby Copeland, and Andy Forsberg, while Jake Haulot won the dash.
During the B Main, Jason Toft would hold off a charging Herman Klein to score the win, while Robbie Price, Tommy Laliberte, Ivan Worden, and Marissa Polizzi also earned transfer spots into the feature event.
ON TAP: The Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster will come back to life on Friday night, July 10th at the Ocean Speedway for the Howard Kaeding Classic.
WINNERS: Shane Golobic (March 20th, Marysville Raceway), Bradley Terrell (March 28th, Petaluma Speedway), Sean Becker (April 11th, Calistoga Speedway), Andy Forsberg (May 23rd Marysville Raceway), Jonathan Allard (May 24th Silver Dollar Speedway), Greg DeCaires (May 30th Placerville Speedway), Jonathan Allard (June 20th, Petaluma Speedway)
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster, and find complete results and point standings by clicking over to www.racepmg.com, ‘Liking’ www.facebook.com/civilwarsprints, or following us on twitter at www.twitter.com/civilwarsprints. For more information on Flowmaster, please visit www.flowmastermufflers.com.
CIVIL WAR SERIES PRESENTED BY FLOWMASTER- Founded in 1991 as the North-South Series, the Civil War Sprint Car Series was born in 1993 giving 360ci Sprint Cars in California a sanctioning body. What started as just a handful of races at three different tracks has evolved into quite the series. In 2015, the Civil War Sprint Car Series will host 14 events at 8 different tracks around California.