6/3/2010
Sprint Source
Stephen Allard & Smitty Boys score Civil War win at Chico
Stephen Allard and Smitty Boys Racing pick up first California Sprint Car Civil War Series victory of season Sunday night at Silver Dollar Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – June 3, 2010… Focusing on having fun since joining Smitty Boys Racing in late-April former two-time Silver Dollar Speedway champion Stephen Allard returned to his home track for the first time in 2010 this past weekend and beat out a 49-car field for his first California Sprint Car Civil War Series win of the year on Sunday night.
The win marked Allard’s second triumph of the season, in what was just his fifth outing aboard the AA Johnson & Sons Concrete, Laughs Unlimited No. 14s sprinter and was also his first victory at the Silver Dollar Speedway since his most recent championship year in 2007.
“It has been a while since I’ve won a race here in Chico so it feels really good to get back into victory lane at this place,” said Allard. “We’ve been really fast ever since we became a team a little over a month ago and have also won a race in Placerville so everything has been going great so far. They’re a fun bunch of guys to race for and it’s a good situation to be in.”
Allard and the Smitty Boys Racing special owned by Steve Smith with partner “Heavy-D” hit the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds on Saturday evening for the kick-off of the annual Memorial Day Weekend fair event, which traditionally opens with a non-sanctioned 360 sprint car event. The veteran driver began the night by qualifying third fastest in the 34-car field and then drove from fifth to second in his heat race to transfer into the main event.
Going from the fourth row in the feature Allard tried to fight his way forward on the well prepared and racy Silver Dollar Speedway bullring. With the race going on he began to dice it up with multiple drivers and was able to make the move around Ryan Gomes and Mason Moore to secure third prior to the checkered flag after 25-laps of racing. “It was a good run in the main event to get up to third and was a lot of fun racing with them guys late in the race,” said Allard. “We got rolling real good there as the feature went on and thought we would have had a shot at second if we had more laps.”
Coming back on Sunday to the quarter-mile bullring Allard opened the fourth round of action for the California Sprint Car Civil War Series by timing in seventh quickest overall and transferring through his heat to put him directly into the feature, where started from the outside of the second row.
When racing got underway Allard charged into the lead and finessed his way to a comfortable margin on the slicked off surface. With drivers fighting it out behind him the Chico veteran did his best to hit his marks out front and not allow anyone behind him an opportunity to get by. As the race wound down and the white flag came out he then felt heavy pressure from Princeton’s Mason Moore and duo would put on a show for packed house over the final circuit.
With Allard still in front Moore charged to the top and looked to get around, but as they raced through three and four Moore ended up over the edge of the track and making contact with the fourth corner wall, as Allard crossed under the checkered flag to record the win. “I hated to see that happen to Mason, because he’s a good young kid and the F&F guys have him going really good this year and he’s going to be winning some races here soon,” said Allard. “I just really have to thank my team though for giving me the chance to drive for them. This car has been a rocket ship ever since the first night I drove it and it has given me a lot confidence.”
Team partner and wrench Darin “Heavy-D” Smith also shared his satisfaction with how the overall weekend went. “You really couldn’t ask for a better two nights and to finish the weekend off with a win was awesome,” he commented. “Stephen Allard is just the coolest guy around and is basically my perfect definition of a sprint car driver so it has been great to work with him. It’s also really nice to be able to have Steve Smith second in the owner points with Civil War right now and for us to be in that position with a start up team like this is pretty cool.”
Next up for Allard and Smitty Boys Racing will be this Saturday’s Mel Hall Memorial at the Marysville Raceway Park, which will pay $2,500 to the winner of the main event.
“We can’t wait to get back on the track this weekend at Marysville,” said Heavy-D. “This has been some of the most fun I’ve ever had in racing and I really feel we have a shot to win every night we roll into the pits, so that’s pretty much all you can ask for. We have some of the coolest crew members around too so I want to thank them, as well as all the people who are supporting us this year and we just hope to keep this car up front every week.”
Chico's Stephen Allard and Princeton's Mason Moore embrace following the main event where the two fought it out for the win on the last lap. With the victory Allard has now scored two wins since becoming the driver of the AA Johnson & Sons Concrete, Laughs Unlimited No. 14s sprint car in late-April. Photo by Steve Lamothe of http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
Submitted By: Gary Thomas