Allard snatches purse from Ballou at speedway

June 14, 2006

By HARLAN OSBORNE
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

If there was anybody at Petaluma Speedway who could unseat red hot Robert Ballou, and end his two-race winning streak, it was Jonathon Allard. The Chico driver had been beaten the two previous races by the Rocklin Rocket and wanted to prevent Ballou from winning his third straight Golden State Challenge Sprint Car feature and pocketing a $1,000 bonus for notching a threepeat.

"He spoiled my night the last two races so payback is good," said Allard, sporting a wide grin following his breathtaking victory over the precocious 17-year-old Ballou. The triumph, which earned the winner $3,000, was Allard's fourth of the season and second this year on Petaluma Speedway's heavy clay. "I didn't think we'd be able to catch him, but we just happened to find the right line and I was able to put the car where I wanted to."

A third of the way into the 30-lap event, front-row starter Ballou, who was already running in lapped traffic, looked like a sure thing, but two consecutive yellow flags cut into his margin and allowed sixth-starting Allard to close the gap.

Allard served notice to Ballou when he grabbed third place from Ronnie Day on Lap 11, and the runner-up spot from Kevin Pylant on the next circuit, then shadowed the leader's every move for six sizzling tours before squeezing inside of Ballou coming off of Turn 4.

With the tables turned, and Allard's Kistler-powered Maxim handling superbly, Ballou became the pursuer, but with nothing but green flag racing the rest of the way, Allard kept the hammer down and scored the victory.

Day had been battling Pylant for third place the entire race, but flipped just as Allard was grabbing the checkers, lifting Pylant to the podium. Fast qualifier Brent Kaeding, who set a new track record with time of 12.607, got caught up in Day's cartwheel and dropped to 10th place. Rounding out the finish behind Allard, Ballou, and dash winner Pylant were Peter Murphy, Dennis Moore Jr., Jason Statler, 14th-starting Johnny Gray and Petaluma Speedway regular Jason McIntosh.

Kyle Hirst won the battle between front row starters when he put a top side move on Stephen Allard after five laps to prevail in the 12-lap semi-main. Following in order were Garrett Iishi, Brian Azevedo, Carl Droivold and Norm Johns.

The All-Pro Late Model feature also ended sensationally as Jeff Decker, who started 12th in the 14-car event and was later sent to the rear for his involvement in a tangle, hunted down and passed race leader David Lindt Jr. in dramatic fashion to notch his second victory of the season.

"I got a good run on the (back) straightaway and I was either going to beat him or crash," the highly competitive Decker said afterwards.

Lindt, who drove in both the Golden State race and the Late Model feature, had his car dialed in as he chased early leaders Derek Nance and Nick Perivolaris. When Perivolaris broke on Lap 6, Lindt inherited the lead, and looked very strong despite Decker's huge presence on his tail.

Decker made his move on the 20th and final lap to collect the impressive conquest.

Lindt finished a close second to Decker, followed by Gary Johnson, Paul Guglielmoni, Don Iverson, Jeremy Petrell, Ed Sans Jr. and Rod Arnold.