Stephen Allard puts Smitty Boys Racing No. 14s sprint car in victory lane at Placerville Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – May 10, 2010…Making just his third start with Smitty Boys Racing Chico, California's Stephen Allard charged from the ninth starting position in the main event on Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway and tallied his first victory of the 2010 season.
The previous week saw Allard carve his way from 22nd to seventh at the track when the California Sprint Car Civil War Series was in town and this past Saturday's win came during the fifth Red Hawk Casino championship point race at the high-banked quarter-mile clay oval.
"We had been real good the first couple races together and it's pretty awesome to come out here and get a win for these guys tonight," said Allard. "I'm really happy to drive for the Smitty Boys Racing team and can't think them enough for believing in me and giving me a shot to drive this car, because I'm definitely having a lot of fun out here."
Allard opened the evening at the Placerville Speedway by qualifying 10th fastest overall in the 25-car field, before scoring a third place finish in the heat race to transfer into the feature aboard the AA Johnson & Sons Concrete, Laughs Unlimited, Sticky Graphics No. 14s sprinter.
When the 25-lap lap main event came to the speedway the former two-time Silver Dollar Speedway 410 track champion lined-up from the inside of the fourth row, but he wasn't too content to stay there for very long. Allard put his machine towards the top of the El Dorado County Fairgrounds bullring and began to make his way forward as the race went on. With the event winding its way down he had made it up to third and attempted to make his move, as he appeared to be a bit quicker than the two cars in front.
A lap 18 restart then saw Allard look to "set-up" the top-two drivers on the speedway, but just as that happened Chad Compton and Mason Moore made contact while battling the lead, which resulted in them dropping out and it moved the Butler Built Performance, Smitty Boys Racing No. 14s to the top-spot. Once out in front the veteran driver had no worries and drove off to cross the Ed Entz checkered flag and give car owners' Darin & Steve Smith their first win since becoming a team in the off-season.
"We had the car great in the main event and didn't really want to see those two guys wreck, because I felt like we were coming after them and it would have been a three-way fight over the final laps," commented Allard. "I've seemed to be on the opposite end of those kinds of deals quite a bit the last couple years, so it feels nice to get some good luck and come out on top tonight. I also want to thank all the fans for coming out and supporting us all tonight because we really do appreciate it."
Co-owner Darin "Heavy-D" Smith was also extremely excited to get into victory lane on Saturday in just his third night of having Allard in the car. "We're pumped to get a win here and it's been a pleasure having "SA" in this Smitty Boys race car," he said. "The first week we were in position to win at Placerville, but had some bad luck and then last weekend with Civil War Stephen drove his tail off to come from the rear and get seventh. We no doubt have to thank all of our sponsors and supporters and really hope this is going to be a sign of things to come for us."
Allard and Smitty Boys Racing are expected to be back in action at the Placerville Speedway this coming Saturday night, as the team continues to get tuned-up and be eligible for the $5,000-to-win bounty at the Mark Forni Classic in July. "This is the time we are really trying to get gelled and make sure we're at the top of our game for the big races coming up in the summer," said Heavy-D. "It hasn't taken us long to get up to speed though so that's been nice and we'll be trying hard to start building some momentum in the upcoming weeks."
Chico's Stephen Allard drove the Smitty Boys Racing, AA Johnson & Sons Concrete, Laughs Unlimited No. 14s sprinter to his first victory of the year on Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway. It marked Allard's first victory since the winning the ASCS NW Region season-finale in Yakima, Washington last September. Photo by Steve Lamothe of http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
- Gary Thomas on May 10, 2010
- Article Date: 5/10/2010