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Jon Allard Looks Sharp in Bradway Memorial Win - By Bobby Gerould, 05/10/03, Chico, CA. …For the third straight year the Rick Wright owned #35 sprint car was the winning mount in the Dave Bradway JR. Memorial. Chico driver, Jon Allard, who won with Wright in 2001, was the first to the checkered flag in Saturday night's annual race that honors the life of Bradway. The immensely popular Northern California driver was tragically killed in a sprint car crash in 1987 in Washington.
"This is a special race. Dave Bradway JR. was a hero of mine, and that's why we came home", stated Allard, post race. "I also want to give warm congratulations to the only three time car owner winner of the event, Rick Wright. Dave and Diane Durica put their heart and soul into this race, and to be a two-time winner is special." Allard earned $5,400 for the popular hometown win that came in his first Golden State Challenge race since returning from a Midwest tour.
The reigning champion at Silver Dollar Speedway, Allard started third on the 22-car grid for the 30-lap feature. A "six"-inversion pill placed Doug Lippincott of Minden, Nevada and Tim Kaeding of San Jose on the front row. At the green flag, Lippincott charged into the lead on the slippery, glazed-over surface. However, Allard quickly closed on Lippincott and moved past him on the backchute on lap two. With bonus lap money hustled up by the Durica's available to the top three running cars on each lap of the feature, all drivers were trying to get to the front quickly. The action slowed on lap five when John Gray stopped over the edge of turn two, bringing out the caution. Gray restarted at the tail.
On the restart Lippincott threw a surprise slide-job on Allard. Lippincott, who has tasted victory in Chico points racing, executed the move and was leading as the 800 horsepower winged sprinters throttled off of turn two. Lippincott led lap six, before Allard reclaimed the top spot with a back-straightaway pass on lap seven. What turned out to be the race winning pass occurred as Lippincott raced over the edge of the track with two wheels in the pit area push off lane!
The leaders were just reaching traffic on lap 12 when the next caution appeared for a stopped Colby Weisz in turn two. By lap 13, Brad Furr was making his presence felt. After starting 17th, Furr was running ninth. On lap 17, Furr moved the Sanmina-SCI Eagle #2 into seventh place with a low groove pass of Dennis Moore JR. The race was slowed on lap 19, again a caution for Weisz, who was done for the night.
On lap 22, third running Tim Kaeding suffered a broken front-end on his ABC Ready Mix # 7T, after contact from Jason Meyers in turn three. The folded front-end on Kaeding's car knocked the defending "King of California" out of the race. Kaeding then let his displeasure with Meyers be known by hurling first his steering wheel, and later his helmet at Meyers' #1 as Meyers circled the track under caution. Following the race, Golden State Challenge officials disqualified Tim for his actions.
At the lap 23 restart, Brent Kaeding was running seventh, up from his 12th starting spot. On lap 28, Furr moved by Craig Stidham to take fourth. Meyers attained the runner up spot on lap 29, only to have Lippincott respond with a hair-raising final lap. Lippincott drove his #4L off the track on the back cute again, making a wide arc of the final two turns to edge Meyers at the line for second.
Lippincott, when prodded by infield announcer, David Vodden about some of the improbable moves he had pulled off, said, "They weren't impossible. We really needed that one with the kind of season we've been having. I have to thank Rod Fauver for staying with us, and Gary Stanton Mopar too."
About his third place finish, Meyers stated, "We had a pretty good run but I'm not excited about what happened (with Kaeding). I saw a hole, and the hole closed up and it happened. I'm not proud of that, but I've been on the other end of that too." Meyers went on to congratulate Lippincott for his career best drive in Golden State Challenge competition.
After the top trio, Furr was fourth, Stidham fifth, sixth through tenth were, Brent Kaeding, Blake Robertson, Jason Statler, Shain Matthews, and Moore JR. In passing 13 cars, Furr was the hard charger of the race. Johnny Gray (20th to 11th) turned in a strong forward drive as did Brent Kaeding (12th to 6th), and Matthews (13th to 9th). Matthews notched his second consecutive top ten in GSC action since debuting a new Maxim chassis.
Meyers set quick time to earn the BR MotorSports qualifying award. Meyers' lap of 13.678 was good enough to outrun 43 other teams on the quarter-mile. Meyers also received a $500 bonus for his best lap. Craig Stidham snared the B&B Oval track products heat race. Other heat winners included Brent Kaeding, Wayne Williams, and visiting Jimmy Carter who towed 14 hours from British Columbia, Canada. Each heat winner was given a trophy that in-turn was given away to a lucky child in the stands. Race fans from www.HoservilleCA.com presented each heat winner with a certificate for a right rear tire, and front wing from Kaeding Performance.
Gray won the Last Chance Race with a surge over Robertson in a photo finish. Andy Forsberg, Jason York, Destiney Hays and Weisz also transferred to the feature. Bob Maiwald was the consolation race winner. In that race, Bernie Sloop of Chico brought out the red flag with a turn four flip.
Brent Kaeding regained the points standings lead. The battle will resume as the GSC heads to Watsonville Speedway Saturday May 17th for their initial visit of 2003. The tight quarter-mile near the Pacific Ocean is always a welcome site. The Golden State Challenge "King of California" series is sponsored by Hoosier Tires, CL Bryant, BR MotorSports, and B&B Oval Track Products.
May 10, 2003 Silver Dollar Speedway, Chico, CA. Golden State Challenge Round Eight
BR MotorSports Qualifying: Driver Hometown Car Time
* Furr's original time was disallowed when he did not report to the scales immediately after qualifying.
B&B Oval Track Products Heat One: 1. Stidham, 2. Furr, 3. J. Allard, 4. Meyers, 5. S. Allard, 6. Forsberg, 7. Becker, 8. Wallace, 9. B. Maiwald, 10. Fowzer
Heat two: 1. Brent Kaeding, 2. Moore JR., 3. Statler, 4. Crockett, 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Weisz, 7. Rescino JR., 8. Skinner, 9. B. Maiwald, 10. Shelton, 11. Sousa.
Heat three: 1.Williams, 2. Riolo, 3. T. Kaeding, 4. Matthews, 5. Robertson, 6. Gray, 7. Walberg, 8. Ochs, 9. Scott, 10. Evans
Heat four: 1. Carter, 2. Tarlton, 3. Pylant, 4. Lippincott, 5. York, 6. Coelho, 7. Hays, 8. Finley, 9. Sloop, 10. Lewis, 11. Binstock.
Consolation Race: 1. B. Maiwald
Last Chance Race (12 laps. Top 6 transfer.): 1. Gray, 2. Forsberg, 3. York, 4. Hays, 5. Weisz, 6. B. Maiwald, 7. Rescino JR., 8. Bud Kaeding, 9. Finley, 10. Walberg, 11. Sousa, 12. Becker, 13. Skinner, 14. Ochs, 15. Shelton, 16. Coelho, 17. Wallace.
Feature (30 laps) 1. J. Allard, 2. Lippincott, 3. Meyers, 4. Furr, 5. Stidham, 6. Brent Kaeding, 7. Robertson, 8. Statler, 9. Matthews, 10. Moore JR., 11. Gray, 12. Forsberg, 13. Carter, 14. Pylant, 15. Crockett, 16. York, 17. Tarlton, 18. Hays, 19. Williams, 20. Riolo, 21. Weisz, 22. T. Kaeding.