Tyler Allen takes another podium finish after pushing Ron Shultz Sr. all the way around the fastest 3/8th mile on the west coast, while the South Sound Speedway Limited Late Model points leader Billy Weber planted himself on Allen’s bumper as he fought to keep his lead in the points race. Allen continues to solidify his 4th place position in the points as the battle for the championship heats up between the young guns and the veterans.
The head games started early with a “Formula One” style qualifying session. This consisted of a 20 minute open session on the track and the fastest time declared the winner after 20 minutes. Allen went into staging with the car in race trim while others were in full qualifying setup. With the session started, Allen put himself into 3rd place with a 13.99 lap time. Ron Shultz Jr. was in second at 13.98 and Billy Weber went to the top of the charts with a 13.83. Allen left the track to have his crew tape up the car up and go into qualifying trim. With 10 minutes to go he entered the track as others went in for changes. Allen made another run, nipping at Weber’s lead with a 13.90 and moved Shultz Jr. down to 3rd. Allen is forced to leave again as the engine went to max temperature. Returning to the staging area, Allen strategically parks next to Weber. “I wanted him to know that I was willing to go try again, the strategy aspect in this style of qualifying makes for a lot of excitement”
With 2 minutes to go and his engine cooled down, Allen fires up his R&C Roofing Chevy and let Weber know he is going to try and knock him off the pole. He makes a final run and improves his time to 13.86 having made Weber sweat it out for his top qualifying spot. “We almost had it and know it was really exciting for the crowd to watch. We didn’t get it but we made him sweat.”
With the grid set and the invert posted, Allen started the race on the inside of row 4 with Weber on his outside. Little did Allen know but he would soon be again sitting side by side looking at Weber. With 3 laps complete, turn 4 offers Allen a front row seat to watch Hoye move Weber up the track and into the wall. (see www.Allenracing.com for the video) Weber, with no where to go, hits the wall, bounces back into Hoye and collects Allen in turn 2 spinning him into the infield kicking up the dirt. “I couldn’t see anything …then Weber rolled down right in front of me”. When the dust settled the two top qualifiers were again parked next to each other, but this time in a cloud of dust in the infield.
With no damage to the R& C roofing Chevy, Allen started inside on the 3rd row and in one lap moved into third place with the Shultz family hot on his tail. Another yellow on lap 7 and Allen used the commitment cone to start on the outside of the front row with the 69 car of Rich Spooner on the inside. Spooner makes a good start and Tyler ducks in behind the 69 and with only 2 laps of racing a wreck in turn 2 puts dirt all over the speedway. Allen and Spooner hit the dirt at full speed and drift their 2800 pound cars through the corner. With a yellow flag for cleanup the cone is out again and Allen starts on the outside front row again trying to make the pass. A great re-start with Shultz Jr. edging past Allen on the inside, Allen makes contact with Spooner as they go down the front stretch and moves in behind Shultz Jr. with Shultz Sr. hot on his tail. Single file racing and a number of wrecks bring the race to lap 24 where the strategy move of the night was made.
The top five in the points race were now in the top 5 positions of the race, the battle was on. A spin brings out the commitment cone and the difficult decision. With Allen trying to gain points on Hoye, he takes the inside row to protect his position, Shultz Jr. takes the outside putting the Shultz’s in command of the first row. Weber follows behind Allen with Hoye behind Weber on the inside. When the green flagged waved Shultz Sr. checks up going into turn 1 and Tyler gets on the brakes to keep from hitting him, leaving the inside lane open for Shultz Jr. and a clear path to 1st place. This would set up the bumping and banging to the checkered flag as the Shultz family owned the front of the field.
With a number of yellow flags the officials called for single file restarts. The 2nd through 5th place cars are set to battle it out with Shultz Sr. while Shultz Jr. pulled away from the field. Allen and Weber hook up to make their runs at Shultz Sr. As the laps wind down, Allen starts to get aggressive with Shultz Sr. Allen set up a number of runs into the corner and pushed on Shultz Sr. bumper, getting him sideways down the front stretch, Shultz Sr. saved it up every time protecting his position and showing his veteran skills. “These veterans know what they are doing, I put the bumper to him a few times but he was able to hang onto it. I wasn’t going to open the door for Billy by trying the outside.”
Hard racing until the end with Shultz Jr. taking first, Shultz Sr. second, Tyler Allen 3rd and Billy Weber 4th. Austin Hoye rounded out the top five for the night.
“I really enjoy racing these guys so hard, that’s what Saturday night racing is all about.”
Tyler Allen will run in the Miller 200 at South Sound Speedway on August 7th, 2010. Come watch Tyler hone is skills against the best in the Northwest as he prepares for his trip to North Carolina to compete in Richard Petty’s Driver Search II, Sept 13-16.
