HammerDownUSA.com
$4000
bounty draws Rocklin’s Ballou to incredible
By
PLACERVILLE,
CA – Entering the Golden State Challenge Series event at Placerville Speedway
on Saturday night, Rocklin resident
Despite the pressure, the 17 year old driver in just his
second full year of sprint car racing found himself before a grandstand in pure
pandemonium late Saturday night as he lived up to the challenge. Ballou muscled
his way to victory lane for the second time in one weekend and took home a
total of $4,000 in total winnings in a race that many are calling one of the
best in recent track history.
After wining the Golden State Challenge series feature at
Watsonville Speedway Friday night, it was announced at
By late Saturday,
After finishing fourth in the preliminary dash earlier in
the evening, Ballou started the feature event on the outside of the second row
but knew he had his work ahead of him with Kevin Pylant of Santa Cruz, pointer
Jonathan Allard of Chico and the always fast Andy Forsberg of Auburn ahead of
him for the start.
When the green flag waved, Ballou quickly shot into second
place and began stalking Allard as his prey. Throughout the event, various
caution flags prevented lapped traffic from becoming a serious factor for the
two front runners and permitted a good old fashioned, nail biting battle for
the win. For Allard the race was about scoring his fourth win of the year and
preventing his opponent from cashing in on this exclusive award. For Ballou it
was not about the money, but rather for the prestige of living up to the
challenge that many thought was impossible in today’s competitive sport.
After racing in Allard’s wake for 18 laps, it was on lap 19
that Ballou made the move every race fan in the stands will remember when he
slung his red #12 sprinter to the high line of the fourth turn on
With the crowd on their feet, Allard and Ballou continued to
swap the lead, both driving high and low on all areas of the track mutlple
times. When Allard passed Ballou low and went high, Ballou would answer back
with the same pass in the next turn. Meanwhile the veteran Brent Kaeding of
The two leaders
displayed true talent on the final pass of the night when Ballou slid up
beneath Allard in the fourth turn and two touched bumpers exiting the turn as
if it was a typical day on the freeway commute. When the checkered flag finally
waved Ballou climbed from his car on the front stretch where he was greeted by
more than a thousand screaming and cheering fans that witnessed the spectacular
event.
“This is just incredible right here,” said Ballou, short on
breath after the 30-lap workout. “I really want to thank the people that put up
this extra money tonight to do this, that was really cool and it made a show
for the fans. It wasn’t just about the money though. If the extra money wasn’t
here tonight I still would have given everything I had, that’s what racing is
all about.”
Winning two races in two nights at two different tracks is a
goal that goes unaccomplished for many drivers for their entire career. Ballou,
at age 17 isn’t one to get sentimental about particular events in his young
career but appeared to be both excited and overwhelmed with the attention he
drew here Saturday.
“This is pretty wild down here,” Ballou told infield
announcer Troy Hennig. “I’ glad the fans enjoyed this but I have to thank my
family, my friends and my sponsors for all their support in this. My dad and my
main wrench “Heavy D” set this car up perfect and I wouldn’t be here without
their help.
Allard hung on to second place in the event. Although he
garnered a top three finish which assists with his current series point lead,
the former Silver Dollar Speedway Champion was unhappy with his performance an
the outcome of the race.
“My front end was packed with mud and the track went away on
me. I had nothing more I could do out there,” said Allard, drawing jeers from
the crowd. When Robert got below me I gave him plenty of room but it seemed
like I didn’t get a lot of room in return when I got below him.”
Brent Kaeding started ninth in Saturday’s event and drove up
to third place just in time to witness the incredible battle between Ballou and
Allard. When the top three drivers parked in victory lane, the first thing
Kaeding did was shake Ballou’s hand and congratulate him on the win.
“I’m happy with this third place finish tonight, “ said
Kaeding. “Sure it wasn’t a win but I had the best seat in the house for one
hell of a race. My hat goes off to
In preliminary action on Saturday, Forsberg was the fast
qualifier of the night. Heat race wins went to
In the B-main event, Andy Gregg of
The sprint cars were joined by the Nor-Cal Dwarf Cars on
Saturday. Scott Dahlgren took the lead of the feature event from Chuck Conover
on the 11th circuit of the 20-lap main event to drive to his first
Racing returns for Placerville Speedway next Saturday with
360 Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks and Pure Stocks competing in the fourth point race
of the season. For complete results from Saturday’s event log on to
www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com.