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Sauter
Records Yet Another Victory in Stellar Rookie Year |
Courtesy ASA
2001-08-26
JENNERSTOWN, Penn. – Like a broken record, the cheers of the AP
Performance Racing team rung out, as their driver, rookie Johnny
Sauter, recorded his eighth victory of the 2001 ASA ACDelco
Series season, extending his point lead and all but wrapping up
the Pat Schauer Memorial Rookie of the Year honors.
Sauter’s victory was made possible by bad luck once again for
second-place points sitter Gary St. Amant, who controlled the
race until a flat tire resulted in a late race pit stop. Unlike
last week’s accident on the last lap, St. Amant recovered and
finished the event in second after charging back through the
field.
“With 10 laps to go, it was all or nothing,” said Sauter. “I
just didn’t want to see a caution. I never would have dreamed we
could have won eight races. The car was really good on long
runs. When the spotter told me Gary was coming, I started
picking it up a little.”
Sauter took the lead from St. Amant on lap 254 when the
Columbus, Ohio native’s right front tire was going down after
leading 52 of the event’s 300 laps. St. Amant was one of six
different drivers to hold the top spot on the afternoon.
“If we would have had 10 more laps, we might have gotten him,”
said St. Amant, whose car was visibly the fastest late in the
event. “Johnny and I bumped a little bit (with about 50 to go).
Right after that was the first time all day we had a push. It
was a good call to pit. We had the fresher tires at the end. I
wasn’t sure how much Johnny’s tires had given up.”
St. Amant and veteran Mike Eddy, who finished third, had a
coming together for the second straight week while battling for
the event’s lead. On lap 198, the two bumped, resulting in
Eddy’s spinning in turn four.
“I raced Mike side-by-side for 20 laps,” said St. Amant. “I
don’t know if he thought he was clear. He came down and I nudged
him. We were racing hard for the lead. I actually got out of the
gas to let him gather it up. I am glad we put all of that stuff
from last week behind us.”
Three-time ASA National Champion Butch Miller finished fourth,
while Madison’s winner, Robbie Pyle, rounded out the top five.
Kevin Cywinski, Joey Clanton, Scott Hansen, Chad Wood and Tim
Ice rounded out the top-10 finishers.
ASA will return to competition next Monday, on Labor Day, at the
Minnesota State Fair Speedway is St. Paul, Minnesota. The
traditional, one-day event will go green at 2 p.m. (local). The
event will be telecast on TNN Sports on a tape-delayed basis, at
12:30 a.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, September 4, and will re-air on
Saturday, September 8, at 4 p.m.
RESULTS
Results from Sunday's $184,410 "Pennsyvania 300" ASA ACDelco
Series race at Jennerstown Speedway, with finishing position,
starting position in parentheses, driver, make of car, laps
completed and reason out (if any):
1. (10) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 300.
2. (4) Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 300.
3. (17) Mike Eddy, Chevrolet, 300.
4. (2) Butch Miller, Chevrolet, 300.
5. (11) Robbie Pyle, Chevrolet, 300.
6. (3) Kevin Cywinski, Chevrolet, 300.
7. (19) Joey Clanton, Chevrolet, 300.
8. (15) Scott Hansen, Ford, 300.
9. (9) Chad Wood, Chevrolet, 300.
10. (5) Tim Ice, Chevrolet, 300.
11. (24) Russ Tuttle, Pontiac, 299.
12. (13) Greg Edwards, Chevrolet, 299.
13. (23) Greg Stewart, Pontiac, 299.
14. (8) Tim Taylor, Chevrolet, 299.
15. (26) J.C. Beattie Jr., Chevrolet, 299.
16. (20) Davin Scites, Chevrolet, 298.
17. (27) Greg Williams, Chevrolet, 294.
18. (30) Jeff Emery, Ford, 291.
19. (21) Dave Weltmeyer, Chevrolet, 290.
20. (31) Jesse Wilcox, Chevrolet, 289.
21. (32) John Silverthorne, Chevrolet, 289.
22. (1) Mike Garvey, Chevrolet, 285.
23. (33) Mark Cole, Pontiac, 282.
24. (29) Francesco Gaudesi, Chevrolet, 282.
25. (14) Johnny Spaw, Chevrolet, 274.
26. (16) Mike Miller, Pontiac, 271, accident.
27. (22) Chris Wimmer, Chevrolet, 265.
28. (6) Ricky Bryant, Pontiac, 260.
29. (18) Matt Sielsky, Chevrolet, 253, accident.
30. (7) Mike Cope, Chevrolet, 233, overheating.
31. (28) Dave Stremme, Ford, 222, brakes.
32. (12) Ryan Hemphill, Chevrolet, 140, accident.
33. (25) Brad Bennett, Chevrolet, 103, ignition.
TIME OF RACE: 2 hr., 15
min., 11.654 sec.
AVERAGE SPEED: 69.500 mph.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.439 sec.
LEAD CHANGES: 11 among 7 drivers.
LAP LEADERS: B. Miller 1-4; Garvey 5-50; Cywinski 51-62; St.
Amant 63-96; Sauter 97-114; Cywinski 115-142; Sauter 143-175;
Eddy 176-198; St. Amant 199-201; Pyle 202-238; St. Amant
239-253; Sauter 254-300.
CAUTIONS: 10 for 61 laps
POINTS (after 16 of 20 events): Sauter 2,785; St. Amant 2,664;
B. Miller 2,552; Cywinski 2,548; Clanton 2,547; Garvey 2,388;
Hansen 2,290; M. Miller 2,197; Cope 2,137; Taylor 1,941. |
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