ASA: Mike Garvey Holds Off Miller for Thrilling Victory at Lakeland

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

March 25, 2001

Late Race Accident Takes Out Top Contenders

LAKELAND, Fla. – A spectacular accident involving race leaders Gary St Amant and Kevin Cywinski allowed Mike Garvey to inherit the lead on lap 167 and eventually held off pole sitter Butch Miller to win the Florida 200 at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. It was his 13th career win and first of the 2001 season.

The winningest driver over the past two years, Garvey kept the veteran Miller off his back, even when Miller took a look down the back stretch with just two laps to go. Miller’s late race charge wasn’t enough, and Garvey, a Lakeville, Minn. resident, was a ble to hold onto the lead that he took on laps 167.

Garvey took the lead over Gary St. Amant and teammate Kevin Cywinski in heavy traffic. Heading into turn one, two lapped cars and the cars of St. Amant and Cywinski crashed heading into turn one, severally damaging St. Amant and Cywinski’s cars.

“There was a lot of hard racing tonight,” said Garvey. “We didn’t have the best car tonight, but I got by Gary (St. Amant). I don’t know how I didn’t get collected in that mess, but we made it through. Butch was right there at the end, despite the push the car developed after the last caution. I knew he would race me clean and he would have to pass me on the high side.”

Miller’s second consecutive podium position came from his pole position starting spot. Miller, who traded the lead with St. Amant over the races first few laps, was strong until he let St. Amant get by him again prior to a competition yellow on lap 100.

Porter, driving in only his second ASA ACDelco Series race, came home a solid third, with second-year driver Joey Clanton finsihing fourth and rookie points leader Scott Fraser fifth.

Only four cautions slowed the race, with one of them being a competition yellow, thrown after 75 laps of consecutive green flag laps. Garvey was one of three drivers to spend time at the front of the field, and pocketed $18,900 for the victory.

The ASA ACDelco Series next makes a first-ever trip to the legendary short track at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. The weekend begins on April 6 with ASA practice and a 100-lap qualifying race. The event picks up on Saturday, April 7, with a 100-lap local la te model race, followed by the Textilease Medique 300, going green at 9 p.m. (Eastern). The race will be telecast LIVE on TNN Sports.

LAKELAND, FL – The unofficial results from Saturday’s $199,560 American Speed Association ACDelco Series Florida 200 at the .75-mile USA International Speedway. Listed is finishing and starting position (in parenthesis), driver, make of car, laps completed and reason out, if any.

1)(3) Mike Garvey, Chevrolet, 200
2)(1) Butch Miller, Pontiac, 200
3)(4) Toby Porter, Chevrolet, 200
4)(16) Joey Clanton, Chevrolet, 200
5)(5) Scott Fraser, Chevrolet, 200
6)(9) Scott Hansen, Ford, 200
7)(28) Greg Stewart, Pontiac, 200
8)(21) Mike Miller, Pontiac, 200
9)(19) Chris Wimmer, Chevrolet, 199
10)(30) Tim Jedrzejek, Chevrolet, 198
11)(23) Ryan Hemphill, Chevrolet, 198
12)(13) Tristan Dupuis, Pontiac, 198
13)(29) Pat Kelly, Chevrolet, 198
14)(17) Chad Wood, Ford, 198
15)(11) Mark Dismore Jr., Chevrolet, 198
16)(35) Ricky Bryant, Chevrolet, 197
17)(26) Doug Stevens Jr., Ford, 197
18)(31) Greg Williams, Chevrolet, 197
19)(38) Tully Esterline, Ford, 197
20)(12) Johnny Spaw, Chevrolet, 197
21)(14) Tim Taylor, Chevrolet, 194
22)(33) Ken Alexander, Chevrolet, 191
23)(2) Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 188
24)(10) Mike Cope, Chevrolet, 182
25)(8) J.C. Beattie Jr., Chevrolet, 179, clutch
26)(25) Matt Sielsky, Chevrolet, 172
27)(36) Davin Scites, Chevrolet, 169
28)(6) Kevin Cywinski, Chevrolet, 167, accident
29)(18) Brian Schwartz, Chevrolet, 164, accident
30)(15) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 159
31)(20) Russ Tuttle, Pontiac, 138, electrical
32)(24) Ricky Carlton, Chevrolet, 116, ignition
33)(7) Glenn Allen Jr., Chevrolet, 112, brakes
34)(34) David Elliott, Chevrolet, 55, electrical
35)(32) Dennis Lampman, Chevrolet, 39, brakes
36)(27) Travis Kittleson, Chevrolet, 15, accident
37)(22) Kenny Phillips, Chevrolet, 15, accident
38)(37) Ed Brown, Chevrolet, 2, handling

Race Statistics:

Time of Race: 1 hour, 31, minutes, 22.525 seconds
Average Speed: 98.495
Margin of Victory: 0.508 seconds
Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: St. Amant, 1; B. Miller, 2-95; St. Amant, 96-166; Garvey, 167-200
Cautions: 4 for 29 laps

ASA ACDelco Series point standings after 3 of 20 events: 1) B. Miller, 535; 2) Hansen, 515; 3) Clanton, 465; 4) Garvey, 451; 5) Cywinski, 447; 6) St. Amant, 446; 7) M.Miller, 441; 8) Dismore, 440; 9) Fraser, 429; 10) Taylor, 417.

Text provided by Jeremy Troiano

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