ASA: Sauter Records Yet Another Victory in Stellar Rookie Year

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

August 27, 2001

Rookie Holds Off Hard-Charging St. Amant in Race’s Final Laps

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 finish ed 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 f rom 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 12:3 0 a.m. (Eastern) on Tuesday, September 4, and will re-air on Saturday, September 8, at 4 p.m.

ASA Pennsylvania 300

JENNERSTOWN, PA – The unofficial final results of Sunday’s $184,410 American Speed Association ACDelco Series Pennsylvania 300 at the.522-mile Jennerstown Speedway. Listed is finishing and starting position (in parenthesis), driver, make of car, laps compl eted 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

RACE STATISTICS:
Time of Race: 2 hours, 15 minutes, 11.654 seconds
Average Speed: 69.500
Margin of Victory: 1.439-seconds
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

ASA ACDelco Series point standings after 16 of 20 events: 1) Sauter, 2,785; 2) St. Amant, 2,664; 3) B. Miller, 2,552; 4) Cywinski, 2,548; 5) Clanton, 2,547; 6) Garvey, 2,388; 7) Hansen, 2,290; 8) M. Miller, 2,197; 9) Cope, 2,137; 10) Taylor, 1,941

Text provided by Jeremy Troiano

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.