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ASA: St. Amant Clinches Championship in Convincing Style with Win in Winchester 400

2 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Record-setting day as ASA returns to the Winchester Speedway

WINCHESTER, Ind. -- The 2000 American Speed Association ACDelco Series Championship fell into the hands of Gary St. Amant on Sunday. And even more important to him, he picked up his first-career win at the famous half-mile, high-banked Winchester Speedway as the series returned to the track for the first time since 1991. By virtue of his win, St. Amants 430 point lead mathematically eliminated Kevin Cywinski from title hopes.

"I told the crew that we were going to focus on winning this race and not even worry about the championship," said St. Amant of Ohio. "We werent going to celebrate the championship till the final race of the year, but I told the guys, if we win, we can also celebrate the championship, but just a little.

"It means a lot to me to win at this track," St. Amant continued. "Even after qualifying yesterday, I would have told you I still didnt like this place, but it turned into quite a day for us. We are fortunate that we beat Tim (Sauter) out of the pits, so this wins goes a lot to the crew of the Wynns Chevrolet."

St. Amant took the lead with just under 70 laps remaining. When pole sitter Larry Foyt hit the wall and brought out a late race caution, the Automotive Promotions crew got St. Amant out in front of Sauter, who was unable to seriously threaten St. Amant at the end.

"He was just a little better on cold tires and on restarts than we were," said Sauter. "All day long, it was like dodging bullets, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We fortunately just won that battle today."

Rookie Robbie Pyle made up a little ground on rookie points leader Joey Clanton, finishing third, the second podium of his career. Pyle, with some previous experience on the Winchester oval, held off charging Mike Miller near the end.

Cywinskis attempt to prevented St. Amant from clinching the National Championship ended when he hit the turn four wall on lap 153. Cywinski and his crew fixed the car, but limped home to a 22nd-place finish.

The return of ASA to Winchester saw a record number of different drivers spend time up front, as 10 different competitors led at least one lap with Mike Gavery leading the most at 85 laps. The previous record was seven, established on four different occasions. St. Amant picked up $18,700 for the win.

St. Amant will be able to celebrate his championship outright and the rookie battle will be settled at the season-ending BFGoodrich Tires 200 at the 1.25-mile, Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. The BFGoodrich Tires 200 will take the green at 8 p.m. (local) on Saturday, October 14 and will be telecast LIVE on TNN Sports.

WINCHESTER, Ind-- The finish from Sundays American Speed Association ACDelco Series $209,950 Winchester 400 at the half-mile Winchester Speedway. Listed is finishing and starting position (in parenthesis) driver, make of car, laps completed and reason out, if any.

1)(13) Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 400
2)(19) Tim Sauter, Chevrolet, 400
3)(2) Robbie Pyle, Chevrolet, 400
4)(6) Mike Miller, Pontiac, 400
5)(7) Butch Miller, Pontiac, 400
6)(14) Ricky Johnson, Chevrolet, 400
7)(3) Mike Garvey, Chevrolet, 399
8)(15) Greg Stewart, Pontiac, 399
9)(9) David Stremme, Pontiac, 397
10)(28) David Bonnett, Chevrolet, 396
11)(12) Scott Hansen, Ford, 396
12)(18) Joey Clanton, Pontiac, 395
13)(33) Brandon Sperling, Chevrolet, 395
14)(34) Jack Landis, Ford, 394
15)(22) Rick Beebe, Pontiac, 392
16)(20) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 384
17)(1) Larry Foyt, Pontiac, 380, accident
18)(25) Tristan Dupuis, Pontiac, 377
19)(23) Ted Smokstad, Chevrolet, 367
20)(11) Brian Ross, Pontiac, 349, engine
21)(5) Dave Sensiba, Pontiac, 327, accident
22)(16) Kevin Cywinski, Chevrolet, 310
23)(24) Mark Dismore, Greenfield, 298, accident
24)(27) J.C. Beattie Jr., Chevrolet, 261, exhaust
25)(17) Russ Tuttle, Pontiac, 156, accident
26)(4) Tim Taylor, Chevrolet, 142, accident
27)(29) Matt Hagans, Chevrolet, 71, brakes
28)(8) Glenn Allen Jr., Pontiac, 49, accident
29)(35) Mark Cole, Pontiac, 32, handling
30)(10) Derrick Gilchrist, Pontiac, 23, driveshaft
31)(21) Mike Cope, Chevrolet, 12, accident
32)(26) Greg Williams, Chevrolet, 4, rear end
33)(32) Ken Alexander, Chevrolet, 4, accident
34)(30) Dave Jackson, Chevrolet, 4, accident
35)(31) John Silverthorne, Chevrolet, 4, accident

RACE STATISTICS:

Time of Race: 2 hours, 29 minutes, 3.906 seconds
Average Speed: 80.502 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.680 seconds
Lead Changes: 13 among 10 drivers

Lap Leaders: Foyt, 1-43; Stewart, 44-82; Stremme, 83-120; Johnson, 121-144; Garvey, 145-154; Wimmer, 155-184; Clanton, 185-195; M. Miller, 196-223; Garvey, 224-238; M. Miller, 239-252; B. Miller, 253; Garvey, 254-313; M. Miller, 314-330; St. Amant, 331-400

Text Provided By Jeremy Troiano

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