WISCONSIN TESTS ATI
August 17, 2001 - Oregon, WI

ATI's J.C. Beattie Jr, returned to the ASA competition for the Wisconson 300, ready to improve on a dissapointing finish of the last race in Cedar Rapids.

Qualifying was close as usual in the ASA, with the whole field seperated by less than a second. J.C. lined up .7 seconds off of pole-sitter Mike Garvey's time of 18.216 seconds. Unfortunately, that small margin would put the # 09 ATI Performance Products Chevrolet Monte Carlo near the back of the pack.

"We tried our best out there today" commented J.C. after qualifying 32nd. "This is only our second year in the ASA and we're still developing proven set-ups for these tracks. I'm happy with the work we have done so far as a team and with time the results will come."

When the green flag flew to signal the start of the race, J.C. got ready for business, passing three cars in the first ten laps. Beattie would end up 20th, gaining twelve spots before the checkered flag fell.

Robbie Pyle captured his first ASA win in Friday night’s Wisconsin 300 at the half-mile Madison International Speedway. Pyle, aboard the # 63 Citgo Chevrolet, led only the last two turns of the final lap to beat seven-time series champion Mike Eddy in one of the wildest and most competitive races of the season.

Gary St. Amant, both the defending champ and defending race winner, took the lead with a little more than 50 laps to go in his # 7 Wynn’s Chevrolet and was in a close battle with the No. 11 Meijer’s Chevrolet of Eddy over the race’s final 20. When Eddy made a final attempt to pass St. Amant coming off Turn 2, the cars made contact, with St. Amant crashing into the backstretch wall, finishing 14th, and Eddy limping home second.

Pyle, running one of the best races of his career, avoided the accident and passed Eddy’s injured Chevrolet coming out of Turn 4 to take the victory.

Finishing third when all the dust cleared was Kevin Cywinski aboard the No. 21 Texas Roadhouse Chevrolet, while rookie and series points leader Johnny Sauter, aboard No. 9 A.P. Plasman Group Chevrolet, claimed the fifth spot.

The race saw 19 different lead changes among 10 drivers, with Cywinski leading the most laps. The event was slowed by 11 cautions, including one for a brief rain shower that fell over the half-mile oval. Mike Garvey captured the pole for the event, the 11th of his career, and led the first 57 laps before finishing 17th.

The series returns to action on Aug. 26 at Jennerstown Speedway for the Pennsylvania 300. Round 16 of the 20-race series is set to go green at 1:00 p.m. EST live on TNN.

Race results:

1) Robbie Pyle, # 63 Citgo Chevrolet, 300 laps
2) Mike Eddy, # 11 Meijer Chevrolet, 300
3) Kevin Cywinski, # 21 Texas Roadhouse Chevrolet, 300
20) J.C. Beattie, Jr # 09 - 297

Fans in the Baltimore area can listen for J.C. Beattie, Jr. on The Checkered Flag, a radio program covering NASCAR, CART, IRL, and Maryland racing. The Checkered Flag can be heard on WNST 1570 AM, Saturdays between 9 and 11 AM. Be sure to check www.jcbeattie.com or www.asaracing.com often for the latest information on J.C. Beattie, Jr. and the ATI Performance Racing team.


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