Houston, Texas (April 12, 2003) – Kevin Cywinski took the lead on the 158th of 250 laps Saturday night at Houston Motor Speedway, holding off Robbie Pyle and a host of challengers over the final 92 laps to win the ASA Racing Series Texas 250 at Houston Motor Speedway.
Cywinski of Wausau, Wis. inherited the first position on lap 158 when Chad Wood pitted while leading. He survived six more caution flags and a late-race challenge by runner-up Robbie Pyle, the polesitter, to earn his 11th career ASA Racing Series victory and first of this season.
Pyle finished second, .175 seconds behind, with 1995 Rookie of the Year Rick Beebe third. Mike Garvey, who led the first 16 laps of the race before collecting part of the night’s first caution, rallied to place fourth ahead of three-time ASA champion Butch Miller in fifth. Glenn Allen, Jr., the 1995 ASA runner-up, was sixth with Mike Cope, Travis Kittleson, Todd Kluever and Wood rounding out the top 10
“I knew Robbie was going to be a tough one to beat,” the winner said in Winner’s Circle. “I followed him a lot early in the race and couldn’t do a thing with him. We made and adjustment on our pit stop and we knew we weren’t coming in again. I wasn’t getting off the bottom of the race track. The only way Robbie or anybody else was going to get by me was on the outside.
“Robbie is a heck of a racer,” Cywinski continued. “I knew he wouldn’t bump me or do anything to get by me. It was awesome, it’s fun to win here in Houston for the first time and hopefully we’ll come back next year.”
Pyle was the benefactor when Garvey got caught in the Turn 4 mess that also collected Troy Wangerin, John Webb and Kris Stump. He took the lead and held it until the lead- lap cars made their pit stops on lap 96. He stayed in contention and was running third on lap 230 when he got past Beebe.
The final caution came out on lap 243, when Gary St. Amant spun in Turn 4. ASA Racing Series rules dictate that the last five laps of the race must be run under green, so the field got the green on lap 245. Cywinski got a great jump and Pyle did not have a shot at the leader until the final two laps. Cywinski held firm on the low side and won the race.
“We’re pretty hungry here at Wal Tom Racing for a victory,” Pyle said. “Kevin has done nothing but race me fair since I’ve been here. I know I was quicker than he was, but I just couldn’t turn him to win the thing. Hopefully, we’ll have more chances here.”
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Beebe, out of Kansas City, was strong all night but ran all 250 laps on the same set of BFGoodrich Traction T/A radials. “I really have to thank Chas Howe for a great race car,”
Beebe said. “My crew chief Mike Bryant made a great call in keeping us out and we didn’t put tires on. How about these BFGs? We ran all 250 laps on one set of tires.”
Four Texas drivers competed in ASA’s inaugural Houston event and the top finisher was Casey Smith of Austin in 13th. Kenny Bumbera of Sealy was 19th, Doug Hooks of Dripping Springs came home 21st and John Silverthorne of Dallas was 31st after a transmission let go in his Royal Purple Chevrolet.
The third event of the 2003 ASA Racing Series is on tap for Saturday, April 19 at Concord Motorsport Park in Concord, N.C. The BFGoodrich Tires 250 takes the green flag at 9 p.m. (Eastern) and will be telecast live on the SPEED CHANNEL.
For additional information on the ASA Racing Series, visit www.asaracing.com.
American Speed Association
Texas 250
Houston Motor Speedway, .375-mile oval
Results from April 12, 2003
1)(3) Kevin Cywinski, Chevrolet, 250
2)(1) Robbie Pyle, Chevrolet, 250
3)(11) Rick Beebe, Ford, 250
4)(2) Mike Garvey, Chevrolet, 250
5)(10) Butch Miller, Chevrolet, 250
6)(28) Glenn Allen Jr., Chevrolet, 250
7)(5) Mike Cope, Chevrolet, 250
8)(8) Travis Kittleson, Chevrolet, 250
9)(20) Todd Kluever, Chevrolet, 250
10)(4) Chad Wood, Chevrolet, 250
11)(21) Ryan Hemphill, Chevrolet, 250
12)(16) Greg Stewart, Chevrolet, 250
13)(8) Casey Smith, Chevrolet, 250
14)(12) Brett Sontag, Chevrolet, 250
15)(13) Davin Scites, Chevrolet, 250
16)(14) Boris Jurkovic, Chevrolet, 250
17)(29) Peter Cozzolino, Chevrolet, 249
18)(23) Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 249
19)(19) Kenny Bumbera, Pontiac, 249
20)(33) Bryan Reffner, Chevrolet, 249’
21)(25) Doug Hooks, Pontiac, 249
22)(18) Shane Sieg, Chevrolet, 249
23)(27) J.C. Beattie Jr., Chevrolet, 248
24)(7) Chris Wimmer, Chevrolet, 246
25)(26) Troy Wangerin, Chevrolet, 243
26)(15) Ed Brown, Chevrolet, 242
27)(22) Kris Stump, Ford, 215
28)(6) Joey Miller, Chevrolet, 204
29)(30) John Webb, Chevrolet, 197
30)(17) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 191
31)(24) John Silverthorne, Chevrolet, 189, transmission
32)(32) Greg Williams, Chevrolet, 188, suspension
33)(31) Tracy Gordon, Chevrolet, 3, rear end
Race Statistics: Time of the Race: 1 hour, 47 minutes, 19.027 seconds Average Speed: 52.415 mph Margin of Victory: 0.175 seconds Lead Changes: 7 among 8 drivers Lap Leaders: Garvey, 1-15; Pyle, 16-95; Wimmer, 96-109; Scites, 110-126; Allen, 127-144; Brown, 145-149; Wood, 150-157; Cywinski, 158-250 Cautions: 14 for 77 laps
Driver Standings –After 2 of 17 Events Pos. # Driver Points Margin
1 1 Kevin Cywinski 393 0
2 52 Butch Miller 365 -28
3 63 Robbie Pyle 347 -46
4 30 Travis Kittleson 325 -68
5 17 Mike Garvey 312 -81
6 5 Rick Beebe 297 -96
7 11 Ryan Hemphill 296 -97
8 25 Mike Cope 270 -123
9 53 Glenn Allen Jr. 264 -129
10 29 Reed Sorenson 255 -138
