PROCUP NEWS

 

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 ST. AMANT POSTS FIRST PODIUM FINISH OF THE 2005 SEASON The old children’s rhyme “rain, rain, go away, come again some other day” could not have been more fitting for Gary St. Amant and the Bullet Team on Saturday. Probably for the first time this year, the team felt they were pretty prepared to hit the track when practice started. But, after a trip through tech and some pretty stern words from Daniel, it was back to the pit stall to add material to the fenders. Aluminum was borrowed (thanks Mark Huff), and a soon, the fenders had taken on a new shape. Even with that little knot thrown in, Gary and the crew felt pretty confident in their vehicle. They had tested earlier in the week at Columbus and felt the car was set up and ready to race. That preparation made all the difference in the world, not only did the car perform but it was great for the team as well. Gary made the comment, “We really needed this weekend. Being the 4th race the team has been together, we can see some more things starting to meld. From the crew chief to the driver, you can see them working.” To speed the qualifying process along in front of Mother Nature, the Series officials were only giving each driver one lap to run. That one lap for St. Amant was good enough to put him on the pole, beating out Benny Gordon by .012 seconds. The cheers and excitement in the #11 JEGS.com pit was a great site to see. The team knew they had a good car, but since they never really made a true mock qualifying run during practice, they justly did not know just how good she was. With just a handful of cars left to qualify the rains once again descended on Jennerstown Speedway. Try as they may to finish qualifying, the officials ultimately had to make the decision to start the field by points, and the pole position went to A.J. Frank, and Gary started 7th. Gary’s second place finish was this season’s first podium finish, and enough to push him up into 5th in points for the Northern Division. The team is now turning its sights on Mansfield. Gary stated “Mansfield is a great place, not only to race there, but the owner and his staff, and the fans really do support the teams and drivers.” “We had a couple of good runs last year, and certainly will be looking to improve that.” We will be testing there this week, and that should give us some good information to come ready to race on June 11th.” All of the race action and detail can be seen when the race is broadcast on Speed Channel on Saturday, June 18th at 10:00pm, with the encore presentation on Friday, June 24th at Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or send a letter to the editor!