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Tough Way to End Season for Steckly, 22 Racing

Scott Steckly trying to catch up to #50 Pete Shepard Jr., during September 19^th season ending CASCAR race at Kawartha Downs.

Fraserville, ON. Scott Steckly and the rest of the 22 Racing team were poised to finish this 2004 CASCAR Super Series season on a high note heading into last weekends September 19 showdown at Kawartha Speedway. This was the first and only race at Kawartha Speedway after CASCAR announced recently that the last race of the season would be held at Kawartha rather than the dreaded Cayuga, a track that had been disastrous so far this season for the #22 Erb Group Pontiac. The practice session produced very strong results for Steckly. After the practice was completed the Erb Group race team had posted the 4^th fastest time around the high banked, three- eighths mile speedway. However Steckly was unable to keep up his fast lap times in qualifying, as Steckly ended up qualifying in the 13^th position.

With the race set for later on Sunday, the Erb Group pit crew had very little time to prepare for the race. The Berms 'r' Us 250 was going to be one of the longest races this season. The object was clear for Steckly, if he could finish a few spots ahead of the #02 of Kerry Micks in this Kawartha race, Steckly would be able to overtake Micks for fifth spot in the overall Championship Standings.  However if the #64 of Mark Dilley would finish a few spots ahead of Scott in this Kawartha race, Dilley would the pass Steckly for the sixth position in the overall standings. When the green flag dropped to get the race underway, Steckly was unable to pass any of the of the other lead lap cars that he was racing with. Scott did manage to pass one car, as he passed the #11 of Ron Van Es, moving Scott into 12^th place. This is where Scott remained until lap 130 when the caution flag came out and the first round of pit stops took place. The Erb Group pit crew had a very fast stop, changing 2 right side tires, and adding fuel. Steckly entered the pit in 12^th, and ended up gaining 5 positions thanks to the fast stop.  Steckly stayed in 7^th until lap 186 when another yellow flag came out this time, when the second place Don Thomson Jr. spun out the race leader Dave Whitlock in turn 3. While some other cars elected to pit the #22 team remained out and they restarted the race in 4^th place. The top- five position was not going to last for Steckly as on lap 197 with Scott about to make as pass on the D.J. Kennington, who was running in third place, Kennington ended up turning down of Steckly, which resulted in Kennington spinning out. CASCAR decided that Scott purposefully spun the #17 car and decided to black flag Scott, which requires a stop and go pit stop once green flag racing resumes. "I was racing D.J. hard and got together with him in turn one" said Steckly "The black flag penalty took away any hope of a podium finish which was disappointing because our car was coming on and we had a top- 3 car today". Steckly attempted to serve his stop and go penalty a few laps later but when he entered his pit stall to stop the CASCAR Official ruled that the #22 car did not come to a complete stop, meaning that Steckly would have to come back in and serve another stop and go penalty. Shortly after Steckly served his second stop and go penalty he was caught up in an accident at lap 226.  Steckly was hit from behind by the #42 of Sean Stafford, after Steckly had checked- up to avoid a collision that happened ahead of him. With the second black flag and getting spun out Scott dropped off the lead lap for the first time in 2004, not including the 2 DNF's at Cayuga.  On the final restart with 10 laps remaining Scott was trapped behind the #03 car of Jesse Kennedy. With the knowledge that Kerry Micks and Mark Dilley were running well and 7^th place was the best he could finish the season in, Scott dropped a second lap off the leaders.  In the end Scott finished 19^th, 2 laps off the pace. In the closing laps of the season Kerry Micks would pass Don Thomson to assume the race lead and go on to victory. "We had a tough race today with the black flag and then the spin" said Steckly. "Had we not have had those problems we might have had a chance for a top- three finish". Steckly considered this season a success for the #22 team saying "We took a huge step forward with our program this year and hopefully we will be able continue our success next year".

Don Thomson ended up winning the CASCAR Championship by 52 points over #1 Peter Gibbons. The Championship win was Thomson 4^th title in a row.  Scott Steckly finished seventh in the overall standings for the second year in a row. Steckly was only 31 points behind #64 Mark Dilley and Scott finished a mere 15 points in front of #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr.

Scott Steckly and the entire 22 Racing Team would like to thank all of the 2004 sponsors:

The Erb Group of Companies, Thermo King of Eastern Canada, AW Millwrights, Jutzi Fuels, CPL Systems, Mr. Transmission (Guelph), Commercial Babcock, TB Woods, Stratford Motor Products, Classy Collectables, PCL Graphics, Duplicolour, Guyons Performance, Filtakleen, and Holloway Automotive.

This 2004 CASCAR Super Series season would not have been possible with their help.

Erb Group also had another car running in the field for the Berms 'r' us 250.  Michiel Diening of Calgary, AB made his CASCAR Super Series debut, finishing in 35^th place. Mike completed 84 laps only to spin out in turn 1. He was forced to call it a day shortly after the incident.  Michiel Diening's #12 Erb Group Grand Prix was also sponsored by UCP Inc. and Ian de Bies Hydrocarbons.

For more information contact kyle_erb@sympatico.ca. For more information on CASCAR, Kawartha Speedway, contact: www.cascar.ca, or www.kawarthaspeedway.com

RESULTS: BERMS-R-US.COM 250
Round #12 of 12 // September 19, 2004 // Kawartha Speedway
Peterborough, ON // 250 Laps // 3/8-Mile, Banked Oval

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 1 minute and 2 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.448 seconds // CAUTIONS: 12 for a total of 68 laps // LAP LEADERS: #4 Don Thomson Jr. (Pole-4), #39 Dave Whitlock (5-132), #50 Pete Shepherd (133), #86 Kenny Forth (134-143), #17 DJ Kennington (144-157), #39 D. Whitlock (158-184), #4 D. Thomson (185-244), and #02 Kerry Micks (245-250).

The 2004 CASCAR TV schedule can be seen by clicking on this link: http://www.cascar.ca/schedule/tv_schedule.html

You can also catch all of the CASCAR Super Series races during the winter months on Speedvision.

Mike Diening's #12 Grand Prix

Erb Racing Trailers

22 Racing cars in pit stalls

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