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Steckly Leads, Finishes Fifth at Race City Calgary

Scott Steckly racing in the Mopar 300 at Race City Motorsports Part in Calgary

Calgary, AB.  Fresh off a fifth place finish in the Vancouver Indy, the Erb Group/ Guyons Performance Centres/ Thermo King/ AW Millwrights race team was off to Race City Motorsports Park in Calgary, Alberta for the Mopar 500 weekend.  The weekend got underway on Friday, July 30^th, with a Pit Stop Challenge at Eau Claire Market in Calgary, with the Erb Group pit crew changing two tires in 12.2 seconds, good for fifth place.  Racing got underway on Friday evening with time trials and the running of the two full points qualifying sprint races.  Scott Steckly, from Milverton, Ontario time trialed in fifth out of a field of 25 drivers from both the National Series as well as the Western Series.  The field then was split into two with cars qualifying in odd number positions (1, 3, 5, etc.) racing in the first 100- lap heat and cars qualifying in even numbered positions racing in the second race.  Since Steckly qualified fifth it meant that he would race in first heat, starting from the third position.

Steckly's qualifying sprint race started off very well as he kept with the top two drivers of Don Thomson Jr. and Mark Dilley, but shortly after the car became a bit loose and he was passed by the #39 of Dave Whitlock and the #02 of Kerry Micks, which dropped Scott down to fifth but Scott gained a position when Don Thomson Jr. had to pit because of a flat tire.  So finishing in fourth during qualifying heat meant that he would start ninth in the Mopar 300, as the fifth car on the inside line.  Steckly said "we had a good car for the most part tonight, but once the car got loose the leaders started to drive away from us, but we held on for a fourth place finish". 

After taking the car to the Guyons Performance Centre in downtown Calgary, the Erb Group Race Crew tuned the car up for the big show on Saturday in the hopes the Scott would be able to pick up his first career CASCAR Super Series win.

The #22 car remained steady for the first 40 laps of the MOPAR 300, but as had happened during the heat race on Friday, the car became loose.  Steckly remained in ninth until lap 60 when the first caution flag came out and Steckly came into the pits for fuel, a right rear tire, and also a round of wedge to make the car a bit tighter and easier to drive for Steckly.  The pit stop dropped the Erb Group Grand Prix down to 13^th place, as not all of the cars ahead of him had elected to pit during the first caution.  After getting back to racing, it was not long until the leader Peter Gibbons in the #1 car was right on the tail of Scott. Catching Steckly was one thing, passing him was another. For over 35 laps, on what was some remarkable driving by Steckly, he held off Gibbons to remain on the lead lap.  Thankfully a caution occurred at lap 152, and Steckly again pitted this time for two left side tires and fuel.  An extremely fast pit stop, by the Erb Group pit crew propelled Steckly into sixth position.  At lap 183 Scott passed the #64 car driven by Mark Dilley to move Steckly into fifth position.  The next caution happened at lap 203 and with every car ahead of Steckly choosing to pit, Crew Chief Ken Gropp told his driver to stay out and lead some laps for a chance to win the race.  Scott went on to lead the next 30 laps, until lap 233, when another caution flag came out, because of a flat tire on the #60 car of Ron Beauchamp Jr.  Steckly then handed the lead to Mark Dilley as the #22 car pitted for a left rear tire.  He restarted the race in fifth position but was passed by Don Thomson Jr. and Western driver Kevin Dowler, sending Scott into the seventh position.  But late in the race Scott got those positions back as he passed Pete Shephard Jr. and Kevin Dowler on the final lap to finish in fifth place in the Mopar 300.  Scott thought he had a good car for the race saying "It was a good car overall, but the car seemed a little on and off, as the car would be loose at times and tight at other times and it also felt good to get out there and lead some laps for the first time this year".  22 Racing would like to thank Guyons Performance Centres for the use of their facilities, to get their car working at top performance during their two week trip out west to Vancouver and Calgary.

In the drive for the 2004 CASCAR Super Series Championship, Scott Steckly and 22 Racing are supported by: The Erb Group of Companies, Thermo King of Eastern Canada, Guyons Performance Centres, AW Millwrights, Jutzi Fuels, CPL Systems, Mr. Transmission (Guelph), Commercial Babcock, TB Woods, Stratford Motor Products, Classy Collectables, PCL Graphics, Duplicolour, Filtakleen, and Holloway Automotive.

The next race in the CASCAR Super Series is Saturday, August 21 at the Mosport Oval in Bowmanville, ON.  For more information, contact kyle_erb@sympatico.ca.  For more information on CASCAR, Race City Motorsports Park, or the Mosport Oval visit, www.cascar.ca, http://www.racecity.com/home.php, or http://www.mosport.com/ovalhome.htm.

RESULTS: MOPAR 500 Weekend. // Twin 100 Qualifying Sprint Race #1
Round #8 // July 30, 2004 // Race City Motorsports Park
Calgary, AB // 100 Laps // ½-Mile, High-Banked Oval
 

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.
TIME OF RACE: 37 minutes and 29.7545.421 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 3.217 seconds // CAUTIONS: 2 for a total of 17 laps // LAP LEADERS: #4 Don Thomson (1-81) and #02 Kerry Micks (82-100)

RESULTS: MOPAR 500 Weekend. // Twin 100 Qualifying Sprint Race #2
Round #8 // July 30, 2004 // Race City Motorsports Park
Calgary, AB // 100 Laps // ½-Mile, High-Banked Oval  

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.
TIME OF RACE: 33 minutes and 16.941 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 3.766 seconds // CAUTIONS: 1 for a total of 6 laps // LAP LEADERS: #17 DJ Kennington (1) and #1 Peter Gibbons (2-100)

RESULTS: MOPAR PARTS 300
Round #8 // July 31, 2004 // Race City Motorsports Park
Calgary, AB // 300 Laps // ½-Mile, High-Banked Oval
 

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 50 minutes and 4.963 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.196 seconds // CAUTIONS: 5 for a total of 39 laps // LAP LEADERS: #4 Don Thomson Jr. (1-4); #1 Peter Gibbons (5-153); #4 Thomson (154-164); #1 Gibbons (165-203); #22 Scott Steckly (204-233); #02 Kerry Micks (234-281); #64 Mark Dilley (282-293); and #39 Dave Whitlock (294-300).

CASCAR SUPER SERIES UNOFFICIAL POINTS AS OF JULY 31, 2004: 1. #1 Peter Gibbons (1402 points); 2. #4 Don Thomson Jr. (1376); 3. #39 Dave Whitlock (1375); 4. #02 Kerry Micks (1336); 5. #23 Jeff Lapcevich (1319); 6. #64 Mark Dilley (1283); 7. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (1236); 8. #22 Scott Steckly (1227); 9. #17 DJ Kennington (1187); 10. #19 Brad Graham (1158); 11. #50 Pete Shepherd III (1134); 12. #84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (1108); 13. #25 Jim Lapcevich (1086); 14. #88 Dave Jacombs (1036); 15. #55 Rob Graham (963).

CASCAR 100 TORONTO INDY TELEVISION BROADCAST: The CASCAR 100 CASCAR Super Series race at the Toronto Indy will air starting Monday, Aug. 2 on SPORTSNET (ONTARIO & EAST) at 7:00 p.m. Viewers of SPORTSNET WEST & PACIFIC can catch the race starting the same night (Aug. 2) at 8 p.m. Check your local listings and http://www.cascar.ca/schedule/tv_schedule.html for subsequent airings.

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