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Pit Stops Propel Steckly into Fourth Place Finish at Sun Valley

Scott Steckly, driving his #22 Erb Group Dodge Charger during a caution period at Sun Valley Speedway in Vernon, BC.

Vernon, BC. CASCAR Super Series teams headed out west for the first of two races. The first race went this past Sunday July 16th in Vernon. Scott Steckly of Milverton came into the race second in the series championship points, trailing J.R. Fitzpatrick by only 8 points.

Steckly, sponsored by the Erb Group time trialed his #22 Dodge Charger as the 3rd fastest car around the half-mile tri-oval. The field was then split in half for two-100 lap qualifying heats, which would determine where the cars would start for the 300 lap feature race. Scott started the first 100 lap heat race on Saturday on the outside pole position. At the drop of the green flag, Steckly quickly jumped out to the lead ahead of Don Thomson Jr. The lead only lasted for 2 laps as Thomson quickly regained the lead from Steckly. Scott finished the heat race in third place, which meant he would start the 300 lap race in fifth, on Sunday.

Scott was able to keep the Erb Group Dodge in the top 5 for the first 80 laps of the feature race, until pit stops. The team made several changes during the first stop including changing two right side tires, fuel, and giving the car a pan hard bar adjustment to try to fix a loose condition in the car. Following the pit stop, Steckly rejoined the field in 13 th place. Scott remained in 13 th until lap 150 when the team pitted for left side tires. This time he gained 5 positions because the team had such a fast pit stop. That put the Erb Group Dodge into eighth place. However, despite being in the top-10 Scott was still not happy with how the car was handling. The final pit stop was on lap 220 and the team changed two right side tires and gave the car another wedge adjustment. Crew chief Greg Gibson got the setup right because following the team’s third pit stop of the day; Scott had the fastest car on the race track.

Scott quickly had the car up to 5 th place with 30 laps remaining in the race. Kerry Micks driving the #02, had led the most laps in the race but had faded to 4 th when Scott caught him and the two battled side by side for 4 laps, until Steckly was finally able to claim the position.

Scott was unable to gain anymore positions as he went on to finish the race in fourth. The fourth place finish was his fourth top five in four races this year. J.R. Fitzpatrick finished ahead of Scott at Sun Valley and opened up his lead in the CASCAR Championship point standings to 15 points over Steckly. Scott was impressed at his team’s ability to come from the back in races this year saying “even if we have been outside the top-10 in races we have shown that we can come back and post a good finish in these races”. “We made a the long trip out here, and its nice to have another great finish”.

The next CASCAR Super Series race goes July 23 at the Grand Prix of Edmonton. The next race in Ontario is August 12 at Mosport Raceway in Bowmanville.

In the drive for the 2006 CASCAR Super Series Championship, of which Scott presently sits in 2 nd place, the 22 Race team is proudly sponsored by: Erb Group of Companies, AW Millwrights , International Dealers: ALTRUCK International, Diamond International (Edmonton, AB), Lewis Motors Sales, Sommers Motor Generator Sales, D.H. Jutzi Limited , CPL Systems , Thermo King of Eastern Canada , Twin City Graphics , Chris Root Precision Machine , Stratford Motor Products, Filtakleen , Mr. Transmission (Guelph) , Commercial Babcock , Classy Collectibles, Glasvan Great Dane, and Motorsport Design.

Go to CASCAR.ca for information on the racing series or contact kyle_erb@sympatico.ca for information about Scott Steckly and the entire race team.

® After the hometown denotes Rookie contender.
POLESITTER: #4 Don Thomson Jr. (18.459 seconds * New Record) // TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 24 minutes and 56 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.647 seconds // CAUTIONS: 11 for a total of 84 laps // LAP LEADERS: #4 Don Thomson Jr. (1-9), #02 Kerry Micks (10-163), #14 John Fitzpatrick (164-169), #17 DJ Kennington (170-179), #84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (180-295), #19 Brad Graham (296-300) // GOODYEAR BELTS & HOSES FASTEST LAP: #02 Kerry Micks (18.921 seconds)

CASCAR ON TV: For information regarding initial airings and replays of Super Series races on SPORTSNET, please check your local listings or visit http://www.cascar.ca/schedule/tv_schedule.html.

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