BARRIE, ON, Sunday Sept. 9, 2012: After a one day delay due to heavy rains the teams finally took the green flag for the Wahta 300 at Barrie Speedway at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon. Dilley driving the PartSource/Gaunt Collision Centres Ford Fusion ran up front all day but a late race driveline failure caused them to finish a disappointing 20th.
Dilley was quick right off the trailer for practice and when the session was done, the #02 Ford team were scored 6th quickest of the 23 cars registered for the event. He backed it up with a 5th place time during the qualifying session. “I am a little disappointed in our qualifying effort here in front of my home town fans, but we will be good for the race,” said Dilley after qualifying.
The #02 driver was scored in the top five for much of the event even leading laps shortly after the halfway point prior to pit stops. With 50 laps to go, Dilley passed the second place car of J.R. Fitzpatrick and was on a mission to track down leader #22 Scott Steckly. The caution flag flew with 20 laps to go and this is exactly what Dilley was hoping for. This would tighten up the field and he was set to make a run for the lead. As the teams lined up for the green, the #02 car stopped in turn 2. It was later determined that something in the driveline broke and Dilley was pushed to pit road.
“I am disappointed with our finish today,” said Dilley when asked after the race. “But this car was a rocket and I could put the #02 PartSource/Gaunt Collision Centres Ford anywhere I wanted – passing on the inside or the outside. I can’t thank my team and all of our sponsors enough for their support. We wanted to put it in victory lane for them again this year but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Dilley was scored in the 20th position at the end of the 300 lap event. The Wahta Springs 300 will be aired on TSN on Saturday, Sept. 15 at noon ET and on RDS2 on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. ET. The #02 team will now make their way to Antigonish, NS for event 11 of the 12 race NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. The Wilson Equipment 300 will be held at Riverside Speedway on Saturday Sept. 15th. The #02 Micks Motorsports team is supported by the following sponsors: Leland Industries, Beyond Digital Imaging, PartSource, Armor All, Johnsonville, STP, Cathcart Trucking, Seguin Marina, Thor Motors, Prostate Cancer Canada, Triad Racing Technologies, Gaunt Collision Centres, Samester and Castrol.
For more information please contact: Linda Jones Wide Open Motorsport Solutions (705) 730-4044, ljones@wideopensolutions.ca
