Saturday Sept. 22, 2012, Peterborough, ON: Mark Dilley driver of the #02 Leland/PartSource Ford Fusion ran in the top ten for all 250 laps and finished out the event with a seventh place finish.
With heavy rains on Friday night and a couple more showers Saturday morning, practice was delayed an hour and a half. When the 28 cars took to the track it was a shortened session, 45 minutes as opposed to two one half hour sessions. #02 Dilley was consistently in the top ten prior to the qualifying round later in the afternoon.
“The car isn’t perfect yet,” said Dilley after practice. “We have made a bunch of adjustments and will keep working on it during the race.”
Dilley would go out to qualify 9th in time trials and when all 28 cars were recorded, the Leland/PartSource Ford was shown 7th quickest, putting him in row four on the inside for the start of the Pinty’s 250.
The #02 raced hard and moved into the 6th position at the drop of the green flag. This was the position that Dilley would hold for the first half of the event. Pit stops were the next order of the day and after fuel was added and tires were replaced, Dilley hoped that the #02 car would be ready to go to the front. A tight race car was the culprit and Dilley held on for a 7th place finish.
“The car would be terrific right after we made an adjustment,” explained Dilley after the race. “But after about five laps it would just get really tight and was a handful to hold onto. I can’t thank all of our sponsors and the crew enough for all their hard work and efforts over the 2012 season. We could not do it without all of them and all of the great fans who come out to support us as well.”
The Micks Motorsports team finished 5th in Owners NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Championship points.
The Pinty’s 250 presented by Dodge will premiere on TSN at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sat. Oct. 6 and on RDS2 at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24.
Talking with team owner and road course driver, Kerry Micks after the event, he said “Two drivers sharing one car is not the most ideal situation, but Mark and I were able to do it this year and I think we were quite successful at it.
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.
