Racers take on two series

source: DEAN MCNULTY, SUN MEDIA, Toronto Sun

NELLES CORNER, Ont. -- It is an 11-hour drive between Bristol, Tenn., and Nelles Corner, Ont., but it might just as soon be on the other side of the world when it comes to stock car racing.

But last night at Cayuga Motor Speedway in this hamlet east of Hamilton, a pair of NASCAR drivers -- Andrew Ranger and D.J. Kennington -- were battling it out just as they had one week earlier at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The difference was that last week the NASCAR Nationwide Series Food City 250 was run before a crowd of more than 100,000 people, with millions more watching on American network television, and last night, the crowd at the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Coke Zero 200 was barely above the 3,000 mark with no live TV coverage.

It didn't seem to matter to Ranger, the defending Canadian Tire series champion, who was got his first oval laps in at the Nationwide level at Bristol.

"You know, it was the thrill of my life to race at Bristol but I learned a lot of lessons at tracks like Cayuga to get there," the 21-year-old native of Roxton Pond, Que., said.

Ranger drove the wheels off of the No. 22 Fitz Motorsports Dodge at Bristol, starting 39th and finishing 20 places forward in 19th.

"I would never have been so successful had I not raced at short tracks in Canada," he said.

Kennington, meanwhile, has been racing in both the Nationwide -- in the No. 81 MacDonalds Motorsports Dodge -- and Canadian Tire Series in the No. 17 DJK Racing Castrol Dodge pretty much full time his season.

"I'll tell you right now that you can't compare the cars," he said. "They are just too different. But the drivers, you can compare them. I think the top 10 in the Canadian Tire Series are hard to beat every race and the Top 15 in the Nationwide Series are hard to beat every week. "That makes them a lot alike."

Kennington has no illusions about what driving with the big boys at major venues across the U.S. does for his career.

"It's all about seat time," the 30-year-old St. Thomas, Ont., native said. "The more laps I get in (in Nationwide), the better driver I am in the Canadian Tire series."

Last night's race was delayed by an electrical problem, stopping the race after 87 of 200 laps. It was re-started two hours later.

Mark Dilley in the No. 9 Ontario Dodge Dealers Dodge won, with Ranger second and Derek Lynch third in the No. 77 Dodge.

Kennington ended up 15th in the 200-lap event on Cayuga's 5/8-mile oval.

Coke Zero 200 Photos

photo source: Flagworld - Michel Flageole

Barrie's Dilley wins Coke Zero 200

source: The Barrie Examiner

Mark Dilley has good reason to be revved up for Saturday's Pizza Pizza 300 at Barrie Speedway.

After all, the Barrie driver is coming off a victory at the Coke Zero 200 at Cayuga Motor Speedway on the weekend.

Dilley held off Andrew Ranger and Derek Lynch for his first win of the season and second since entering the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

"We weren't very good in practice today and the crew changed just about everything," said Dilley, who drives the No. 9 Dodge/Leland Industries car. "Going into qualifying, we weren't sure if this thing would turn. I'm amazed at how good it was."

Coming off a win at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres two weeks ago, Ranger crossed the line .737 seconds behind Dilley, while Lynch followed closely for third place.

Championship point standings leader Scott Steckly avoided disaster in the early going when he was turned completely sideways heading into turn one on a lap 13 restart. He was able to gather the car and move to the inside, allowing the heavy traffic to move past.

However, it proved to be a harbinger of things to come. Steckly battled an ill-handling car and went laps down on a pit stop to try and improve the car which was compounded by a penalty for speeding on pit road. He eventually finished 22nd, 10 laps off the pace.

On lap 83, several banks of lights went out around the track, forcing NASCAR to red flag the race while track officials diagnosed the problem. Action on the track was delayed 68 minutes due to the power outage. Not all of the lights came back on, but NASCAR consulted with drivers and the lighting was deemed sufficient.

Steckly leads Ranger by 68 points heading into Saturday's race.

For more information on the Pizza Pizza 300, visit www.barriespeedway.com.

Dilley Hangs On For Coke Zero Victory

By Shon Sbarra, NASCAR

HAMILTON, Ontario – Mark Dilley won the Coke Zero 200 presented by Sicard Holiday Campers at Cayuga Motor Speedway by holding off Andrew Ranger and Derek Lynch on a green-white-checkered finish.

It took longer than it should have due to a malfunction of the lighting system at the track, but the trip to Victory Lane was just as sweet for Dilley (No. 9 Dodge/Leland Industries Dodge) who picked up his first win of the season and the second of his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Sirius Satellite Radio career.

“We weren’t very good in practice today and the crew changed just about everything,” said Dilley. “Going into qualifying, we weren’t sure if this thing would turn. I’m amazed at how good it was.”

Ranger (No. 27 Wal-Mart/Tide), coming off a win at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres two weeks ago, crossed the line .737 seconds behind Dilley. Lynch (No. 77 Allied Steel Buildings/Canadian Shield Dodge) followed closely for third place.

Jason Hathaway (No. 3 Snap-on Tools/Super 8 Dodge) logged his second consecutive top-five finish by coming home in fourth. The fifth-place car was that of Ron Beauchamp Jr. (No. 60 Mopar/Mobil 1 Dodge).

Jim Lapcevich, Don Thomson Jr., Dave Whitlock, Peter Gibbons and DJ Kennington rounded out the top 10.

Championship points leader Scott Steckly (No. 22 Tow Truck in a Box/Erb Group Dodge) avoided disaster in the early going when he was turned completely sideways heading into Turn 1 on a Lap 13 restart. He was able to gather the car and move to the inside allowing the heavy traffic to move past. However, it proved to be a harbinger of things to come. Steckly battled an ill-handling car and went laps down on a pit stop to try and improve the car which was compounded by a penalty for speeding on pit road. He eventually finished 22nd, 10 laps off the pace. Steckly saw his lead shrink to 68 points over Ranger and 88 points over Kennington.

On Lap 83, several banks of lights went out around the track forcing NASCAR to red flag the race while track officials diagnosed the problem. Action on the track was delayed 68 minutes due to the power outage. Not all of the lights came back on, but NASCAR consulted with drivers and the lighting was deemed sufficient.

Pete Shepherd III drove the No. 7 Wal-Mart/Ubisoft Ford normally occupied by Alex Tagliani, who was called away to fill in for an Indy Car Series team for their Sunday event. Shepherd, out of Brampton, Ontario, ran four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events in 2007.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is back in action next Saturday at Barrie (Ont.) Speedway for the Pizza Pizza 300.

Outlook For St. Eustache

St. Eustache is a speedway that I have only competed at once in my career. It is a flat 3-8 mile oval located just outside of the city of Montreal. We raced there in 1994 and were fortunate enough to win a 100 lap American Canadian Tour race. Although we won there years ago it was in an entirely different type of car so the learning curve will be a little steeper than hoped for. Most of the current NASCAR Canadian Tire Series drivers have been running there yearly during their time in the former CASCAR series. Last year marked the first time in the last 6-7 years that the series was not there.

I am looking forward to getting back to a track that I have not been to in years and the challenge of figuring it out with the current cars we compete with. It is my goal to nail down a top 5 finish and maintain our position in the points standings.

Crown Jewel 200 Recap - Cayuga Speedway

Our first race was a great event for the Allied Steel Buildings, Canadian Shield Dodge Avenger. Our focus through out the day’s practice session was spent on our race set-up rather than qualifying, which resulted in a 16^th place starting spot with a car that we knew would race well all night long.

At the drop of the green flag we steadily progressed up through the field into the 8^th spot by lap 60. Around the 75 lap mark we made contact with Andrew Ranger which caused us to lose a lap to the leaders, forcing us to re-think our race strategy as we no knew we would be out of sync with the race leaders during pit stops around the half way mark.

We were able to get to the front of the group of cars running one lap down and qualify for the Free Pass which put us back on the lead lap. After another 15 lap green flag run we caught a yellow and were able to pit for right side tires and get back in the hunt. After re-starting in the rear with fresh tires we slowly worked our way back to the front and ended the race in a heated battle with Mark Dilley, Peter Gibbons and Dave Whitlock. At the line we came home in 6^th spot which was great considering the misfortune we encountered early in the event.

All in all it was a great start to the 2008 season. We leave Cayuga sixth in the point standings and a great foundation to build on for the season.