Monday, August 28, 2006

CASCAR: Mark Dilley seventh in Montreal’s CASCAR 100

BARRIE, ON – On Saturday afternoon in Montreal, Dodge-sponsored Charger driver Mark Dilley scored a solid seventh-place finish in the CASCAR 100 at the legendary Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course.

The #9 Dodge / Mobil1 / Exide / Leland / Avenue MotorWorks / CRS Dodge Charger qualified 13th for the 23-lap chase around the 13-turn, 4.359 km course, and steadily progressed through the pack after hooking up with his Whitlock Motorsports teammate, Dave Whitlock, as they have done on several occasions throughout the course of the 2006 Super Series season.

By lap 19, the #9 Dodge-sponsored Charger was up to sixth-place. However, with three laps to go, Whitlock was able to edge past Dilley, nudging him to seventh, where he would finish the race.

Following the event, Dilley was pleased with his race, as well as the venue. “I really enjoyed the track; it’s a nice facility. Dave [Whitlock] and I had a lot of fun racing against each other out there. Our two cars are so close, it seems like all year we’ve ended up in the same place on the track, running with each other. He’s a great teammate and an excellent driver, so we have a good time racing against one another. We seem to be around fifth to eighth on the road courses, which is very respectable considering the talented road racers we have in the series.”

Dilley was equally enthused about the exposure he and his sponsors gained by being a part of another of Canada’s top motorsports weekends. “There were a lot of people here who enjoyed the show that we put on. The exposure here was excellent for our sponsors and CASCAR. Combine that with a seventh-place result and it was a successful outing. We look forward to coming back again.”

Looking back at his four-race road course program for 2006, the #9 Dodge / Mobil1 / Exide / Leland / Avenue MotorWorks / CRS Dodge Charger driver has recorded three positive results, including a pair of seventh-place finishes (Montreal & Edmonton) and a fifth (Trois-Rivieres).

Following eight points races in 2006, the #9 Dodge-sponsored Charger is currently sixth overall in the Super Series points chase. The tour concludes with three consecutive oval races, starting with this weekend’s event at the 5/8-mile Cayuga Int’l Speedway, near Hamilton, ON.

Dilley continued, “Looking ahead, our goal is to get on the podium a few times. We have never been really strong at St-Eustache (Sept. 9), but we’re confident about putting together a few strong runs at Cayuga (Sept. 3) and Kawartha (Sept. 17) to have a strong finish to the season.”

MONTREAL RACE NOTES: CASCAR’s inaugural appearance as part of the G.P. de Montreal ChampCar race weekend was a great success. The 24-car CASCAR Super Series field put on a flawless performance, featuring a caution-less main event on Saturday afternoon at le Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Former CASCAR champion Kerry Micks edged ahead of Robin Buck to take the checkered flag at the end of the 23 lap CASCAR 100 by less than 2/10ths of a second. Dodge Charger driver Scott Steckly ran a solid race to take the third and final podium spot.


Prepared by Inside Track Communications // For more information about the #9 Dodge team and its sponsors, visit www.whitlockmotorsports.com For more on CASCAR, including complete race results, reports, point standings, event schedules and upcoming broadcast times for Super Series races on SPORTSNET, see www.cascar.ca

No comments:

Post a Comment