Full Throttle

Scott Steckly won his fourth NASCAR Canadian Tire Series events in five tries dating back to last season as he drove his No. 22 Dodge into victory lane at the Kodak 250 on Saturday night at the Autodrome St. Eustache in St. Eustache, Que.

“We’re not doing anything different than we’ve ever done,” Steckly, of Milverton, Ont., said. “Just running the same program and not trying to get fancy with anything.” Other guys are just as fast. I have to say that we’ve been very fortunate and I’ll take it.”

With Don Thomson Jr. leading on Lap 188 his No. 4 Chevrolet suffered an electrical malfunction and stopped on the track and handed Steckly the lead. Steckly took the ball and ran the rest of the way eventually beating D. J. Kennington in the No. 17 Dodge to the line by 2.531 seconds. Kennington, of St. Thomas, Ont., also finished second to Steckly a week ago at Barrie Speedway.

For Kennington it was the third straight race the Castrol Dodge driver was on the victory podium holding a trophy at the conclusion.

“The Castrol Crew worked really hard to keep improving the car during out pit stops, but we came up just a little bit short”. “It’s another great finish for the Castrol Dodge, but unfortunately for us we finished behind Scott Steckly again. He’s fast right now and on a great roll, but the harder we work the sooner we’ll be able to get on a roll of our own”.

After disappointing finishes in the previous two races, Kerry Micks returned to the podium with a third-place finish in the Kodak 250. Micks started sixth in the 24-car field with his Beyond Digital Imaging Ford, led for a few laps midway, and placed third behind Scott Steckly and D.J. Kennington.

“We came here wanting to finish on the podium with the BDI Ford and we did,” said a satisfied Micks after the race. “This is where we want to start making a move and carry some momentum for the next several races.”

There were seven lead changes in the race involving six drivers and the pace was slowed 11 times for 51 laps for caution.

The Canadian Tire Series begins its two-race swing through western Canada in two weeks with the A&W 300 on July 19 at Sun Valley Speedway in Vernon, British Columbia which will be followed a week later by the Canadian Tire Series 100 on the temporary road course at City Centre Airport in Edmonton, Alberta., as part of the Rexall Edmonton Indy weekend.

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