NCATS: Mark Dilley/Vernon, BC Report

VERNON, BC – Mark Dilley, driver of the #02 Micks Motorsports/Leland Industries/Beyond Digital Imaging Ford, finished a disappointing 13th in Saturday night’s A & W Cruisin’ the Dub 300. Dilley was immediately at the top of the time charts when the mid-day practice session started and the team continued to work on the car to get it performing to Dilley’s liking.

Time trials had the Leland Industries/BDI Ford within striking distance of the pole but when the session was over he was ranked 4th, with the 2nd to 4th positions separated by 6/1000ths of a second.

Dilley was confident going into the 300-lap race that he had a car that could contend for the win. For the first third of the race he ran in third place, until the caution flag flew and he came to the pits for fuel. When the green flag again waived again the #02 Ford started to fade and the car became a handful to drive. “The handling just went away,” said Dilley after the race. The next caution had Dilley coming to the pits for adjustments and tires, hoping this would make a difference to the handling of the car. Dilley lost two laps over the mid portion of the event, but was able to regain one of them with the “Free Pass” but the cautions didn’t fall when needed in order to gain back the 2nd lap. When the checkered flag waived Dilley was ranked in 13th position.

“We think there is a problem with one of the shocks,” commented Dilley. “The team will get to the bottom of it before the Saskatoon race. We really like coming to the west coast and this facility is second to none on our circuit.”

The A & W Cruisin’ the Dub 300 will air on TSN Sun., July 22, 5 p.m. ET; RDS2, Sat., Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m. ET.

The #02 Micks Motorsports team is supported by the following sponsors: Leland Industries, Beyond Digital Imaging, PartSource Johnsonville, Armor All, STP, Cathcart Trucking, Seguin Marina, Thor Motors, Prostate Cancer Canada, Triad Racing Technologies, Gaunt Collision Centres, Samester and Castrol.