BARRIE, ON – September 9, 2012. Barrie, ON. – Two-time Barrie Speedway winner Scott Steckly returned to the track on Sunday kicking off the Wahta Springs 300 with a strong, field-leading performance. Unfortunately for Steckly, a late caution turned sour for him and his #22 Canadian Tire Dodge. Steckly and his crew had a good practice, only requiring some fine-tuning to the Canadian Tire Dodge before qualifying. The minor changes panned out nicely for the team, #22 earned a 3rd place starting position for the race.
Steckly took over as the front-runner as the race progressed, leading the field for an impressive 110 laps. #22 displayed his strength and discipline, dominating the track in the late stages and lining himself up for a successful finish.
However Steckly’s success came to a halt in the final laps of the race. A late caution set up a green-white-checker finish. After the restart, a battle to keep his lead from being overtaken by the second-place car resulted in a crash heading into turn 3. There wasn’t enough space inside the turn to make the pass, and it resulted in #15 hitting Steckly on the driver’s side, causing both vehicles to spin out.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Steckly said after the race. “We had the dominant car in the late going and got taken out on that restart.”
When the pit crew assessed the damage to the Canadian Tire Dodge they were forced to remove the hood, which buckled in the crash.
Steckly hung on in the final laps, and still managed to finish in the top 10, earning 9th place.
“It’s tough when you’re fighting for a championship and have an opportunity to get the win and boost our position only to get taken out by a part time driver,” Steckly explained after the race.
After today’s race, Steckly is ranked 4th with 393 points overall, comfortably sitting 43 points ahead of 5th place driver Ron Beauchamp Jr.
The Wahta Springs 300 will be aired on TSN on Saturday, Sept. 15 at noon ET and on RDS2 on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. ET.
The next event for the #22 Racing Canadian Tire Team will be the Wilson Equipment 300 at Riverside Speedway in Antigonish Nova Scotia on Saturday Sept. 15th.
22 Racing is supported by the following sponsors: Canadian Tire, Motomaster Eliminator, Sylvania, Erb Group, Mobil 1 and AW Millwrights.
From Linda Jones / Wide Open Motorsport Solutions
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