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.