Courtesy Whitlock Motorsport
Barrie, ON – Jul 03 2005: "What a dream day" said Barrie’s Mark Dilley after winning the CASCAR Super Series event during the Canada Day Northern 500 weekend at the newly reconfigured 1/3 mile tri-oval Barrie Speedway. "To win driving a Dodge Charger in the race sponsored by Dodge and the Ontario Dodge Dealers debuting the new production-version of the Charger, and to do all that at my home track in the first appearance here of the Super Series in ten years – it’s all just awesome" beamed Dilley.
But many will remember this event as a nightmare, including Dilley who told the fans from Victory Lane that track management would be doing whatever it takes to make this a premiere facility. The track itself, which may quickly be dubbed as CASCAR’s Bristol, deteriorated with the heat and the abuse of the two-day event and required repairs overnight. The race was stopped twice to sweep away debris in an effort to provide a surface the competitors could tolerate.
"That was like driving on ice," said Dilley, who qualified his #9 Dodge Power Water Charger third in the 22-car field. "Every turn felt like driving down a dry road and then hitting six inches of slush right when you want to turn. That started about lap 30. Once I saw what was going on, my whole plan was to stick to the bottom of the track and focus everything on bringing this Dodge home in one piece."
Dilley moved into 2nd on the third lap and took the lead briefly on lap 77. He regained the lead from laps 82 – 131 being closely followed by team mate Dave Whitlock who had moved up quickly from his 11th starting spot. Both pitted and Dilley worked his way back to the point for the final time at lap 251 being challenged many times by pole-sitter Kerry Micks. DJ Kennington finished 3rd, Don Thomson Jr. 4th, and Dave Whitlock 5th - netting Dodge 3 of the top 5 spots.
On TV: Set your VCR for this one… the Dodge Charger 300 from Barrie Speedway this Saturday – Jul 9th at 3 pm on SPORTSNET at 3 pm EST.
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