CASCAR: Micks overcomes obstacles for fourth place run at Mosport
3 September 1999
OAKVILLE, ON - Kerry Micks' fourth place finish in the CASCAR Castrol Super Series National race at Mosport Int'l Raceway on Sunday afternoon was the highlight of the weekend for the Ford Taurus drivers in the 28-car starting field. Micks, from Mt. Albert, ON, lined up fifth on the starting grid in his Ford Fast Lane Taurus and struggled through a suspension problem late in the race to finish just off the podium in the 64-lap road race on the legendary 10-turn, Toronto area circuit. "We broke something. I don't know what, but it could have been the sway bar or the Watts Link," said Micks, who rose to fourth in the National standings on the strength of the result. Asked when he noticed something was wrong with his car's handling, the Taurus driver replied, "After we put the new tires on, about 10 laps later we knew that something wasn't right. After that, I just wanted to finish in the top five, and we came home fourth." Micks, the winner of both Cayuga Speedway CASCAR Super Series races in '99, planned to stop earlier than he ended up pitting in the Mosport event. "That wasn't the plan. We were hoping that the caution was going to come out sooner - about lap 30. We were looking at stopping between 26 and 39 and we ended up doing 41. We had the gas mileage figured out right. We came in once and took four tires. We went a long way on gas. We stayed out pretty long and led a lap." The next best finish by a Ford driver at Mosport belonged to Edmonton, AB native Kevin Dowler. The Ford Quality Care Service Taurus racer is still feeling the lingering effects of a broken shoulder blade he suffered in July, but endured the pain to finish sixth. "It's sore; real sore. At the end, I just put it out of my mind and drove the wheels off the thing to try and keep my position. But it hurt. My crew did an awesome job. They really thrashed. That was our oval car that we ran out there today. It went well, but it was interesting in some of the turns. And the way the wind went around the car was different, too." Dowler was forced to use his 'oval' car because he had trouble with the engine in his road course Taurus in the early portion of the Mosport weekend and time didn't allow for a leased powerplant - from fellow Ford runner Kerry Micks - to be installed in his road racing vehicle. "I owe it all to Kerry Micks' team, too," beamed Dowler. "We leased a motor from them. We lost a few [motors] earlier in the weekend and the one we got from them went strong all day and never missed a beat. We got the motor late the night before the race [Saturday]. It made for an expensive weekend, but we're not here for the money. We're here because we love it. The level of competition in CASCAR today is so great. The equality is just amazing." The Ford driver continued, "We had to run my new oval car in the heat race, so we were stuck with that car for today. We worked all night to get the oval car set; we threw a sway bar at it and did what we could to make it as good as we could. It was a busy, crazy weekend." Mosport Ford Notes: In other Ford news on the weekend, Taurus racer Jim Lapcevich was seventh in Sunday's Mosport feature, while reigning National champion Dave Whitlock was 12th. Kelly Williams was 16th, while Mark Dilley (19th) and Dave Jacombs (27th) endured frustrating outings. In Saturday's heat race action, Dilley's NTN Bearings / Herbrand Tools Taurus was fifth in its heat, while Lapcevich was seventh. Micks and Whitlock were third and sixth, respectively in their heat. Kerry Micks sits fourth overall in the National standings following the Mosport race, while Kevin Dowler is the top western regular, in sixth. Coming up: This weekend, the CASCAR Castrol Super Series takes to the track at Delaware Speedway Park for the fourth and final National championship points round of the season. Last year, the CARQUEST 300 was the setting for Dave Whitlock's second consecutive - and third career - CASCAR National championship. This year, Whitlock enters the race in 10th place in the National standings, with little hope of repeating. Nonetheless, the Ford Quality Care Service Taurus driver will be on hand hunting for the race win in Canada's most prestigious stock car event. The two, 100 lap qualifying heat races follow the pole position determining time trial session on Friday afternoon at Delaware Speedway Park. A final qualifiers' race will be held on Saturday evening to set the remainder of the starting grid for the 300 lap main event, on Sunday afternoon (2:15 p.m. start time).
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