Strategy More Than Intimidation Is Micks' Style
 
Some say his style is to intimidate on the track. He says it is a desire to
win and nothing more. Either way, Kerry Micks (No. 02 Beyond Digital
Imaging Ford) is a hard-nosed racer whose experience tells him to use every
tool at his disposal to achieve his goals.
 
"I don't go out there with the thought of being an intimidator or anything
like that," said Micks. "I just want to win. It is as simple as that.
That's just me."
 
Racing is the physical act of making the car go fast. However, just as
veteran baseball pitchers discover the strategy and art of their business
so, too, has the Mt. Albert, Ontario-based driver evolved the mental
portion of his game.
 
"It's a thinking game, too," he said.
 
Case in point is the season opener at Cayuga Motor Speedway. Pit strategy
is often talked about as a difference maker, but the equipment and the
competition, more often than not, dictates that line of attack. So, when
the caution flag waved at about the halfway point in the race, virtually
every driver in the lead pack headed down pit road for tires because the
cars needed grip, and seemingly because everyone else did. Micks didn't,
though. He stayed out an extra 20 laps. Therefore, when he got new rubber,
he was able to more than make up.
 
"I did lose some ground, but I knew I would be able to work my way back to
the front," Micks said.
 
If not for the dominating performance by Scott Steckly (No. 22 Erb
Group/Tow Truck in a Box Dodge), Micks' plan may have resulted in a win,
but a solid runner-up performance and jump start in the point standings was
produced.
 
It's easy to get the sense that Micks spent a good portion of the off
season sitting in a quiet room, mulling his and his equipment's performance
race by race, considering every factor to gain an edge.
 
"There's going to be a lot of that this year from me. I have spent some
time thinking about it," Micks said. "I know what the tires, motor and
everything else is capable of. Our level of competition is so tight, it's
going to be the little things that make a difference. No doubt about it."
 
Also making Micks a title contender is his ability to be strong on both
road courses and ovals. Nearly a third of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series
schedule is made up of road races meaning that success hangs in the balance.
 
He won two of the four road events in 2007, but mechanical problems
unraveled his ability to contend in the other two.
 
"Last year at Mosport, we had a rear end gear problem. Once we got that
sorted out, it was a difference of night and day," he stated.
 
Last year, Andrew Ranger (No. 27 Wal-Mart/Tide Ford) won the Mosport road
race and set the tone for his season, which culminated in a series
championship.
 
Micks agrees that a quick start to the season is paramount to success come
season's end.
 
"There's no doubt that doing well early is a huge factor," he
said. "Things
are going to go wrong at some point. Everyone is going to have that, but if
you can hold that off as long as possible, then, hopefully, there is enough
cushion to absorb it."
 
Meanwhile, Micks will continue to race each and every competitor hard with
no let-up, all the while sitting in that quiet room, contemplating the
softer nuances of the sport, looking for the littlest of advantages he can
use in his favor.
 
***
 
The Race: Dickies 200 presented by Lucas Oil
 
The Place: Mosport Int'l. Raceway, Bowmanville, Ont.
The Date: Sunday, June 15
 
The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
TV Schedule: Noon, June 29 (delayed)
 
Track Layout: 2.459-mile road course
Race Purse: $68,511 CAD
 
2006 Winner: Andrew Ranger
2006 Pole: Andrew Ranger
 
Schedule: Saturday: Practice 10:35 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., Time Trials 3:45 p.m.
 
***
 
Brown Looks To The Future With Son Behind The Wheel
 
With Father's Day on the horizon, Doug Brown (No. 10 Haldex Dodge) can
foresee the day, in the not too distant future, that his son, Mitchell,
will climb into the seat of his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series ride.
 
At 15 years of age, Mitchell began his racing career last year. He won a
mini-stock feature last month on the dirt track of Oshweken (Ont.) Speedway.
 
"I'm 44 and not getting any younger," said Brown. "We've got a great
sponsor in Haldex and to keep that going with my son in the car is
definitely the way we're leaning right now. He's a bright kid and has
really picked up on things in and out of the car."
 
Brown, as a second generation racer, knows the game and the right time to
make the transition.
 
"We're going to test him at Cayuga tomorrow on asphalt in a sportsman-class
car and see how that goes," said the elder Brown. "They are running that
class on the oval at Mosport when we are there this weekend. I don't know
if we'll get him into that race, but if the test goes well, we might."
 
Brown's Canadian Tire Series program, racing out of Brantford, Ont., will
look this weekend for a reversal of fortune. The 2007 season was full of
bad luck and this season did not get started much better.
 
Just 10 laps into the season opener at Cayuga Motor Speedway, a panhard bar
mount broke leading to behind-the-wall repairs and could only muster a
21st-place finish.
 
"It's just been a bunch of things that we can't control, but we're still
positive," he said. "The Haldex folks have been great in helping us out.
We'll get it turned around."
 
News & Notes
 
The Race: This event is the second of 13 races on the NASCAR Canadian Tire
Series presented by Sirius Satellite Radio schedule. It is the second visit
to the track for the Canadian Tire Series.
 
The Procedure: The starting field is 34 cars, including provisionals. The
first 29 cars will qualify through NASCAR Road Race Style time trials.
There will be two qualifying groups based on practice times. The remaining
five spots will be awarded through the provisional process. The race will
be 51 laps covering 200 kilometers (124.3 miles).
 
The Track: Mosport International Raceway is Canada's largest motorsports
complex. The 750-acre, multi-track facility is located within the Greater
Toronto Area (GTA), north of Bowmanville, Ont. Mosport features a
4-kilometer road course; a .500-mile, paved oval (Mosport Speedway); a
2.4-kilometer advanced driver and race driver training facility. And a
1.4-kilometer kart track. The facility opened in 1961 and has hosted stock
car, Formula 1 and IndyCar events over the years. The road-course track was
resurfaced in 2000 and widened to 40 feet.
 
The Records: Andrew Ranger holds both the qualifying and race records for
Mosport Int'l Raceway. Qualifying: June 16, 2007, 103.614 mph, 85.436
seconds; Race: June 17, 2007, 86.838 mph, 1 hour, 26 minutes, 39 seconds.
 
Weekend of Racing: The Dickies 200 presented by Lucas Oil is part of the
Sunoco Ultra 94 Father's Day Doubleheader Weekend at Mosport. In addition
to the Canadian Tire Series, the Grand-Am KONI Challenge (GS and ST
classes), Ford Racing Mustang Challenge, Castrol Canadian Touring
Championship, Skip Barber BF Goodrich National and Ontario Formula Ford
Challenge will be on the track offering racing of all types for the weekend
extravaganza.
 
Autodrome St. Eustache Event Re-Scheduled
 
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Sirius Satellite Radio event
at Autodrome St. Eustache in Quebec has been re-scheduled to July 5.
 
Inclement weather in the Montreal area on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June
1 allowed drivers only an abbreviated practice session on Sunday morning.
The July 5 event will include the full schedule of events with a practice
session and time trials prior to the running of the Kodak 250.
 
The race slots in one week after the Canadian Tire Series visits Barrie
(Ont.) Speedway and two weeks prior to the two-race western swing to
SunValley Speedway in Vernon, B.C., and the Rexall Edmonton Indy, slated
for July 19 and 26, respectively.
 
The airdate for TSN's coverage of this event is slated for noon ET on
Saturday, July 12.
 
A Look Back: Ranger's Road To The Championship Began At Mosport
 
With just a pair of stock car stock car races under his belt, Andrew Ranger
(No. 27 Wal-Mart/Tide Ford) made his mark on NASCAR Canadian Tire Series
history a year ago at Mosport International Raceway.
 
Although only 21 years old, the Roxton Pond, Que., driver had plenty of
experience on twisting, turning road courses--just not in a stock car.
 
He demonstrated his prowess behind the wheel right out of the gate by
grabbing the pole position during time trials, but that advantage was short
lived.
 
Still not well-versed in NASCAR race procedures, the former Champ Car
standout jumped the initial race start and was penalized by race officials
with a pass-through penalty, which left him well behind race leader J.R.
Fitzpatrick. Unfortunately, though, that was not the only rookie mistake he
would have to overcome.
 
Laps later when making a pit stop, Ranger stopped his Ford Fusion too close
to the pit wall, leaving the jack man very little room to hoist the right
side of the car. The error virtually erased all of the ground he made up
following the penalty.
 
Undeterred, Ranger went about the business of skillfully working his way
through traffic, passing cars as if they were standing still. It was
difficult to tell whether the car, which seemed to be on a rail, was that
good or the driver possessed an ability rarely found, but much in demand.
It was probably a combination of the two, further demonstrated in the other
three road course events in which he was in contention to win right to the
finish line. He finished second in all three, but it was that framework on
which his title was built.
 
After suffering through the penalty and bad pit stop in the Mosport race,
Ranger was able to track down and pass Fitzpatrick at the hair-pinned Turn
5 on Lap 42.
 
From there, it was a matter of not making any further mistakes, which he
did not. He cruised to the victory nearly two seconds ahead of Fitzpatrick.
 
##MMR 2.61#.  (copied MP MMR 2.61#, was  6-12-08 #AS:E01/001 Stock Car
Racing - NASCAR, etc.#) 


--- GTMail 1.26