Mike Oberg Motorsports - Off-Road Racing Champion

Oberg Has Solid Finish on Saturday – Gets Back in the Pinball Machine on Sunday

Eagle River, WI (August 12, 2009) - Ever wonder what it would be like to have a truck race inside a pin ball machine? Well after the second TORC visit to Bark River, Mike Oberg has a pretty good idea what that race would feel like. Except in the PRO-2WD pinball race, only a few can get an open path to the finish while the majority of the race trucks spend the twelve minutes of racing continually bouncing off each other never really making any headway to the finish.

The addition of more high banked corners and a new table top jump to the 1.5 mile long Bark River International Off-Road Raceway were changes welcome by all the PRO racers, including Mike Oberg. What the entire Oberg Motorsports team was hoping for was creating a larger race grid inversion. Mike and his #80 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Chevy have been fighting all season to get into the Top 6 in the championship standings in order to get a better starting position, which improves your odds to a better finishing position.

Both days saw the #80 AMSOIL PRO-2WD start well back. During Saturday’s Round 9, Mike made great progress moving as high as fifth place, only to have a fuel delivery issue slow his progress. Ultimately crossing the finish line in sixth place.

Overnight, Cory and the crew replaced the fuel pump and fuel cell to ensure the problem would not happen again.

The next round of racing on Sunday, saw the AMSOIL Kumho Chevy in fifth place at the mandatory caution lap. The Stamper built chassis was really working well, and a podium finish looked to be in sight. When the green flag came out to resume racing, it seemed like the entire field raced like it was the final lap of the race. First, someone used the right side of the AMSOIL Kumho Chevy for brakes entering the first turn, after the same driver got around Mike, he proceeded to spin out right in front of Mike in the second corner. Then someone drilled the back of the Mike’s truck as several other competitors piled into the mess at the finish line.

By the time, he got his truck pointed in the right direction, the entire fourteen truck field was in front of him. Before the checkered flag fell, Mike was able to get around a few of his competitors bringing home a tenth place finish.

“What in the world is going on out there,” exclaimed Mike Oberg. “Some drivers race with no regard for what it cost to drive like an idiot…Our practice times tell us we have a fast truck, but we have been caught up someone else’s mess a couple of times this year and it put us way back in the standings. If TORC inverted a larger amount of trucks, you would see more guys on the podium and that’s a good thing. It’s great for the drivers, the sponsors, and the fans. Right now the situation just seems to tear up equipment and keep the body panel makers very busy.”

After Round 10, Oberg Motorsports is in seventh place overall in the TORC PRO-2WD Championship standings, just one position out of the starting grid inversion. A couple of strong finishes at the next stop on the 2009 Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL Tour could move the team into a great starting spot for the final stops on the West Coast.

You can watch all the Round 10 PRO-2WD race action on ESPN2 this Sunday August 16, at 11:30am eastern time.

The next race for Mike Oberg and his #80 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Chevy is September 5-6 at the 40^th Anniversary Off-Road Racing Celebration in Crandon, Wisconsin.

Oberg Motorsports thanks all its marketing and product partners including: