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Oberg Qualifies His Way To The Front
Eagle River, WI (May 23, 2008) - Oberg Motorsports came to Primm, Nevada
looking to build on their experiences from the opening rounds of
Championship Off-Road Racing in Pomona. Mike Oberg was confident the
chassis changes that were made in Pomona would really make the truck
come alive at faster tracks like the one in Primm.
Round 3
Those chassis changes kept the #80 AMSOIL Kumho Tire Chevy in the top 4
during both early practice sessions.
During
the qualifying session, the AMSOIL Chevy made its qualifying run with
the first
group, just
as the track crew watered the track. The freshly watered track puts the
first group of racers at a disadvantage due
to the
slick and muddy conditions. Ultimately, Mike qualifies fourteenth out of
twenty five
 PRO-2
trucks.
The start of the race was pure mayhem. Early on, Mike receives hard
contact from behind. This slows down his charge to the front. Undaunted,
Mike works his way up to eighth place at the mandatory yellow. During
this time the CORR track crew quickly waters the track as the dust
continues to be a real problem for the drivers and the television crew.
On the first lap of the restart, a fellow competitor spun in front of
Mike just after landing the big table
top jump. Unfortunately the ensuing contact damaged the front and rear
suspension of the #80 Chevy, ending Mike’s day, officially finishing
seventeenth.
Oberg Motorsports quickly went to work repairing both ends of the truck.
“We were very confident we would have a solid run today, but its tough
to get a good qualifying run when you are in the first group out on the
track,” stated Mike Oberg. “Starting back in the pack is really tough.
Some of the guys are all over the place, and seem to use other trucks to
get around the track. We’ll get this hot rod back together tonight and
hopefully we can race cleanly for once.”
Round 4
Sunday morning saw the track crew not watering the track before
qualifying. CORR officials were hoping for a more fair qualifying
session for all the PRO categories. This time Mike stopped the clocks
with the second fastest time in PRO-4. After qualifying, the top eight
trucks on the starting grid were inverted. This put the #80 AMSOIL truck
back on the fourth row.
 The
start saw Mike cleanly make his way to the fourth position by the fourth
lap. The AMSOIL Kumho Tire Chevrolet was really working well. Then
suddenly the powerplant lost oil pressure, quickly Mike pulled off the
track, ending his weekend. The culprit was a broken oil pump drive belt.
Oberg Motorsports was credited with a nineteenth place finish.
“The team and I were really stoked after qualifying today,” commented
Mike Oberg. “Every after the inversion, I was confident we would land on
the podium. Things were really looking good when the oil pump belt
broke. I think a rock got between the belt and the pulley. When we get
back to the shop we’ll check the engine making sure nothing else
happened. I can’t saw enough about my crew repairing this truck in this
one hundred degree heat, it ‘s mentally and physically hard on everyone,
but my guys came through and gave me a really fast truck. We seem to
have this new chassis sorted out now as well. Look for strong finishes
from here on out.”
Oberg Motorsports thanks all its sponsors including:
AMSOIL, Kumho Tire, Fox Racing Shox, Hawk Performance, J & H
Transmission, Lund, Mastercraft, Millwright Services, MSD Ignition,
Oberg Filters, Peterson Fluid Systems, Precision Gear, Raceline Oil
Pumps, and Stewart Warner Performance.
You can catch all the action from Round Two on NBC Sports, May 25, at
1:30pm eastern.
The next weekend of Championship Off-Road Racing is June 7 -8, at The
Fairplex in Pomona, California.
-Mike Reusche, marketing, MTG –
mike@mt-graphics.com
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