Oberg Shows Potential, Looks to Crandon for Redemption
Eagle
River, WI (June 1, 2009) - Mike Oberg brought his #80 AMSOIL Kumho Tire
Chevy PRO-2WD race truck looking to end his string of unique on-track
incidents that has prevented strong finishes in the opening rounds of
the Traxxas TORC series presented by AMSOIL. The weekend on the West
Coast saw the race truck perform well, only to come up a little short of
expectations.
The two Friday afternoon practice sessions really helped Mike and his
crew chief, Cory Lambert fine tune his Keith Stamper built chassis. As
the sun set, the moisture in the clay track seemed to rise to the
surface giving the TORC competitors a great surface for the third round
of the TORC series.
The starting grid for Round 3 is determined your finishing position from
the previous round. This put the Kumho Tire shod Chevy back in row five.
When the green flag was waved, the PRO-2WD field went into attack mode.
Mike wanted be race the first half of the race aggressively, but not too
hard as he was looking to conserve his tires for a hard charge the last
five laps of the twenty lap event.
The group of twelve PRO-2WD trucks went down the back straight in to the
jumps, the grey and black AMSOIL truck got tagged from behind pushing
the truck off-course and nearly into the concrete wall. Somehow, Mike
made some great moves and gets back on course only a few positions back.
The dogfight was on. At the halfway yellow, Mike had made up a few
positions and was in eighth place. When green flag racing resumed, the
AMSOIL truck avoided major contact picked up two more spots, finishing
in sixth place.
“Starting well back it’s really hard to stay out of trouble,” remarked
Mike Oberg. “The intensity of the first half on the race had me use up
my tires quicker than I had planned. The last couple of laps, I couldn’t
make up any ground on the two guys battling in front of me. We will try
a different groove and hope that will give us the launch we need at the
end of the race.”
While the team was made the needed chassis adjustments, left front
spindle appeared to be bent. Quickly the crew went to work installing
the new spindle and rechecking the front suspension ensuring nothing
else needed work.
The beginning of Round 4 saw the #80 AMSOIL Chevy running consistent lap
times without overstressing the tires. Just before the mandatory yellow,
Mike picked up the pace and moved into fourth place. Then after the
caution period, he charged into third place, with his sights set on the
second place truck of Jeremy McGrath. With five laps to go, something in
the driveline broke. Mike was able to continue to the finish, but
without much intensity, finishing the round in eighth place.
After four rounds of racing in the 2009 Traxxas TORC Series presented by
AMSOIL, Mike Oberg is in ninth place overall in the PRO-2WD division.
“The changes we made for tonight really made the truck come to life,”
explained Mike Oberg. “I had a plan out there tonight and I really stuck
to it. I don’t know if I could catch Ricky, but I thought I would have a
shot or two at Jeremy if the rear end didn’t go out. We are heading to
the Midwest to race in our backyard; it will be great to racing on
familiar ground.”
You can see Mike Oberg and the rest of the PRO truck action, Sunday,
June 7, at 4pm central time, on ABC Sports.
Rounds 5 and 6 of the Traxxas TORC series presented by AMSOIL will be
June 20-21, in Crandon, Wisconsin.
Oberg Motorsports thanks all its marketing and product partners
including:
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AMSOIL,
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Hawk
Performance,
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Mastercraft
Seats,
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Oberg Filters,
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Raceline Oil
Pumps
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Kumho Tire,
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J & H
Transmission,
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Millwright
Services,
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Peterson Fluid
Systems,
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Stewart Warner,
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Fox Racing
Shox,
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Walker Evans
Racing,
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MSD Ignition,
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Precision Gear,
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Phil’s Inc.
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Oberg Motorsports has marketing opportunities
available for the upcoming race season. For more information please
contact Mark “Gilly” Gilhausen,
gilly@obergmotorsports.com
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www.obergmotorsports.com
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- Mike Reusche,
mtgraphics@ymail.com
Past Team News
Oberg
Motorsports Glad to Get Back Behind the Wheel @ PDG Test
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