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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.
For more information visit:
www.obergmotorsports.com
-Mike Reusche, marketing, MTG –
mike@mt-graphics.com
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