Oberg Team Bark River Race Report

The Oberg Team arrived in Bark River Michigan for Rounds 3 & 4 with a lot of ground to cover after a not so good showing in Crandon Wisconsin for Rounds 1 & 2. The Team was sitting at 8^th in points out of 9 competitors in the TRAXXAS TORC Series presented by AMSOIL. The Team knew they could do better so they had a lot to prove. Many changes were made going in to this weekend and we all hoped those changes would pay off and they did. The first practice on Friday started out with a little shake-up for the Team. Only half way through the first lap, the truck drifted out to far and struck a berm sending Mike into a roll. The truck rolled completely over once and landed on its wheels. This was all Mike needed. The truck refired and Mike went back to his laps turning some pretty good times for Bark River. Once back in the pits, the crew went to work looking to see if any major damage had been done to the AMSOIL Chevrolet. Nothing major had been compromised so it only took some minor adjustments to get the truck back out for the next round of practice. Mike looked even faster and the times showed this. He timed in 6^th out of the nine, and with the top 6 inversion, this placed him on the pole position for Round 3 on Saturday. Saturday proved to be a very hot and humid day. The Team was worried about running high temperatures as the truck did run warmer than usual during practice on Friday. We know that the AMSOIL Products we use will withstand the heat. The Team was eager for a win since we hadn’t seen one since the 2006 season, and when that green flag flew, Mike got the jump on everyone. He was out front from the get go so he was able to run his own line. This allowed him to gain roughly 10 truck lengths over 2^nd place by the time the mid race caution flag came out. Mike knew he would need to get the jump on the restart. He knew the BFG’s would give him all the traction he needed. When the green flag flew, he did get the jump, but the other guys were just as hungry for that win so Mike was in for a battle. The first to challenge him was the Monster Truck of Jeremy McGrath. McGrath went for the inside pass and made it after ramming the AMSOIL Chevrolet. Luckily there was no damage to the Oberg Truck but McGrath damaged his own. The Monster Truck never made another lap before succumbing to the damage. The next one to challenge Mike was the Traxxas Truck of Jeff Kincaid. Kincaid came in too hard on the inside and actually landed on top of Mike’s left rear tire. They were temporarily connected but Mike was able to shake him off. We were worried about Mike getting a flat but the BFG Tires held strong. This was the last challenge of the race for Mike and he took the win. This was also Mike’s 40^th career win. This is what the Team needed to boost our moral and get us back in the game. The guys worked late getting the truck ready for Round 4 on Sunday. Nothing major had to be done to get ready. After taking a win in Round 3, Mike was to start in 6^th position for the Sunday run. Kincaid then was moved out of 5^th position due to having to bring out his back-up truck and this moved Mike up one position. Mike knew he would really need a good jump to get a great position for the start. That didn’t happen. He came out of the 1^st turn in 6^th position. An incident with Dan VanDenHeuvel later in the race knocked him back to 8^th place. Mike still battled on and made his way back to 6^th position before the end of the race. That was a tough run but we were all happy with the weekend at Bark River. Taking that win did a lot to move us up in points. We are now in 5^th position with only 4 points separating 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th place. We are 29 out of 1^st but that isn’t beyond our realm yet. We just have to keep pushing on. Next stop will be at Oshkosh Wisconsin for Rounds 5 & 6 on July 23 & 24. Oshkosh was always good for us and we know that will be a short, technical track for everyone. The horsepower may not help. Stop on out and hang out with the Oberg Team, our friends from AMSOIL and get an Oberg M-80 T-Shirt for yourself and an Oberg/AMSOIL Chevrolet Tattoo for the kids. We will all have some fun, Guaranteed. Gilly Out P.S. Check out the Oberg Team on FaceBook. We will be posting daily and answering all of your questions