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Onderko grabs 4th in 2010 Season Opener

 

04/18/10 Sundance Vacations Speedway  - A rain shortened test session on Friday and a problem filled qualification run gave the Onderko Motorsports Team little hope for a promising start in the season opener at Sundance Vacations Speedway.

 

Battling a miss in the engine all through Friday’s rain shortened shake down session the Onderko Motorsports Team was at its wits end. Justin commented "I have 15 laps on this car and none of it under full power. My crew chief and I have discussed several options. My guys will make the changes and hopefully by Saturday’s practice we’ll have fixed the motor and be able to qualify well for Sunday’s race.”

 

Saturday morning came and the crews got to their respective cars early.  The Onderko Motorsports Team got right to work and tried several different things to fix the motor issue.  As qualifying drew near the team still had not figured out the problem, and Justin was forced to qualify on an ailing engine.  “I’ll give it my best shot, we’ll see what it does,” remarked Justin as he climbed into the #58.

 

As qualifying came to a close the Onderko Motorsports Team found themselves sitting in 7^th spot, not to terrible for an engine running on 7 cylinders.  Mike Coll in the #61 was able to grab the pole for Sunday’s race.  However, due to the season opener re-draw, Justin found himself on the pole; which he reluctantly gave up due to the issues with the motor.  He would start shot-gun on the field.

 

As the green flag flew on Sunday’s season opener Onderko's 2010 teammate Jerry Hildebrand in the #88 led the first circuit with the rest of the field in tow. The caution flag quickly flew on lap four when Coll got into Arthofer as the duo raced out of turn four. In four short laps Justin had moved the #58 into 8th place, the team was in amazement, the miss still present, but the racing gods were now shining on Justin.

 

Green flag racing resumed and Hildebrand was slow getting up to speed. That gave the #8 the opportunity to take command. He remained out front at the halfway point with 42NY in second, followed by 88, 61 and Onderko now sitting in 4^th after working his way into the top 5 at lap 22.

 

Two quick cautions followed and the #61 capitalized on each of them to gain a position closer to #8.

 

While battling for the lead in turns three and four with only five laps remaining, the pair of drivers tangled. The #61 was spun from a tap from the #8 and had to restart from the rear of the field.

 

With four laps remaining and Justin now in 3rd position, the #61 quickly disposed of the drivers ahead of him and caught #8. They battled over the final lap with #44 following for a close third and Justin bringing the #58 home in the 4th spot.

 

We caught up with Justin after the race and asked him what he thought of the weekend "The plan for today's race was to go out a take a lap and bring it in, we had the pole on the redraw but we knew we were down on power. We didn't want to get run over on the start, but in the warm up laps the car seemed to clear up at high RPM's. I wasn't sure why but at that point I knew I was staying on the track. I took my time and put us in a position to capitalize on others mistakes. We didn't have the fastest car today but we did have some great luck out there. I’ll certainly take this one, I'm really proud of my team, they never quite. We’re going to take this car back to the garage and get this figured out. If we are this good with a miss, just wait and see what happens when we are at full song."

 

The Crew Chief for the #58 also commented, "These folks worked long hours to put this car together and it was an extremely frustrating weekend. The bright point here was we had a driver who took his time, chose his spots to pass and put us in a position for a top 5. Justin was the one to save this weekend for us."   

 

The next race for the Onderko Motorsports/RPM Fabrication #58 will be May 2^nd at the Sundance Vacations Speedway.