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Onderko Finishes 6th in his ASA Late Model Debut

8-17-09 Owego, NY - As the Onderko Motorsports Team rolled into Owego, NY this past Friday night, they felt confident about their ASA Late Model debut at Shangri La II Motor Speedway. They unloaded the car and got right to work participating in a track test session. Racing not only the track and stopwatch, but also the sun, Justin and his crew chief Mike, rushed to get a hold of the 23 degree 1/2 mile. Feeling satisfied with what they learned, darkness fell and the team packed it in for the night.

Early the next morning, the team got to the garage area and prepared for the day. Practice was uneventful with the team and driver continuing to learn about the track.
"The test here last night was big," Onderko said, "We're learning more with every lap. We are going to make some changes for the heats and see what happens".

The heat had Onderko starting shotgun on the field and since it was only 10 laps, the team decided to use this race as another practice session. With an early caution out of the way, Onderko started to move up through the field. "Those guys were racing really hard for position and we had to be really careful moving through the field. We gained a few quick positions".

Sitting in 7th place and battling hard, Onderko got loose coming off of turn 2. "I slipped off turn 2 and had to use pretty much the whole track to gather it up. I lost some spots, but I was happy overall with the progress we made".

As the feature grew nearer, the Onderko Motorsports Team prepared to do battle one more time. Onderko's crew chief said, "He's not happy with the car in the center of the corner. We're going to make changes for the feature".

Starting 8th in the feature, Onderko took the green flag and settled in behind Bowen in the 47 and Kholer in the 00. Settling in though, was not on Onderko's mind, "They were racing hard and it was frustrating to be stuck behind them, because I knew I was faster than them". Onderko made a good move down low into turn 3 and took over the 6th position on lap 13. He set sail for the top five and was gaining ground but could not eclipse the gap that had been formed over the first part of the race. "We just needed a caution. Something to bring those guys to me. But that's racing, the cautions never fall when you need them. I think we had a top 5 car here for sure. I just really hated not being able to show it. Our sponsors stepped up here in the middle of the season and my guys have been giving me better cars. We have some big shows coming up and I think we can expect some really good things. We're excited! I look forward to coming back here in September and being able to run again. Everybody seems to like this place".

The Onderko Motorsports Team closed out the day on a positive note. Onderko's crew chief seemed pleased as well. "I think we had a good day. Justin kept the fenders on it. We can head back to the shop and look at how we're going to come back here. Our experience has been with asphalt, so it's a challenge with the concrete".