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Rob Bunker - Trois-Rivières preview |
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Rob Bunker is ready for the streets of Trois-Rivières, Qué., site of
the next Star Mazda Championship race, on Aug. 6. Having honed his
charge-from-behind race style, Bunker will change his focus to
qualifying the No. 18 AIM Autosport Pro Formula Mazda for the race. The
tight 2.433-km (1.521-mile) street circuit offers few passing
opportunities, so a strong qualifying effort will be critical for
success.
"I'm getting in the right mindset for qualifying, because that's been
our weak point this year. We believe we can always race to the front,
no matter where we start. We believe that I can pass better than most
people on the track," Bunker explained. "I think I dwell too much on
the race when I'm qualifying; I always know I'll have a second chance.
So we're coming into qualifying this week with [the perception that]
qualifying will be the end of the weekend, qualifying will be the race."
Bunker, of Bridgewater, N.J., hasn't raced at Trois-Rivières, but his
team has helped him visualize the circuit by identifying similar turns
at other tracks. "Everyone tells me it's my kind of track," he noted.
"It combines a lot of different aspects of different tracks. We've been
piecing it together from every other track."
With coaching support from Bob Perona of Speed Secrets, Bunker has
isolated and finessed different elements of racing this season. The
effort has paid off with third- and fourth-place finishes in his most
recent races.
"It builds me up as a racer," Bunker said. "We took our time a little
bit and the pieces that really need to be put together this season are
finally falling into place. For these last few races, I think we'll
really be on our game."
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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