Rob Bunker - Sebring race

Rob Bunker made the best of a difficult start to his race season. The
Bridgewater, N.J., teen recovered from a steering column failure during
qualifying for his first Star Mazda Championship race, then charged from
35th to ninth during the 46-minute sprint race.

 

Although Bunker is a series rookie, he adapted quickly to the 3.7-mile
Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway road course, lapping in the top 10
during three days of testing and practice. He had a clear track for the
start of his qualifying run, but the steering failure zapped him off track
at the first turn. He saved the car and started to plot his race strategy.

 

"We had at least two hours of serious debating about what we were going to
do," he reported. "I did mental imagery, constantly thinking about what
would happen, thinking about everything three or four times through, every
possible scenario for the start. I dreamt about it! I also did a drill where
I closed my eyes, imagined cars just flying at me, dodging them. It
surprisingly helped a lot."

 

Bunker gained seven positions on the first lap of 17, and continued to add
to the total. With several full-course cautions during the race, he carved
through the field, taking four or five positions on each restart. He
finished ninth to earn valuable championship points.

 

"The pace in the back was slower than I thought, but it made everything
easier. I could literally drive by four cars per lap. The goal was two cars
per lap and we would win – it's math," he explained. "We had one too many
yellow [caution] flags. If one of them hadn't happened, we could have had
fifth [place]. But it was a flawless performance. By the end of the run, the
last six minutes, we were the fastest car on track. I couldn't have asked
for more."

 

Bunker's next race is scheduled for May 14 in Houston.