Monterey, CA. Pirelli World Challenge rounds 7 and 8 from Road America and rounds 9 and 10 from Utah Motorsports Campus are now behind us and we are looking ahead to the season ending races to be held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca October 7-9. Road America brought out the fans in record numbers with the combined Indycar races being held the same weekend. It was a beautiful weekend all around and we ended up with respectable 9th place and 7th place finishes for the weekend. Our partners from Regenexx Cayman were able to attend and spent time passing out goody bags and water bottles to fans with information on their stem cell treatments. Rounds 9 and 10 were held at Utah Motorsports Campus in Tooele, Utah. It was a challenging weekend for the #16 MX-5 to say the least. A couple of spins and a little rubbing from other cars led to 14th & 13th place finishes for the weekend. The big news, however, goes to our team owner John Weisberg of Berg Racing who pulled off an amazing 1st place finish in the second race of the weekend. A full course yellow that lasted over 10 minutes led to a sprint to the end on the last lap. Race team strategy came into play at the very end and John was able to make the most of the last corner of the last lap to pull off the win. He is now in the Pirelli World Challenge record books for the closest finish in a Touring Car race. He won with only a 0.055 second lead over the second place finisher. Needless to say there was some celebrating back in the paddock!
We are looking forward to the final 2 rounds of the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge season October 7th through 9th at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This will be Salinsky Racing’s second visit to the famed track out in Monterey, California. Jay Salinsky will be piloting the same car as he has all season, the #16 Berg Racing/Fuse Lenses/Regenexx Cayman Mazda MX-5. It is a world famous track that most drivers have on their bucket list. “I’ve driven this track thousands of times either on a video game or simulator since I was a kid.” says Dr. Jay Salinsky. “I’ve put in more laps there than I can fathom but nothing beats the feel of being in a true race car with the g-forces you feel going over the famous corkscrew.” These final 2 rounds of the season will determine where everyone falls in the points battle. Although it’s unlikely at this point to win the overall TCA championship there is still a lot of opportunity to move up in the points standings. Given that partway through the season a scheduling change made by PWC had the races that were supposed to occur at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course being pushed over to Lime Rock Park. This made it difficult to decide how the points were going to be given considering many drivers could not make arrangements to change their schedule last minute to attend the Lime Rock races. It was decided by PWC that if the driver could not attend the Lime Rock races, the points earned at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca would be doubled. About half of the drivers did not attend Lime Rock and will be expecting double points at the season ending races. So mathematically speaking, there is still potential to see some dramatic shifts in the points standings. It should make for a very exciting weekend!
Our partners at Fuse Lenses will be out in full force again providing a fun atmosphere to fans and teams alike. As many may recall, they brought the party to the season opener at Circuit of the Americas and they plan on bringing it bigger and better this time. Fans & teams should be sure to stop by their booth for prize giveaways, food and much more! Looking forward to seeing everyone at the races!