Watkins Glen, NY. After a rollercoaster of a race, teammates Jay Salinsky & Mark Pombo drove the #52 Fuse Lenses MINI to a solid second place finish, right behind the #73 sister car driven by Mat Pombo & Derek Jones that finished 1st! The 3rd team car #37 finished close behind in 5th place. Team MINI JCW really showed what they are made of!
After qualifying the #52 in 14th place we knew there would be a lot of work to be done to bring it back up to the front of the pack. With the threat of rain coming anything could happen. Jay would start the race and then Mark would take over midway through the 2 hour race. After a strong start Jay began to pick off his competitors one at a time. Then the sky opened up and the rain came. Cars began slipping & sliding all around the track. Some chose to pit to change to rain tires but the majority chose to stay on slicks because they knew the showers would be quick. Unfortunately Jay lost control coming in to turn 1 and spun into the wall causing his side view mirror to break but was able to get right back on track to continue his stint with minimal damage. He worked way all the way up to 7th place in the rain right before race officials flew a red flag. Conditions were too dangerous and there would be a lot of clean up of carnage around the track.
When the rain finally subsided and the driver change was done, Mark Pombo would take over for Jay but have his work cut out for him. After getting in the car, he came back out on track in 10th position on a drying track. His brother Mat Pombo was in the #73 car pushing his way through the field as well. Mark began picking off his competitors one at a time until he was right behind his brother Mat. The two brothers worked together to fend off the field, with the #73 finishing first and the #52 finishing second overall. This would be the first podium of the season for driver Jay Salinsky and the champagne was flowing for the next few days. But the celebration wouldn’t last long, as the car was about to get it’s biggest test of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park just one week later.