Daly Surges through Field after Penalty to Finish on Podium

Millville, June 26, 2010: Race one at New Jersey Motorsports Park was an action-packed, dramatic 29-lap event for the Juncos Racing driver trio. Conor Daly started today's race from the pole position for the fourth time this season and had a great start, maintaining his lead over the rest of the field. Though all looked promising for the 18-year-old to win his fifth race in the row-what would be a new record for most consecutive races won in the history of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear-officials issued a penalty to Daly along with Tristan Vautier for jumping the start of the race, crushing that dream and sending both cars to the back of the pack. In an exciting and spectacular run, Daly surged ahead through the field, passing cars up until the final lap, to finish on the podium in third place.

"It was a tough call at the start," said Daly. "Unfortunately, when a driver wins four races in a row, it makes people scrutinize them a little more than usual. I had to battle my way back to the front, but I knew the car was fast because the Juncos Racing team has been doing an excellent job every race. After being sent to the back, I just focused on getting points for the driver's championship. It was a really fun race for me, and we have tomorrow to try to win, too. The car will be fast again, if not faster, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow's events."

With his valiant efforts, Conor Daly also unsurprisingly took the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:17.262. With 254 points to date, Daly still holds an abundant lead in the driver's championship over Anders Krohn by an impressive 43 points.

Tatiana Calderon gladly took on this weekend's 2.25-mile road course with confidence and enthusiasm. The 17-year-old was able to avoid the incidents happening around her throughout the race and raced hard with her competitors to gain positions. Calderon continued to post competitive lap times and stayed consistent to finish race one just outside the top-ten drivers in 11th position.

"I'm very happy with my result today," said Calderon. "I was consistent, the car was really good and I'm gaining more and more experience every time I race. The track is also really difficult, but my lap times keep getting closer to the fastest lap time which shows that I'm improving and getting better with the car. I have a feeling that tomorrow's race will be even better for me."

After turning out his best qualifying result at this particular track this morning, Rusty Mitchell found bad luck for his third race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in a row. The Midland, Texas native hoped to have the chance to race from his starting position of ninth to the front of the field, but unfortunately, Mitchell was hit from behind on lap five, damaging his car and forcing him to retire early once again.

"It's obviously very disappointing," said Mitchell. "I had a good restart after the first caution, but then I just got drilled from behind by another competitor. My car was damaged, and that was it for me after that. I want to thank the guys on Juncos Racing for always working hard and giving me a really good car. There's always the race tomorrow, so hopefully we can get some good results then."