(Photo by Paul Gould)
Inside Line Promotions – CALISTOGA, Calif. (April 7, 2014) – Dominic Scelzi is heading into this weekend’s King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series season opener on a positive note.
Scelzi is coming off his best career result with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series last Saturday at Calistoga Speedway, where he passed a race-tying high seven cars to place 16th.
“In the main event we really got rolling,” he said. “It took me a while to get my corner entry right. I was having a hard time understanding what I needed to do. Once I figured that out I felt a lot more comfortable.”
After qualifying 23rd quickest and placing eighth in his heat race, Scelzi ended fifth in the Last Chance Showdown to earn a transfer to the main event. He then started on the inside of the final row for the 30-lap feature.
“There wasn’t a lot of lifting,” he said. “You were going full speed everywhere. With the restart with five to go we really came alive. We had a good battle with everyone that was running with us. That’s the best that we’ve been all year. It felt really good to get that under our belt. Overall, it was a pretty good night.”
Scelzi returned to the half-mile track on Sunday and he qualified 27th quickest to kick things off.
“I made two really bad laps and made some bad decisions in qualifying,” he said. “I thought the bottom was a little bit better and I didn’t run it the right way. That set us behind the eight ball.”
Scelzi charged from last to seventh place in his heat race and waged a tough battle with Kraig Kinser for the final lock-in position during the closing laps. However, a last-ditch effort for the sixth position came up short for Scelzi.
“I was right behind Kraig and going into turns three and four to the checkered I peeled off to go to the bottom to slide him,” he said. “He rolled to the middle and I just couldn’t clear him.”
That relegated Scelzi to the Last Chance Showdown, which he started last. After being slowed in the first handful of laps during a wild battle for seventh place, Scelzi took over the position and set sail for the final transfer position.
“Once we got going we got our rhythm and started running a lot better,” he said.
Scelzi tracked down the sixth-place driver with two laps remaining, but he was slowed with a mechanical issue on the final lap and crossed the finish line eighth – two positions out of a transfer.
Scelzi is set to race on Friday at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series before beginning his chase for the King of the West championship on Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif.
“I have high hopes going into Tulare and back to the King of the West,” he said. “Everyone’s focus is to have a solid qualifying effort, a good heat race and run strong in the main event. Hopefully that’ll put us up in the top 10. A top 10 would be a great start to the King of the West season considering the struggles we’ve had this year.”
QUICK RESULTS –
April 5 – Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif. – Qualifying: 23; Heat race: 8 (8); B Main: 5 (5); Feature: 16 (23).
April 6 – Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif. – Qualifying: 27; Heat race: 7 (9); B Main: 8 (9).
SEASON STATS –
9 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 1 top 15, 2 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Scelzi-Motorsports/225890834113599
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Whipple Superchargers
Based in Fresno, Calif., Whipple Superchargers manufactures superchargers for all types of cars. Whipple’s dedication to innovative thinking, hard work, attention to detail and outstanding product performance has led to a better, American made product for the performance industry. For more information, visit http://www.WhippleSuperchargers.com.
“Whipple Superchargers are known worldwide for their business,” Scelzi said. “My dad and Art Whipple are really good friends. He loves racing and when we decided to go sprint car racing he was a huge, huge factor in helping us get going.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Fowler Packing, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Roth Motorsports, Carlucci Transport, AXA Equitable Insurance – Bob & Gina Estrada, Panella Trucking, Red Rose Transportation, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, K&N Filters, Sparco, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems and Schoenfeld Headers for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Apr 07, 2014
- Article Date: 4/7/2014 by Inside Line Promotions