(Photo by Tear-Off Heaven Fotos)
Inside Line Promotions – CALISTOGA, Calif. (June 23, 2014) – Dominic Scelzi utilized last weekend as a confidence booster.
Despite tough luck in the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series main events both nights, Scelzi was extremely pleased with the speed of his race car on Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., and on Saturday at Calistoga Speedway.
“The results didn’t show our speed all weekend,” he said.
The weekend kicked off at Ocean Speedway with Scelzi qualifying 17th quickest. He then advanced from sixth to fifth place in his heat race to lock himself into the 30-lap feature.
“We got behind the eight ball in qualifying, but we were able to rebound,” he said. “Our qualifying effort has been getting better. We thought the track was going to be quicker than it was. We made a small change from qualifying to the heat race and that was just what we needed.
It was a little difficult to pass in the heat, but we were all over fourth place.”
Scelzi started the main event on the inside of the eighth row.
“It cleaned off through the middle and we got going really well,” he said. “I was up to 11th and on a restart Michael Pickens and I got racing. I messed up and jumped the cushion and tagged the wall.”
Following the contact on Lap 21, Scelzi went to the work area during the caution to put a new tire on his sprint car. He returned to the track at the back of the field and rallied in the closing laps to post a 10th-place finish.
The weekend concluded on Saturday at Calistoga Speedway, where Scelzi qualified ninth quickest. That lined him up on the outside of the front row of his heat race.
“I was a little conservative on my qualifying laps,” he said. “In the heat race the top had slicked off on the straightaway and I didn’t get as good of a start as I wanted. Willie Croft got the jump on me.”
After dropping to third place at one point, Scelzi maneuvered back into a second-place result. That started him 11th in the main event.
“We were just unbelievably fast,” he said. “We went from 11th to fifth in 16 laps. When a yellow flag was coming out I was on the bumper of fourth and third place. I didn’t get as good of a restart as I wanted and lost two positions. It took me six or seven laps to regain those positions.”
Scelzi was in a close battle with Brent Kaeding for a top five in the closing laps when he ran out of fuel exiting turn two coming to the white flag. He was credited with a 13th-place finish.
“It was pretty disappointing,” Scelzi said. “But it was a confidence booster to run that strong on a big half mile and to feel so good. Even though we didn’t get the finish we wanted it was a fantastic night. I also want to thank Peter Murphy, Mark Ellis and Steve Hamblin for all of the help and support.”
Scelzi is taking the next couple of weekends off before returning to action July 11-12 at Ocean Speedway for the 4th annual Kaeding Classic. The opening night will be with the Civil War Sprint Car Series and the finale is a King of the West event.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 20 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 5 (6); Feature: 10 (15).
June 21 – Calistoga Speedway in Calistoga, Calif. – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 2 (2); Feature: 13 (11).
SEASON STATS –
21 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 5 top 10s, 9 top 15s, 13 top 20s
UP NEXT –
July 11-12 at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the 4th annual Kaeding Classic with the Civil War Sprint Car Series and 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 – Schoenfeld Headers
Schoenfeld Headers is the manufacturer of competition headers, mufflers and exhaust systems. The company specializes in circle track, drag, tractor pull and boat headers. For more information, visit http://www.SchoenfeldHeaders.com.
“I’d like to thank the entire Schoenfeld family for helping my brother and I throughout our entire career,” Scelzi said. “They have the best headers in the business.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fowler Packing, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Panella Trucking, Carlucci Transport, Red Rose Transportation, AXA Equitable Insurance with Bob & Gina Estrada, Roth Motorsports, Scelzi Enterprises, Blast Tech, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, Red Line Oil, K&N Filters, Sparco and ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems 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 Jun 23, 2014
- Article Date: 6/23/2014 by Inside Line Promotions