(Photo by Tear-Off Heaven Fotos)
Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (July 28, 2014) – Speed was not a problem for Dominic Scelzi last Saturday during the inaugural Peter Murphy Classic.
“We were extremely fast all night long,” he said. “We drew the No. 1 pill and ended up fourth quick.”
Scelzi capitalized on the good draw to qualify fourth quickest, which lined him up on the outside of the second row of a King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series heat race at Thunderbowl Raceway.
“I got into second and was on the leader, but I didn’t have the right time to make a move,” he said.
Scelzi advanced into the feature following his runner-up finish in a heat race. This time the series used a pole shuffle and Scelzi drew the highest number – eight – to compete first.
“Unfortunately I drew the eight in the pole shuffle,” he said. “(Brent Kaeding) won the start and was a car length in front of me at line and stayed there.”
Scelzi lost the two-car, two-lap dash, which made him line up on the outside of the fourth row for the main event.
“At one time I was in sixth and the next lap I’d be in fourth,” he said. “After things got settled down I fell into the fifth position. I was running the bottom in turns one and two, sliding through the middle and catching the fence on the exit to drive off turn four. I was biding my time trying to wait for the car to come in. Bud Kaeding got around me on the top so I moved up and was able to run down him and Brent Kaeding.”
After battling inside the top five throughout the main event, Scelzi’s car began to come to him in the final laps. He closed the gap to the Kaedings in a battle for a podium finish.
“They would enter on the top and I would slide to the cushion,” Scelzi said. “On one lap both their right rears got caught on the cushion and that slowed them down. I was going to hit my right front tire off Bud’s left rear. I turned down after I got to the cushion. It buried the right rear and it shoved the nose over.”
The front end of Scelzi’s car was damaged in the impact and it ripped a shock mount off the car. He pulled into the infield with four laps remaining while running in fifth place.
“It was frustrating,” he said. “It took me a little longer than I liked to get going well. If it was a 40-lap race I would have been more patient racing Bud and Brent. I felt like we were a top car there the last few laps. A small driver error cost us a really good finish.”
Scelzi, who was credited with a 17th-place finish, will compete with the King of the West this Saturday at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 26 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 2 (4); Dash: 8 (8); Feature: 17 (8).
SEASON STATS –
25 races, 0 wins, 4 top fives, 8 top 10s, 12 top 15s, 17 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, 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 – Panella Trucking
Panella Trucking, which started in 1934 as Ralph Panella Trucking, has grown to become one of the largest specialized agricultural trucking firms in the country and employs several hundred people during its busiest seasons hauling a variety of agricultural products. While the majority of its business is confined to California and Nevada, Panella Trucking also operates in Oregon, Washington and Arizona hauling for such Fortune 500 companies as Unilever (Ragu), Diamond Foods and Gilroy Foods (a division of Con Agra). For more information, visit http://www.PanellaTrucking.com.
“I want to thank everyone at Panella Trucking for all of their support for the race team as well as their great service for all of the tomato farmers,” Scelzi said.
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fowler Packing, Fuel Delivery Services Inc., Red Rose Transportation, Carlucci Transport, AXA Equitable Insurance with Bob & Gina Estrada, Roth Motorsports, Scelzi Enterprises, FK Rod Ends, Kaeding Performance, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Sweet Manufacturing, Weld Wheels, Simpson Race Products, Blast Tech, Tim Jones, G&J Truck Sales, Red Line Oil, K&N Filters, Schoenfeld Headers, 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 Jul 28, 2014
- Article Date: 7/28/2014 by Inside Line Promotions