Dominic Scelzi pocketed a pair of wins and two second-place finishes during the last week, giving him six victories and eight podiums during his last nine starts.
“I think we’ve been really good all year,” he said. “We’ve had some stuff happen that led to some bad results, but I never felt we were in panic-mode. It’s nice to see all of the hard work paying off recently.”
Scelzi kicked off back-to-back nights at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., last Friday. He qualified eighth quickest and won a heat race before placing second in both the dash and the main event.
“We were really good and just caught lapped cars at the wrong time,” he said. “I took the lead on Lap 3 and led most of the race. I got caught behind a lapped car running the top. The kid behind me got a run and slid me. That messed me up enough to not stay on his bumper. I ran him back down and was on his bumper at the finish line. We just didn’t get through traffic as well as we needed to win.”
Scelzi rebounded at the bullring the following evening as he timed in second quickest in his group. A heat race win advanced him into the dash and a fifth-place outing in it lined Scelzi up on the inside of the third row in the Johnny Key Classic A Main.
“We had great speed again and the track was a lot slicker,” he said. “I fell back to seventh or eighth at one point. Restarts were a nightmare. It wasn’t very clean. Once I was able to get up the track we worked our way forward. We got to second on a restart. Being in that second spot it was easier to gauge what I needed to do. The leader got over the cushion in turn four and we were able to sneak by him with about eight laps to go. Then a couple laps later it started to lay rubber and we were in the right place.”
Scelzi’s victory was his 10 th of the season.
The team headed north to Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., for a Western Sprint Tour race on Monday. Scelzi continued his undefeated record at the track as he swept the night by setting quick time during qualifying before winning a heat race, the dash and the feature.
“We were really good all night,” he said. “We lost a u-joint in the dash and luckily limped it to the finish. We scrambled and barely got it changed to get it out there for the feature. The track was really slick and I was searching. Once the rubber came in we followed it down the track and did our best to save as much tire as we could. Luckily for us we were able to. It was really cool to win after what I thought was going to be the end of our night with the u-joint problem in the dash.”
Scelzi made his debut at Coos Bay Speedway on Tuesday. He was fifth quickest and rallied from fifth to second place in a heat race. A sixth-place finish in the dash started Scelzi on the outside of the third row in the main event.
“We went out late in qualifying and the track slowed down so we were fifth quick,” he said. “We went from fifth to second in the heat race running the top. In the dash we drew the No. 6 and I felt like I wanted to clean the top off so I committed myself to it to get it run in. That just didn’t work. In the main even the top got going pretty good. We worked our way to third and battled (Logan) Forler the last 10 laps for second and we were able to get it.”
Scelzi’s second-place showing was his 25 th top five of the season.
Next up for the team is a trip to Montana to race in the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial this Friday and Saturday at Big Sky Speedway in Billings with the ASCS Frontier Region. Scelzi last competed at the track in August 2018.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 18 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 1 (2); Dash: 2 (2); Feature: 2 (2).
Aug. 19 – Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 5 (7); Feature: 1 (5).
Aug. 21 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 1 (6); Dash: 1 (1); Feature: 1 (1).
Aug. 22 – Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 2 (5); Dash: 6 (6); Feature: 2 (6).
SEASON STATS –
35 races, 11 wins, 25 top fives, 28 top 10s, 32 top 15s, 34 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Big Sky Speedway in Billings, Mont., for the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial with the ASCS Frontier Region.
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