Giovanni Scelzi Claims Fourth Straight Heat Race Before Stuck Throttle Problem

Inside Line Promotions – LEMOORE, Calif. (May 25, 2015) – Giovanni Scelzi took positive out of a DNF last Friday during the Tachi Palace Nationals at Lemoore Raceway.

“The track was super, super rough,” he said. “Normally I’m not very good on a rough race track. We’re really not used to running on those kinds of tracks, but I felt like we made really good headway from the beginning of the night to the end. We really got it working at the end of the night.”

Scelzi kicked off the micro sprint event by qualifying 16th quickest around the bullring. That lined him up on the pole of a heat race, which he won for the fourth straight time and seventh time in 10 races this season.

“We made some changes for the heat race and we ended up with the fastest lap out of all the heats,” he said. “We felt pretty good going into the main event.”

Scelzi’s heat race win started him on the inside of the seventh row for the 30-lap feature.

“The racing lane was really, really narrow so everyone was bunched up and the track was really rough,” he said. “I was up to seventh about 10 laps into the race. A yellow came out and that’s when I found out the throttle stuck and I pulled in. We think a rock got caught in there. I think we were going to be a top-three race car in the main event.”

The team elected not to return for Saturday’s Tachi Palace Nationals finale.

Scelzi is scheduled to compete this Saturday at Delta Speedway in Stockton, Calif., where he won twice last year and earned a top five earlier this season.

“Delta is one of my favorite tracks,” he said. “It’s always a racy track and it’s really smooth. I’m really looking forward to Saturday’s race.”