Scelzi Inching Closer to First Win of Season Following Strong Outing at Petaluma

Inside Line Promotions – PETALUMA, Calif. (Sept. 26, 2016) – Dominic Scelzi had another great opportunity to earn his first win of the season before misfortune struck last Saturday at Pelaluma Speedway.

Scelzi, who was driving for the Van Lare Family, kicked off the California Civil War Sprint Car Series event by qualifying sixth quickest.

“I haven’t raced at Petaluma very much and it’s been really different every time I’ve been there,” he said. “We went out and qualified pretty good. I didn’t put down the best laps. I think we had a little more speed in the car, but it was a solid time.”

Scelzi then placed fourth in a heat race, which locked him into the dash thanks to one of the top five drivers in qualifying winning a heat.

“The top row started a lot better than the bottom in the heat race,” he said. “We made some laps and we got where I felt a little more comfortable. In the dash we had a really good start and were almost able to get to fourth, but the car in front slid up and I had to check up. That killed our momentum so we ran sixth.”

That lined Scelzi up on the outside of the third row for the main event.

“We jumped right into fourth,” he said. “We were all over third place and the yellow flag came out on Lap 3. The leader chose the outside so that lined us up on the bottom (for the double-file restart). We lost two spots on the restart. It took the majority of the race to get back to where we were.”

Scelzi capitalized on a mid-race restart to advance to fourth place before he passed for third following a restart a few laps later.

“We ran down the car in second,” he said. “As we were going under him a car had stopped in turns three and four. The second-place driver turned down and we met in the middle. Unfortunately, we stalled the motor. I didn’t want to risk tearing it up so we decided to call it a night.”