Giovanni Scelzi Records First Career 410 Victory to Become Youngest KWS-NARC Winner
Inside Line Promotions – PLACERVILLE, Calif. (May 15, 2017) – Giovanni Scelzi became the youngest winner in King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series history last Saturday when he used a last-lap pass to score his first career 410ci winged sprint car win.
Scelzi, who is 15-years-old, entered the event at Placerville Speedway with only three starts in a 410 sprint car under his belt.
“It was pretty special to get our first 410 win,” he said. “Dennis and Teresa Roth, Todd Ventura, my crew chief Brent Ventura and the rest of Roth Motorsports have given me an excellent opportunity so I was pretty excited we could get to Victory Lane so quickly.”
The action began with Scelzi setting quick time during qualifying at the quarter-mile oval. He then advanced from his fourth starting position to place third in a heat race, which locked him into the dash.
“I went into turn one and the guy on the outside in front of me got tight and into the cushion,” he said. “I had to hit the brakes to miss him and I fell to seventh. We drove back up to third to make the dash.”
The dash inversion was in Scelzi’s favor as it lined him up on the pole. He led the distance of the race to garner the pole position for the main event.
“The track was super slick and dusty,” he said. “I rolled into turn one on the bottom and ended at the exit ramp off turn two,” he said. “I fell to third. It took me a while to figure out where to drive my car. I passed Willie Croft for second about halfway. I didn’t think I had anything for (Sean) Becker. I was looking at it like we needed to finish the race and not do anything stupid
“On the last lap I was all over him. He went to the bottom in turns three and four so I went to the middle. I just went where he didn’t go. The curb was way up by the edge of the track. There was some grip way up there. He slowed down a lot and I hit the corner perfect.”
Scelzi pulled even with Becker in turns three and four before winning a drag race down the frontstretch by less than one tenth of a second. Here is a link to watch the main event: https://youtu.be/hcN9crKtx1U.
“It’s hard to tell at that place if you win a close one,” he said. “The straightaways are so short. You’re almost lifting at the flag stand. I drove it so far past my lifting point. They told me over the radio that I won.”
Scelzi opened last weekend on Friday at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., where he set quick time before placing third in a heat race and fifth in the dash to line up on the inside of the third row for the main event.
“We’ve been fast everywhere we’ve gone,” he said. “I think we should be in the top five every night wherever we go. Going into a race with any series helps having that confidence.
“In the feature it was one lane and hooked up. The biggest move I made was with about eight laps to go. There was a restart and I was fifth. I drove by Craig Stidham and D.J. Netto to get to third and the yellow came out to put me back in fifth. On the next restart I passed a guy and he got into us. We got some damage and we weren’t able to finish.”
Scelzi pulled in with only a handful of laps remaining. He was credited with a 13th-place finish. Here is a link to watch the feature: https://youtu.be/IvWg7BjwjRk.
He is slated to compete this Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series. Scelzi enters the event ranked second in the championship standings – only three points behind the leader.