Giovanni Scelzi Contends for Top Five Before Enduring Shoulder Injury

Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (May 22, 2017) – Giovanni Scelzi is recovering after a freak incident ended his night early last Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway.

Scelzi was running fifth in a Roth Motorsports entry late in the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series event when his left shoulder popped out of its socket.

“I went into turn three and there was a big hole,” he said. “I hit the hole wrong. It jerked the wheel and pulled the arm out of the socket. I ran four or five laps and couldn’t hold on any longer.”

Scelzi pulled in with seven laps remaining and was credited with an 18 th-place result. It dropped him to third in the championship standings – only 18 points out of the lead.

“It hurt pretty bad that night, but the pain is easing off,” he said. “It’s a bummer because we had a great night going.”

Scelzi opened the event by qualifying third quickest. He then used a last-lap pass to place third in a heat race to advance into the dash.

“We qualified pretty good, which was good for points,” he said. “We snuck in the dash on the last lap. I slid passed the guy on the bottom in turns one and two and then blocked the bottom in turns three and four.”

Scelzi picked up a position to place third in the dash and start the main event on the inside of the second row.

“We were tight in the feature,” he said. “I pulled the wheels off the ground on the start and fell back to fifth. I rode around there hoping for a yellow, but I didn’t want to be the cause of it like we were.”

Scelzi will take this weekend off before resuming competition on June 3 at Antioch Speedway in Antioch, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series.