Giovanni Scelzi Sweeps Sprint Invaders Event During Debut at 34 Raceway
Inside Line Promotions – SEDALIA, Mo. (Aug. 22, 2017) – Giovanni Scelzi produced the first sweep of his sprint car career last Saturday when he made his debut at 34 Raceway, where Scelzi guided the BDS Motorsports team to a victory in a heat race, dash and the main event at the Sprint Invaders event.
“It’s really nice to go to places like 34 Raceway,” he said. “34 had a big cushion almost at the fence and had a bottom lane. You could move anywhere. To win my first time there was awesome. It’s great to continue to run well with Bryan (Sundby) and BDS Motorsports.”
Scelzi was slated to begin the night on the outside of the second row in a heat race. However, he moved up to the outside of the front row when another driver elected to start at the back.
“To race at a place that smooth and fast was something,” Scelzi said. “I got the jump and left them.”
Scelzi did the same thing in the dash after starting on the pole. He then redrew the No. 5 to start the main event on the inside of the third row.
“It was hard to tell if I needed to be patient or aggressive,” he said. “I ran the bottom on the first lap and was up to third. After that I was ripping the top. I was up on the cushion the first half of the race. I took the lead around Lap 8. We got to traffic and I moved down. There was a restart and it looked like the bottom groove was good so I moved down to the bottom.”
Scelzi’s win was his fifth of the season and first career with BDS Motorsports. Here is a link to watch the main event: https://youtu.be/YEndl6F1SmM.
The team wrapped up the weekend on Sunday at Missouri State Fair Speedway with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
“That place is huge,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go to a big, slick track. We drew a good number and started on the pole of a heat race. The heat race was a good warm-up for the feature.”
Scelzi won the heat race to advance into the feature redraw, in which he pulled the No. 3 to start the A Main on the inside of the second row.
“I was rolling around in third for a while,” he said. “The leader had an issue so I restarted in second, but didn’t get a very good restart. I got out of my rhythm and fell back to fifth. The last 10 laps or so I got moving and up to fourth.”
The fourth-place result was Scelzi’s 16th top five this season.
He is slated to drive for BDS Motorsports this Thursday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour before returning to Roth Motorsports on Saturday at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series. Scelzi enters the event leading the championship standings with only four races remaining.