Dominic Scelzi Opens Trophy Cup With Podium Before Ending 11th in Points

Dominic Scelzi Opens Trophy Cup With Podium Before Ending 11 th in Points

Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 24, 2018) – Dominic Scelzi had a strong showing last weekend during the 25th annual Trophy Cup at Thunderbowl Raceway.

Scelzi recorded a podium finish during the opening round and he entered Saturday’s A Main ranked second in event points. While a 13th -place feature result isn’t what he aimed for, Scelzi finished 11 th in event points out of 88 competitors.

“I think this is the first year that we finished the A Main on Saturday so that’s a positive,” he said. “It’s two years in a row we’ve led the points, which is cool, too.”

The event began on Thursday with Scelzi qualifying second quickest in his group. A charge from sixth to third place in a heat race earned enough points to transfer directly into the main event. Scelzi started 10 th, but a late rally using the top groove earned him a third-place finish.

“I was caught behind a car for about 10 laps,” he said. “I’d fallen back to around 15th. We pounded the wall down and drove up to third. I would have liked to see a yellow. I think we would have had something for the top two drivers.

“It was the best track Tulare has had in seven years. It was actually probably the best track I’ve been on there. It was very racy. You could run the top, the bottom or the middle as well. It put it in the racer’s hands.”

Here is a link to watch the feature: https://youtu.be/_srzoGRQDOs.

Scelzi was the high-points driver following the first night of competition, which took pressure off Friday’s preliminary night. He qualified 26 th quickest and called it a night early since he was in a great points position from the first preliminary night.

“A hole had developed in the track and we about destroyed the race car in qualifying so luckily we didn’t crash,” he said. “Since we had a great points position and our qualifying result wasn’t great we played it safe and just started both the heat race and C Main to make sure we were in a good spot for Saturday.”

Scelzi kicked off Saturday’s finale by maneuvering from eighth to fifth place in a heat race. Once all points were tallied he ranked second and with a 20-car inversion for the 50-lap main event, Scelzi lined him on the inside of the 10th row.

“You don’t want to be high-point guy,” he said. “You want to be where (Jac) Haudenschild was, like seventh in points. You have the fastest guys behind you and it’s a little easier to get through the guys in front of you. The track was wide open and fast the first 25 laps and then wide open in rubber the second half of the race. There was nothing we did wrong with the car. We just couldn’t maneuver.”

Scelzi gained a half dozen positions and his 13th-place finish marked his best-ever result during the Trophy Cup finale.

He is slated to join his brother, Giovanni, the next two weekends during World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series races at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pa., this Friday and Saturday and at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C., Nov. 1-3. The Scelzi Brothers will both drive for Bernie Stuebgen in the famed Indy Race Parts No. 71 during the marquee races.