Scelzi Battles Throughout Challenging Trophy Cup
Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 27, 2016) – Dominic Scelzi endured a roller coaster ride during the 23rd annual Trophy Cup last weekend at Thunderbowl Raceway.
“It had its ups and downs,” he said. “It was probably the least eventful Trophy Cup I’ve been to. We were really fast when the track had moisture. When it went slick we couldn’t get the car on the race track. We probably changed setups as many times as we could. Every time we hit the track we got better, but it wasn’t until the B Main on Saturday that we got it running well on that type of a track.”
Scelzi, who was driving for the Van Lare Family, opened the three-day event last Thursday by qualifying fourth quickest in his group. He then placed sixth in a heat race, which locked him into the main event after combined qualifying and heat race points were calculated.
“We qualified really strong,” he said. “In the heat race the guys in fourth and fifth were side by side almost the entire race. On the last lap I dove under the guy in fifth, but he was able to get back by at the line.”
Scelzi started the feature on the inside of the 10th row.
“At one time I was up to 13th,” he said. “I ran the top, ran the bottom, ran the middle. I ran everywhere. As the race went on the slicker the track got and we weren’t able to get the traction we needed.”
Scelzi ended with a 17th-place result. Here is a link to watch the feature: https://youtu.be/rG9g-YLEI4o.
He returned to the track on Friday for Round 2, which began with Scelzi timing in 20th quickest in his group. That lined him up on the outside of the front row for a heat race. However, he was penalized two rows when an official deemed he had started the race too early.
Scelzi rebounded to post a third-place finish in the heat race, which relegated him to start 10th in a B Main.
“I got up to fifth with six or seven laps to go,” he said. “I tried to make a move on fourth place to get in a transfer position and a guy came around the outside of me and I spun around in turn four. It was a tough night.”
Scelzi wrapped up the weekend on Saturday by advancing from fifth to third place in a heat race. That ranked him 22nd in overall event points, which was two spots shy of locking into the feature. The B Main featured a six-car inversion that started Scelzi on the inside of the third row.
“We got right to fourth and had a restart on Lap 6 and I fell back to sixth for a lap or two,” he said. “I drove back up to fourth. A yellow came out with three laps to go. On the last lap going into turn three I was in fourth and the guy in third put a big chop and I had to check up. I slid up to the top and another driver was coming in and I had to pretty much stop the car. I locked the brakes up and still got ran into.”
Scelzi ended fifth in the consolation race to miss a transfer by only one spot. Here is a link to watch the race: https://youtu.be/y-khTI4KoB0.
“I want to thank the Van Lare Family for the opportunity,” he said. “Although the results weren’t what we hoped for it was a fun weekend.”
Scelzi will be off this weekend before doing double duty on Nov. 5 at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif., for 33rd annual Tribute to Gary Patterson with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series and Civil War Sprint Car Series.