Giovanni Scelzi Caps Peter Murphy Classic With Podium Finish for Roth Motorsports
Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (April 24, 2017) – Giovanni Scelzi earned a pair of strong results last weekend during the Peter Murphy Classic at Thunderbowl Raceway, where he guided his Roth Motorsports entry to a sixth-place finish on Friday with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour and a third-place result on Saturday with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series.
“They were both good nights,” he said. “That’s an intimidating place. To unload with such a fast car on Friday was a big confidence boost.”
Scelzi qualified fifth quickest in his group and ninth overall out of more than 50 drivers to kick off Friday’s competition. He quickly maneuvered from fifth place into the lead during a heat race, but the rear end broke with two laps remaining.
That sent Scelzi into the B Main, which he won after starting third to transfer into the 13th starting position in the main event.
“We got rolling in the feature,” he said. “The track was really, really slick. I was really surprised it didn’t take rubber because it was really slick from the first lap. I got caught midpack running for eighth and ninth. It took too long to get through the field. I thought we had the car speed to run for a win, but it took too long to get up there.”
Scelzi climbed into the top five following a late-race restart, but he slid into the wall in turns one and two and another competitor took advantage. Scelzi closed with a sixth-place result. Here is a link to watch the feature: https://youtu.be/7qrCXibYaeQ.
The event concluded on Saturday, when Scelzi made his 410ci winged sprint car debut at Thunderbowl Raceway during only his second career 410 race.
“It was a huge speed change from the night before,” he said. “It was kind of a surprise going quick time. I tried to be as smooth as I could. It was nice drawing an early pill because the track slowed down.”
Scelzi set quick time out of nearly 40 drivers during qualifying. He then advanced from fourth to second place in a heat race to make the pole shuffle, where a zero inversion gave him the No. 1 position.
“I chose the bottom line and got the jump over Bud Kaeding,” he said. “We led both laps and won so that gave us the pole for the main event.
“The non-wing race before us took rubber and they reworked the track for our A Main. On the initial start I hit some grease and spun my tires and Bud got in front of me. On the next restart I wheelied down the frontstretch and fell back to third. The first 10 or 15 laps I ran around in third. Carson Macedo drove by me and I fell to fourth. I really couldn’t get going. On the last corner of the race I drove by Buddy Kofoid for third.”
Scelzi capped the event by placing third, which marked his fourth top five of the season. He has scored a top-five result during both career 410 races. Here is a link to watch the main event: https://youtu.be/umxEHfz2rtE.
“It’s been a good start to the year with the 410 deal,” he said. “I’m learning more. I need to calm down and not force the issue. I was trying to go so hard and it hurt me. I want to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth as well as the rest of the team for their hard work and the great opportunity.”
