Inside Line Promotions
CHICO, Calif. (May 8, 2017) – Giovanni Scelzi captured his first career feature victory last Friday during only his 24 th career winged sprint car start.
Scelzi, who was driving for Roth Motorsports, led all 30 laps of the King of Kings season opener at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., to achieve the feat.
“It felt like I was getting a monkey off my back,” he said. “We’ve been in position so many times to win races it feels like we should have had a few. To have Dennis and Teresa Roth there and to share it with the team felt pretty good.”
The night began with Scelzi setting quick time during qualifying. He then advanced from fourth to second place in a heat race to lock into the dash, where he pulled the No. 1 during the random redraw to start the dash on the pole.
Scelzi led the distance of the dash to score the pole position for the main event.
“Racing a 410 has made me progress 10 times quicker,” he said. “This was my first time at the track in a 360 since racing a 410 there and it felt like you weren’t even moving going back to a 360. It was way easier to hit my marks and put the car where I wanted to. We qualified two tenths faster than the field.
“The track had some grip in it, but was starting to slick off in the feature. It was tough to not know where to go as the leader. The curb in turns one and two was massive. It was easy to bike and fall off the track. I ran around the top of the race track for a while. From halfway on I went to the bottom in turns one and two.”
Scelzi maintained the top spot throughout the feature to earn the triumph. Here is a link to watch the main event: https://youtu.be/jyXKgInPIww.
The weekend concluded on Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway for the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series.
“I was going in there with confidence through the ceiling,” he said. “We hot lapped really well. We went out late in qualifying, which was good because the track got faster. I went through turns one and two fine, but made a mistake in turns three and four and that ruined both my laps. That put us behind the eight ball to start the night.”
Scelzi timed in 27th quickest out of 37 racers. He then placed sixth in a heat race before maneuvering from 11th to third place in the B Main. That earned a transfer into the 19th starting position in the main event.
“We were tight in the beginning and I couldn’t get the car going,” he said. “The track was rough and narrow so it was hard to get into a rhythm. There was an open red about 15 laps in and we were up to ninth or so. We tried to free the car up. Then I lost my brakes about midway through the race. I went into turn three and the brake pedal went straight to the floor. I drove off the end and backed into the fence.”
Scelzi was unable to restart the race and he was credited with a 14th-place result. Here is a link to the feature: https://youtu.be/VrB8PsOn51U.
He is scheduled to drive for Roth Motorsports this Friday at Keller Auto Speedway and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series.
“I want to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth, Todd and the entire Roth team as well as my family and sponsors for the support,” Scelzi said. “We didn’t end last weekend the way we wanted, but it was special to get our first career sprint car win and hopefully more are on the horizon.”
QUICK RESULTS –
May 5 – Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 2 (4); Dash: 1 (1); Feature: 1 (1).
May 6 – Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. – Qualifying: 27; Heat race: 6 (7); B Main: 3 (11); Feature: 14 (19).
SEASON STATS –
8 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 6 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 7 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GioScelzi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Scelzi-Motorsports/225890834113599
VIDEO –
Here is a link to a highlight video: https://vimeo.com/161410751
Here is a link to a promotional video: https://vimeo.com/160322149
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Roth Motorsports
Roth Motorsports is a premier sprint car organization formed in 1992 by Dennis and Teresa Roth. For more information, visit http://www.RothMotorsports83.com .
“I want to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth as well as the entire Roth team for their support,” Scelzi said. “It’s very much appreciated and great to be associated with such a well-known program.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Panella Trucking, Carlucci Transport, Red Rose Transportation, Inc., Scelzi Enterprises, Red Line Oil, NAPA Auto Parts, Todd Jorgensen, Weld Wheels, Schoenfeld Headers, FK Rod Ends, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Sparco, Simpson Race Products, Worldwide Bearings, Blast Tech, K&N Filters, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Meridian Steel, Kenny’s Components, Lincoln Auto Auction, Auto Meter, Allstar Performance, DJS Safe Seats, Arctic Cat and Southern Pacific Farms for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com . For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
*PHOTO BY PAUL TREVINO PHOTOS*