By Bill W
West Burlington, IA, August 19, 2017 – First impressions can be long-lasting, and Fresno, California left a strong one Saturday night with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The fifteen-year-old driver won his heat, the Dash and the 25-lap main event aboard the BDS Motorsports #1x in a night that he saw the 3/8-mile oval for the first time.
Tanner Gebhart led early in the feature from outside row one ahead of pole-sitter, Dustin Clark, and Scelzi, who started fifth. Scelzi would grab second on the second lap and began reeling in fellow teen, Gebhart. On lap four, he would shoot around the heavy cushion and into the lead.
Josh Schneiderman started beside Scelzi in row three moved into the top three by lap six. Scelzi entered lapped traffic on the eighth circuit, but the red was thrown for a seventh running, Jon Agan, who suffered a hard crash in turn three. He climbed out unhurt.
Scelzi led Gebhart, Schneiderman, Harold Pohren and Clark back to green. Schneiderman jumped into second, while Paul Nienhiser moved into fifth after starting fifteenth. Nienhiser would move into fourth on lap ten, and by Gebhart for third on lap fourteen.
Scelzi pulled away from the field as he was back in lapped traffic by lap 16. His mount was flawless either up on the cushion or in the low groove as he maneuvered traffic the rest of the way. His margin of victory was almost a half lap over Schneiderman in second, Nienhiser, Gebhart and Chris Martin. Pohren, Ben Wagoner, John Schulz, Jarrod Schneiderman and Clark rounded out the top ten.
Scelzi who leads the 410 “King of the West” Series won both his heat race and the Dash preceding his feature win. He joins his brother Dominic as first time feature winners with the Sprint Invaders this season. Dominic won at Dubuque Speedway in July. Bailey Goldesberry and Pohren won the other heats. Cody Wehrle claimed the B main.
“This place is amazing,” said Scelzi in Victory Lane. “You never get two lanes like this…a big old curb and it was smooth. It’s the best place I’ve been. The car was good. I just made a lot of mistakes. I have to cut down on that. Bryan Sunby and this whole team gives me a good car. It was good to get a win for them.”
“Last night (at Lee County Speedway) we were taken out while up front for the fifth straight time,” said Josh Schneiderman. “We were o.k. tonight. We needed to be a little better. We were tight, but the #1 car was the class of the field tonight. I was probably a little more conservative than I should have been the last five laps. We were just trying to finish the race. We were as good on top as the bottom. That was important. Overall, we should have had a first and second place weekend, but to bounce back with the second tonight was good.”
“We just kind of dug a hole from the beginning,” said Nienhiser of his start from row eight. “I just made some mistakes in the heat race. Starting back there made it hard on us, but Scott (Bonar) and the guys had a good car for me. We really wanted to win, but starting back there with all those guys was going to be tough. I think we had the car for it, we just needed another yellow at the end to see. This was one of the best cars that I’ve ever had here. We were good anywhere on the track, and I think that’s the biggest reason that we were able to pass so many cars.”
The next action for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be Sunday night, September 17 at Quincy Raceways in Quincy, Illinois. For more information on the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Sprint Invaders
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ALL SHOTTENKIRK.COM SPRINT INVADERS OWNERS, DRIVERS AND CREWS: Upon review of the tire rule for the 2017 season, a discrepancy has been found with the Hoosier Catalog …
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 1x, Gio Scelzi, Fresno, CA (5) 2. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (6) 3. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (15) 4. 81, Tanner Gebhart, Burlington, IA (2) 5. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (10) 6. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (3) 7. 78, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (7) 8. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (14) 9. 3G, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (12) 10. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (1) 11. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (11) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (20) 13. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (18) 14. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (16) 15. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (19) 16. 58, Andy Krieger, Burlington, IA (17) 17. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (8) 18. 4*, Bailey Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (4) 19. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (9) 20. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA (13). Lap Leaders: Gebhart 1-3, Scelzi 4-25. Hard-charger: Nienhiser. KSE Hard-charger: Jamison.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), Top Five to A main, Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Gio Scelzi (2) 2. Josh Schneiderman (1) 3. Ben Wagoner (4) 4. Chris Martin (6) 5. Donnie Steward (8) / 6. Brayden Gaylord (5) 7. Cody Wehrle (3) 8. 3, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (7) 9. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (9)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), Top Five to A main, Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Bailey Goldesberry (1) 2. Tanner Gebhart (4) 3. Jon Agan (5) 4. Daniel Bergquist (6) 5. John Schulz (8) / 6. Andy Krieger (7) 7. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (3) 8. Ryan Jamison (2)
Mohrfeld Electric Heat three (started), Top Five to A main, Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Harold Pohren (2) 2. Dustin Clark (1) 3. Jamie Ball (4) 4. Jarrod Schneiderman (7) 5. Paul Nienhiser (3) / 6. Justin Buchholz (5) 7. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (6) 8. 1, Damion Getchell, Sperry, IA (8)
B main (started), Top Five to A main, 12 laps: 1. Cody Wehrle (4) 2. Andy Krieger (2) 3. Brayden Gaylord (1) 4. Justin Buchholz (3) 5. Ryan Jamison (8) / 6. Nate Van Haaften (7) 7. Dave Getchell (6) 8. Damion Getchell (9) 9. Rob Weuve (5) 10. John Greenwood (10)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Gio Scelzi (1) 2. Josh Schneiderman (2) 3. Dustin Clark (3) 4. Tanner Gebhart (4) 5. Harold Pohren (6) 6. Bailey Goldesberry (5)
Contingencies
Pyrotec – John Schulz
Saldana Racing Products – Jon Agan
Kreitz Oval Track Products – Jamie Ball