Dominic Scelzi Victorious During Second Night of the 2021 Dirt Cup

(l to r) Colton Heath, winner Dominic Scelzi, and Dylan Westbrook. (Justin Youngquist photo)

From Bryan Hulbert

ALGER, Wash. (June 25, 2021) – The third and final race leader on Friday night, California’s Dominic Scelzi continued his dominance of the west coast with his 11th overall victory of the 2021 season and first against the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network on Night 2 of the 49th running of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort.

“It is really cool to win here. The last trip I took up here, I left in an ambulance with a broken leg, so it feels good to come back and win,” which he celebrated with several Hoosier burning donuts.

“We were good last night, but I did not get any sleep just thinking about losing that race. I felt like we had the car to win, so to come back and get it done means a lot, but tomorrow’s the big race, and we want to take the big money back to California.”

The 159th winner with the series, the first from Fresno and the ninth from California to top the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, Scelzi’s runner up on Thursday, and Victory on Friday, will position the Scelzi Enterprises No. 41 on the pole of Saturday’s $15,000 to win A-Feature.

Chasing the opening eight laps, Scelzi worked past Skagit Speedway weekly competitor, Colton Heath, for the lead. Chased but rarely challenged, Scelzi followed the track to the bottom through the closing laps to keep the field at bay by 1.680-seconds.

“I noticed it was getting a little abrasive in the Qualifiers, and I felt like it was going to get there again. Everyone in front of me was trying to get to the bottom at first, but I just railed the top and got to second or third. Colton was leading, and at that point, he was just a sitting duck because it’s so hard to lead when the track is starting to get abrasive, but the race was really good. Especially the first half” commented Dominic of his approach to the track.

Battling back and forth several times with Dylan Westbrook, the Hills Racing No. 47x was close but could not upset Colton Heath for second. Westbrook held on for third with early race leader, Matt Covington, ending up fourth. Moving up from 10th, Blake Hahn crossed fifth and will take the green from the right of the front row on Saturday.

Washington’s Jason Solwold crossed sixth, followed by Ryan Timms, who was the night’s Hard Charger from 16th. Garen Linder was eighth, with Justin Sanders advancing eight spots to finish ninth. Trey Starks followed by 18th to complete the top ten.

The overall field came in at 47 after two nights of qualifying. Friday’s field consisted of 45 cars with five SCE Gaskets Heat Races topped by J.J. Hickle, Colby Thornhill, Robbie Price, Colton Heath, and Ryan Robinson. Hoosier Tire Qualifier wins went to Blake Hahn, Scott Bogucki, Eric Fisher, and Dylan Westbrook. A pair of BMRS B-Features went to Justin Sanders and Trey Starks. The Cook’s Contracting Dump Truck Award went to Ryan Robinson.

The 49th running of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort concludes on Saturday, June 26, with race time tentatively set to 8:30 P.M. (PDT).

Skagit Speedway is being shown live on Racinboys.tv, and MAVTV Plus. The Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup is part of the Racinboys.com monthly subscription ($29.99 a month). The MAVTV Plus broadcast is included in their yearly subscription plans ($99.99 per year).

49th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort
Skagit Speedway
Alger, Washington
Friday, June 25, 2021

Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 63-JJ Hickle[1]
2. 29-Willie Croft[4]
3. 91-Chase Goetz[5]
4. 41-Dominic Scelzi[7]
5. 12-Steven Snawder[2]
6. 14B-Bailey Sucich[6]
7. 88-Travis Reber[8]
8. 34-TJ Richman[3]
DNS: 75L-Chris Greene

Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 19-Colby Thornhill[1]
2. 18-Jason Solwold[2]
3. 23-Seth Bergman[4]
4. 28-Scott Bogucki[3]
5. 16A-Justin Sanders[7]
6. 55-Trey Starks[6]
7. 2X-Chase Majdic[5]
8. 18T-Tanner Holmes[8]
9. 77X-Alex Hill[9]

Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 21P-Robbie Price[2]
2. 10L-Brock Lemley[3]
3. 95-Matt Covington[8]
4. 37-Trever Kirkland[6]
5. 33T-Tyler Driever[5]
6. 17C-Chris Bullock[4]
7. 98H-Matt Hein[9]
8. 9A-Luke Didiuk[7]
9. 75-Brian Boswell[1]

Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 33-Colton Heath[2]
2. 22X-Tyler Thompson[3]
3. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[5]
4. 22L-Garen Linder[7]
5. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[9]
6. 59-Eric Fisher[8]
7. 99-Malachi Gemmer[1]
8. 0-Ashleigh Johnson[6]
9. 28R-Eric Rockl[4]

Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 56-Ryan Robinson[2]
2. 96-Greg Hamilton[5]
3. 5T-Ryan Timms[3]
4. 52-Blake Hahn[4]
5. 2XM-Max Mittry[1]
6. 17-Cam Smith[8]
7. 17B-Ryan Bickett[9]
8. 66-Brett McGhie[6]
9. 4L-Lane Taylor[7]

Qualifier #1 (8 Laps)
1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]
2. 41-Dominic Scelzi[3]
3. 95-Matt Covington[6]
4. 56-Ryan Robinson[5]
5. 23-Seth Bergman[2]
6. 2XM-Max Mittry[8]
7. 33T-Tyler Driever[7]
8. 10L-Brock Lemley[4]
9. 99-Malachi Gemmer[10]
10. 17C-Chris Bullock[9]

Qualifier #2 (8 Laps)
1. 28-Scott Bogucki[1]
2. 22L-Garen Linder[3]
3. 37-Trever Kirkland[2]
4. 2X-Chase Majdic[9]
5. 29-Willie Croft[5]
6. 22X-Tyler Thompson[4]
7. 0-Ashleigh Johnson[10]
8. 98H-Matt Hein[7]
9. 14B-Bailey Sucich[8]
10. 96-Greg Hamilton[6]

Qualifier #3 (8 Laps)
1. 59-Eric Fisher[1]
2. 18-Jason Solwold[3]
3. 5T-Ryan Timms[2]
4. 63-JJ Hickle[5]
5. 21P-Robbie Price[6]
6. 55-Trey Starks[8]
7. 91-Chase Goetz[4]
8. 17B-Ryan Bickett[7]
9. 18T-Tanner Holmes[9]
10. 66-Brett McGhie[10]

Qualifier #4 (8 Laps)
1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]
2. 17-Cam Smith[1]
3. 16A-Justin Sanders[2]
4. 33-Colton Heath[6]
5. 19-Colby Thornhill[5]
6. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[4]
7. 77X-Alex Hill[10]
8. 12-Steven Snawder[7]
9. 9A-Luke Didiuk[9]
10. 88-Travis Reber[8]

B-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 16A-Justin Sanders[1]
2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]
3. 96-Greg Hamilton[6]
4. 22X-Tyler Thompson[2]
5. 77X-Alex Hill[9]
6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[8]
7. 2XM-Max Mittry[5]
8. 9A-Luke Didiuk[12]
9. 99-Malachi Gemmer[10]
10. 88-Travis Reber[11]
11. 0-Ashleigh Johnson[7]
12. 28R-Eric Rockl[14]
13. 34-TJ Richman[13]
14. 91-Chase Goetz[4]
15. 75L-Chris Greene[15]

B-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 55-Trey Starks[5]
2. 2X-Chase Majdic[2]
3. 17-Cam Smith[1]
4. 10L-Brock Lemley[4]
5. 98H-Matt Hein[7]
6. 18T-Tanner Holmes[11]
7. 12-Steven Snawder[8]
8. 4L-Lane Taylor[13]
9. 14B-Bailey Sucich[9]
10. 66-Brett McGhie[12]
11. 75-Brian Boswell[14]
12. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[3]
13. 33T-Tyler Driever[6]
14. 17C-Chris Bullock[10]

A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[4]
2. 33-Colton Heath[3]
3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[2]
4. 95-Matt Covington[1]
5. 52-Blake Hahn[10]
6. 18-Jason Solwold[6]
7. 5T-Ryan Timms[16]
8. 22L-Garen Linder[5]
9. 16A-Justin Sanders[17]
10. 55-Trey Starks[18]
11. 23-Seth Bergman[19]
12. 56-Ryan Robinson[7]
13. 21P-Robbie Price[9]
14. 28-Scott Bogucki[11]
15. 59-Eric Fisher[13]
16. 17-Cam Smith[22]
17. 19-Colby Thornhill[15]
18. 37-Trever Kirkland[14]
19. 63-JJ Hickle[8]
20. 29-Willie Croft[12]
21. 2X-Chase Majdic[20]
22. 96-Greg Hamilton[21]