From Bryan Hulbert
ALGER, Wash. (June 26, 2021) – His first attempt at the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort, and it ended with success as California’s Dominic Scelzi put the Red Rose Transportation No. 41 in Victory Lane on Saturday night with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“We won the Dirt Cup. This is crazy,” stated Scelzi.
“There is just so much history behind this event. In 49 years, there’s been some of the best drivers in the nation, actually the best in the world that have won this race, and even better drivers who have never won it, so to come here on the first try and knock it off. I just can’t believe it.”
Pursued by Oklahoma’s Blake Hahn the opening 22 laps, traffic opened the door for the DriveWFX.com No. 52 to take the point with a lowline pass off the second turn on Lap 23. Working around slower cars with ease, Hahn was able to pull away with a comfortable lead. Working to Lap 32 however, the win was not in the cards for Hahn as the No. 52 found the flipping No. 21p of Robbie Price in the third turn. Price was done, but Hahn was able to continue after trips to the work area.
On the battle for the lead in traffic, Scelzi commented, “I just lost three and four. I couldn’t get off as good as he [Hahn] could. I started just following it around, and that still wasn’t as good as he was, but he did a hell of a job. We got lucky, there is no question about that, but we still had to beat the other forty-something cars that were here. We’ve given a couple away to being unlucky, so to gain one back, especially this big, it still feels great.”
Putting the lead back in the hands of Dominic Scelzi, the No. 41 had a cushion of slower cars over the race for second with eight laps to go. Rushing to the white flag, the caution for JJ Hickle would bring the field to a green, white, checkered finish. Restarting with Trey Starks on his back bumper, the No. 41 was able to keep the field at bay by 1.383-seconds.
Battling with Matt Covington through the final two laps, Covington took the spot but could not hold the position as Starks was able to edge the No. 95 by 0.114 seconds. Ryan Robinson made up eighth positions to fourth, with Seth Bergman moving from ninth to complete the top five.
Chase Majdic was sixth after starting 11th. Dylan Westbrook crossed seventh, followed by Garen Linder from 13th. Battling with Majdic on the closing lap, before contact between the two sent the No. 63 spinning to a stop, J.J. Hickle rebounded to ninth. Able to continue, and with slower cars to his advantage, Blake Hahn completed the top ten.
Two prelim nights topped by Hahn and Scelzi, the field’s combined event points from Thursday and Friday, set the stage for Saturday with a pair of BMRS B-Feature wins going to Colby Thornhill and Alex Hill. The night’s Hard Charger was Ryan Robinson, with eight positions gained. Blake Hahn picked up an extra $100 from Cook’s Contracting with eight positions lost as the Cook’s Contracting Dump Truck Award.
The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network is the Grizzly Nationals on Friday, July 9, and Saturday, July 10 at Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade, Mont.
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup – Night 3
Skagit Speedway
Alger, Washington
Saturday, June 26, 2021
B-Main (15 Laps)
1. 19-Colby Thornhill[1]
2. 96-Greg Hamilton[2]
3. 91-Chase Goetz[6]
4. 29-Willie Croft[3]
5. 0-Ashleigh Johnson[12]
6. 12-Steven Snawder[8]
7. 2XM-Max Mittry[5]
8. 4L-Lane Taylor[9]
9. 37-Trever Kirkland[4]
10. 88-Travis Reber[13]
11. 98H-Matt Hein[7]
12. 28R-Eric Rockl[14]
13. 99-Malachi Gemmer[10]
14. 14B-Bailey Sucich[11]
DNS: 36-Reece Goetz
DNS: 10C-Chance Crum
B-Main 2 (15 Laps)
1. 77X-Alex Hill[1]
2. 17-Cam Smith[2]
3. 22X-Tyler Thompson[5]
4. 28-Scott Bogucki[4]
5. 33T-Tyler Driever[9]
6. 17B-Ryan Bickett[11]
7. 66-Brett McGhie[10]
8. 17C-Chris Bullock[12]
9. 34-TJ Richman[15]
10. 10L-Brock Lemley[3]
11. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[6]
12. 9A-Luke Didiuk[8]
13. 18T-Tanner Holmes[7]
A-Main (40 Laps)
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[1]
2. 55-Trey Starks[6]
3. 95-Matt Covington[8]
4. 56-Ryan Robinson[12]
5. 23-Seth Bergman[9]
6. 2X-Chase Majdic[11]
7. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]
8. 22L-Garen Linder[13]
9. 63-JJ Hickle[16]
10. 52-Blake Hahn[2]
11. 96-Greg Hamilton[19]
12. 77X-Alex Hill[18]
13. 19-Colby Thornhill[17]
14. 91-Chase Goetz[21]
15. 17-Cam Smith[20]
16. 59-Eric Fisher[14]
17. 33-Colton Heath[5]
18. 16A-Justin Sanders[4]
19. 21P-Robbie Price[10]
20. 22X-Tyler Thompson[22]
21. 5T-Ryan Timms[15]
22. 18-Jason Solwold[3]