From Gary Thomas
MERCED, Ca. (April 22, 2023) – Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi raced to his 7th career Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory on Saturday night at the Merced Speedway.
After battling tooth and nail with several racers, Scelzi eventually took over the top spot on lap 14 and withstood several caution flags to earn the $2,500 triumph on Saturday night.
Current World of Outlaws point leader Carson Macedo made a rare SCCT appearance and came home in second after applying heavy pressure to Scelzi over the closing laps. The Merced Speedway bullring as always provided outstanding racing in the 35-lap contest. Fremont’s Shane Golobic carved his way from 10th to third in the feature, with Justin Sanders and Ryan Bernal rounding out the top-five.
Sanders led the initial laps during the main event and battled with Gauge Garcia over several laps. Garcia, last season’s Rookie of the Year, looked impressive at times and led laps in the feature until overshooting the corner at one point. Completing the top-10 in the main event were Chase Johnson, Cole Macedo, Tim Kaeding, Jake Morgan and Justyn Cox.
Morgan earned the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award carving his way from 24th to ninth in the feature.
A total of 40 cars competed during the second round of the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards season on Saturday.
Sprint Car Challenge Tour
Merced Speedway
Merced, California
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Qualifying
1. 21M-Carson Macedo, 10.487[6]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic, 10.608[10]
3. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 10.617[4]
4. 21T-Cole Macedo, 10.623[7]
5. 88A-Joey Ancona, 10.630[3]
6. X1-Michael Faccinto, 10.680[1]
7. 7-Jake Morgan, 10.690[9]
8. 9-Dustin Freitas, 10.907[5]
9. 21MX-Michael Ing, 11.193[2]
10. 63D-Jon DeWees, 11.679[8]
Qualifying 2
1. 94TH-Landon Brooks, 10.519[8]
2. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield, 10.685[4]
3. 22-Ryan Bernal, 10.795[6]
4. 38-Colby Johnson, 10.813[10]
5. 69-Bud Kaeding, 10.818[3]
6. 5V-Tim Kaeding, 10.876[9]
7. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto, 10.895[2]
8. 32-Caden Sarale, 11.071[5]
9. 14-Mariah Ede, 11.163[1]
10. 54S-Drake Standley, 11.463[7]
Qualifying 3
1. 4SA-Justin Sanders, 10.486[5]
2. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 10.570[7]
3. 14M-Corey Day, 10.577[10]
4. 121-Caeden Steele, 10.657[4]
5. 42X-Justyn Cox, 10.829[2]
6. 1-Chance Grasty, 10.874[3]
7. 12J-John Clark, 10.908[6]
8. 25S-Seth Standley, 10.922[1]
9. 18-Grant Champlin, 10.928[8]
10. 9L-Luke Hayes, 11.074[9]
Qualifying 4
1. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 10.525[1]
2. 21X-Gauge Garcia, 10.624[4]
3. 28-Chase Johnson, 10.664[9]
4. 92-Andy Forsberg, 10.725[6]
5. 10-Dominic Gorden, 10.841[7]
6. 3X-Michael Pombo, 10.871[5]
7. 5R-Ryan Rocha, 10.909[3]
8. 115-Nick Parker, 10.910[2]
9. 21-Shane Hopkins, 10.921[8]
10. 77-Ryan Lippincott, 11.473[10]
Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 4SA-Justin Sanders[2]
2. 21X-Gauge Garcia[1]
3. 41-Dominic Scelzi[5]
4. 22-Ryan Bernal[3]
5. 21M-Carson Macedo[6]
6. 83T-Tanner Carrick[7]
7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[8]
8. 94TH-Landon Brooks[4]
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic[1]
3. 21T-Cole Macedo[3]
4. 21M-Carson Macedo[4]
5. X1-Michael Faccinto[6]
6. 88A-Joey Ancona[5]
7. 7-Jake Morgan[7]
8. 21MX-Michael Ing[9]
9. 9-Dustin Freitas[8]
10. 63D-Jon DeWees[10]
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 22-Ryan Bernal[2]
2. 94TH-Landon Brooks[4]
3. 5V-Tim Kaeding[6]
4. 69-Bud Kaeding[5]
5. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[7]
6. 32-Caden Sarale[8]
7. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[1]
8. 14-Mariah Ede[9]
9. 54S-Drake Standley[10]
10. 38-Colby Johnson[3]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[1]
2. 14M-Corey Day[2]
3. 4SA-Justin Sanders[4]
4. 121-Caeden Steele[3]
5. 42X-Justyn Cox[5]
6. 1-Chance Grasty[6]
7. 12J-John Clark[7]
8. 18-Grant Champlin[9]
9. 25S-Seth Standley[8]
10. 9L-Luke Hayes[10]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 21X-Gauge Garcia[1]
2. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[4]
3. 28-Chase Johnson[2]
4. 3X-Michael Pombo[6]
5. 92-Andy Forsberg[3]
6. 21-Shane Hopkins[9]
7. 10-Dominic Gorden[5]
8. 77-Ryan Lippincott[10]
9. 115-Nick Parker[8]
10. 5R-Ryan Rocha[7]
C-Main (12 Laps)
1. 25S-Seth Standley[3]
2. 9L-Luke Hayes[7]
3. 9-Dustin Freitas[1]
4. 54S-Drake Standley[4]
5. 63D-Jon DeWees[8]
DNS: 38-Colby Johnson
DNS: 115-Nick Parker
DNS: 5R-Ryan Rocha
B Main (15 Laps)
1. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]
2. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[5]
3. 21-Shane Hopkins[3]
4. 7-Jake Morgan[6]
5. 12J-John Clark[8]
6. 1-Chance Grasty[2]
7. 10-Dominic Gorden[7]
8. 21MX-Michael Ing[11]
9. 25S-Seth Standley[13]
10. 9L-Luke Hayes[14]
11. 32-Caden Sarale[4]
12. 77-Ryan Lippincott[12]
13. 18-Grant Champlin[9]
14. 14-Mariah Ede[10]
A Main (30 Laps)
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[3]
2. 21M-Carson Macedo[5]
3. 17W-Shane Golobic[10]
4. 4SA-Justin Sanders[1]
5. 22-Ryan Bernal[4]
6. 28-Chase Johnson[12]
7. 21T-Cole Macedo[11]
8. 5V-Tim Kaeding[13]
9. 7-Jake Morgan[24]
10. 42X-Justyn Cox[19]
11. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[7]
12. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[20]
13. 83T-Tanner Carrick[6]
14. X1-Michael Faccinto[17]
15. 21X-Gauge Garcia[2]
16. 88A-Joey Ancona[21]
17. 21-Shane Hopkins[23]
18. 121-Caeden Steele[14]
19. 94TH-Landon Brooks[8]
20. 14M-Corey Day[9]
21. 69-Bud Kaeding[15]
22. 3X-Michael Pombo[16]
23. 92-Andy Forsberg[18]
24. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[22]