By Gary Thomas
Merced, CA…Dominic Scelzi outdueled young Braden Chiaramonte and withstood a late charge from Dominic Gorden to snag his 10th career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory on Saturday.
Scelzi’s $3,000 triumph at Merced Speedway made him the first repeat SCCT winner at the track. It came aboard the familiar Scelzi Ent. / Red Rose Transportation No. 41 mount.
“It’s great to be up here in victory lane tonight after running second at the SCCT opener in March,” Scelzi said. “The Tiner-Hirst cars are always fast, and Braden Chiaramonte really made me work for it at times. Then Dominic Gorden came after me late and kept me on my toes. He’s such a good driver and really could be racing anywhere. I want to thank my entire team for giving me an amazing car and my whole family for their support.”
The racing was intense right from the drop of the green flag in the 35-lap Shop Kyle Larson main event. Scelzi jumped out front but had Chiaramonte and Modesto’s Tony Gomes not far behind.
Chiaramonte and Gomes fought tooth and nail for the runner up spot, before the El Cajon youngster charged after Scelzi. With 15 circuits complete, Chiaramonte was able to make the pass for the top-spot, as the duo battled back and forth until a caution came out.
On the restart Scelzi then blasted to the high side and made a beautiful pass to regain the point with 18 circuits down. Shortly after that, Chiaramonte’s run came to a slowdown with a flat tire, relegating him to the rear.
Clovis driver Dominic Gorden had run in the top five since lap 10 and entered the picture up front with just over 10 laps remaining. He took advantage of the choose cone following a yellow flag to solidify second and began to hound Scelzi relentlessly for the lead.
With race fans on the edge of their seats the pair entered lapped traffic and looked to be headed for a shootout over the closing stages. A big moment of the race then occurred with just a few laps left, however, when contact sent Justin Sanders upside down.
Sanders had transferred out of the B-main and put on a thrilling charge from 22nd starting in the feature. He got to as high as fifth at one point but suffered an unfortunate DNF just prior to the finish.
Scelzi led the final three laps to bring home the victory over Gorden, Gomes, Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Kaleb Montgomery and Redding’s Max Mittry in the top five.
Montgomery started 14th on the grid and was fun to watch as always picking his way through the field to end up fourth. The final circuits featured a tremendous duel between Gomes, Montgomery and Mittry for the final spot on the podium.
Rounding out the top 10 were Ashton Torgerson, Tanner Carrick, 17th starter Jodie Robinson, 19th starting Grant Duinkerken and Mariah Ede.
A strong field of 43 cars competed with the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour on Saturday. Roseville’s Colby Copeland began the evening by earning the Sierra Foothills Wine Services Fast Time Award. Copeland toured the quarter mile in 11.591 seconds.
The Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour returns to action on Sunday May 25th for the annual Mel & Marlyn Hall Memorial at Marysville Raceway.
Results
Sprint Car Challenge Tour
Clash on the High Banks
Merced Speedway
April 19, 2025
43 Entries
Shop Kyle Larson A-Main 35 Laps
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 2. 10-Dominic Gorden[6]; 3. 7C-Tony Gomes[4]; 4. 3OG-Kaleb Montgomery[14]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry[7]; 6. 02-Ashton Torgerson[8]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick[3]; 8. 14W-Jodie Robinson[17]; 9. 67-Grant Duinkerken[19]; 10. 14-Mariah Ede[10]; 11. 121-Caeden Steele[9]; 12. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[1]; 13. 2-Brooklyn Holland[21]; 14. 7P-Jake Andreotti[16]; 15. 9-Dustin Freitas[18]; 16. 88N-DJ Netto[11]; 17. X1-Chance Grasty[24]; 18. 3D-Caleb Debem[20]; 19. 4SA-Justin Sanders[22]; 20. 5V-Colby Copeland[5]; 21. 55D-Dawson Hammes[13]; 22. 7H-Jake Haulot[12]; 23. 38N-Kyle Rasmussen[15]; 24. 5C-Corbin Rueschenberg[23]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. 2-Brooklyn Holland[1]; 2. 4SA-Justin Sanders[8]; 3. 5C-Corbin Rueschenberg[2]; 4. X1-Chance Grasty[3]; 5. 3-Cole Schroeder[5]; 6. 17-Anthony Snow[4]; 7. 54X-Michael Faccinto[10]; 8. 61-Travis Labat[6]; 9. 21-Shane Hopkins[12]; 10. 94-Greg Decaires V[7]; 11. 56C-Carson Hammes[15]; 12. 2A-Austin Wood[11]; 13. 21E-Evan Burrola[13]; 14. 88-Brad Bumgarner[16]; 15. 25-Seth Standley[14]; 16. 72JR-Chris Nelson[9]
C Feature 10 Laps
1. 56C-Carson Hammes[3]; 2. 88-Brad Bumgarner[1]; 3. 28-Gauge Garcia[4]; 4. 9X-Adrianna DeMartini[9]; 5. 88A-Austin Torgerson[5]; 6. 44T-Austin Taborski[6]; 7. 82J-Steve Jaquith[8]; 8. 85-AJ Alderman[2]; 9. 2A-Austin Wood; 10. 38-Tyler Cato[7]
High Sierra Industries Dash 6 Laps
1. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[1]; 2. 41-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 3. 83T-Tanner Carrick[3]; 4. 7C-Tony Gomes[6]; 5. 5V-Colby Copeland[7]; 6. 10-Dominic Gorden[8]; 7. 2XM-Max Mittry[5]; 8. 02-Ashton Torgerson[4]
Tiner Hirst Ent Heat 1 8 Laps
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 2. 121-Caeden Steele[1]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[5]; 4. 5V-Colby Copeland[4]; 5. 14W-Jodie Robinson[3]; 6. X1-Chance Grasty[7]; 7. 94-Greg Decaires V[8]; 8. 2A-Austin Wood[10]; 9. 88-Brad Bumgarner[9]; 10. 56C-Carson Hammes[6]; 11. 38-Tyler Cato[11]
BR Motorsports Heat 2 8 Laps
1. 7C-Tony Gomes[2]; 2. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[4]; 3. 55D-Dawson Hammes[3]; 4. 38N-Kyle Rasmussen[11]; 5. 67-Grant Duinkerken[5]; 6. 3-Cole Schroeder[6]; 7. 72JR-Chris Nelson[8]; 8. 21E-Evan Burrola[7]; 9. 2-Brooklyn Holland[1]; 10. 88A-Austin Torgerson[9]; 11. (DNS) 9X-Adrianna DeMartini
King Racing Products Heat 3 8 Laps
1. 02-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 2. 10-Dominic Gorden[4]; 3. 7H-Jake Haulot[1]; 4. 7P-Jake Andreotti[5]; 5. 9-Dustin Freitas[8]; 6. 17-Anthony Snow[6]; 7. 4SA-Justin Sanders[7]; 8. 21-Shane Hopkins[9]; 9. 85-AJ Alderman[10]; 10. 44T-Austin Taborski[11]; 11. 5C-Corbin Rueschenberg[2]
A.R.T. Ent. Heat 4 8 Laps
1. 83T-Tanner Carrick[1]; 2. 14-Mariah Ede[3]; 3. 3OG-Kaleb Montgomery[5]; 4. 2XM-Max Mittry[4]; 5. 3D-Caleb Debem[2]; 6. 61-Travis Labat[7]; 7. 54X-Michael Faccinto[6]; 8. 25-Seth Standley[8]; 9. 28-Gauge Garcia[9]; 10. 82J-Steve Jaquith[10]
Qualifying A
1. 5V-Colby Copeland, 00:11.591[4]; 2. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte, 00:11.794[2]; 3. 121-Caeden Steele, 00:11.917[8]; 4. 2-Brooklyn Holland, 00:11.963[7]; 5. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 00:12.008[20]; 6. 7C-Tony Gomes, 00:12.045[5]; 7. 14W-Jodie Robinson, 00:12.148[3]; 8. 55D-Dawson Hammes, 00:12.161[6]; 9. 88N-DJ Netto, 00:12.185[21]; 10. 67-Grant Duinkerken, 00:12.331[11]; 11. 56C-Carson Hammes, 00:12.358[18]; 12. 3-Cole Schroeder, 00:12.363[10]; 13. X1-Chance Grasty, 00:12.421[14]; 14. 21E-Evan Burrola, 00:12.478[13]; 15. 94-Greg Decaires V, 00:12.520[19]; 16. 72JR-Chris Nelson, 00:12.618[1]; 17. 88-Brad Bumgarner, 00:12.881[15]; 18. 88A-Austin Torgerson, 00:12.897[17]; 19. 2A-Austin Wood, 00:13.036[22]; 20. 9X-Adrianna DeMartini, 00:13.044[9]; 21. 38-Tyler Cato, 00:13.108[12]; 22. (DQ) 38N-Kyle Rasmussen, 00:12.135[16]
Qualifying B
1. 10-Dominic Gorden, 00:12.198[14]; 2. 2XM-Max Mittry, 00:12.292[7]; 3. 7H-Jake Haulot, 00:12.339[12]; 4. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 00:12.360[17]; 5. 5C-Corbin Rueschenberg, 00:12.444[8]; 6. 3D-Caleb Debem, 00:12.459[9]; 7. 02-Ashton Torgerson, 00:12.471[6]; 8. 14-Mariah Ede, 00:12.491[18]; 9. 7P-Jake Andreotti, 00:12.492[16]; 10. 3OG-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:12.555[4]; 11. 17-Anthony Snow, 00:12.598[5]; 12. 54X-Michael Faccinto, 00:12.663[13]; 13. 4SA-Justin Sanders, 00:12.738[2]; 14. 61-Travis Labat, 00:12.782[10]; 15. 9-Dustin Freitas, 00:12.799[21]; 16. 25-Seth Standley, 00:12.814[19]; 17. 21-Shane Hopkins, 00:12.835[1]; 18. 28-Gauge Garcia, 00:13.240[20]; 19. 85-AJ Alderman, 00:13.742[15]; 20. 82J-Steve Jaquith, 00:13.988[3]; 21. 44T-Austin Taborski, 00:14.221[11]