4/18/2016
Inside Line Promotions
Giovanni Scelzi Scores Fourth-Place Finish during Sprint Car Debut
Inside Line Promotions – HANFORD, Calif. (April 18, 2016) – Giovanni Scelzi fulfilled a dream on Saturday at Keller Auto Speedway, where he made his winged sprint car debut.
“Todd Ventura really calmed me down,” he said. “He said, ‘It’s your first race and you have nothing to prove. Just get your feet wet and get into a rhythm.’”
Scelzi, who was driving for Roth Motorsports, did exactly that throughout the night. He qualified fourth quickest and finished where he started – third – in a heat race to lock into the dash.
Scelzi redrew the No. 2 during the random dash redraw and he ran second in the race to start the main event on the outside of the front row.
“On the initial start (of the feature) we ran around in second,” he said. “We fell back to third early. On a restart I got to second, but a yellow came out. I ran in third for most of the race, but fell back to fifth with about 10 laps to go before I regained fourth. After a restart it’d take me five or six laps to get my rhythm again.”
Scelzi maintained a top five throughout the feature before he scored a fourth-place result.
“We were one of the fastest cars of the night,” he said. “Fourth is really good for the first night in a sprint car. It’s huge. The guys in front of me were so good. They were big name California guys I ran behind. The car was definitely raceable. I felt like I could run up on the guys in front of me. It was just me getting used to the speed and getting used to racing around people.
“I want to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for the great opportunity and I look forward to building on our success. I also want to give special thanks to my crew chief Brent Ventura, who I’ve been working with the past year or so and who has helped me a lot.”
Scelzi opened the weekend on Friday at Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia, Calif., at a micro sprint event. He qualified 11th quickest and advanced from sixth to fifth place in a heat race to garner the ninth starting position for the main event.
“We got up to seventh pretty quickly and then we had an electrical issue,” he said. “The motor just shut off with about 25 laps to go. We fell back to last, which was 18th, and then drove back up to fifth. The track was really wide and we did a lot of slide jobs. There was a lot of slicing and dicing. It was a good race track.”
Scelzi earned a fifth-place result, which was his second top five of the season in a micro sprint.
He is scheduled to return to competition in a sprint car this Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., where he will drive a family owned car. Scelzi said he anticipates racing in approximately a dozen sprint car races this season.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 15 – Plaza Park Raceway in Visalia, Calif. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 5 (6); Feature: 5 (9).
April 16 – Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 3 (3); Dash: 2 (2); Feature: 4 (2).
SEASON STATS –
8 races, 0 wins, 3 top fives, 3 top 10s, 3 top 15s, 4 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GioScelzi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Scelzi-Motorsports/225890834113599
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Roth Motorsports
Roth Motorsports is a premier sprint car organization formed in 1992 by Dennis and Teresa Roth. For more information, visit http://www.RothMotorsports83.com.
“I want to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth as well as the entire Roth team for their support,” Scelzi said. “It’s much appreciated and great to be associated with them.”
Scelzi would also like to thank Whipple Superchargers, Fowler Packing, Red Rose Transportation, Fuel Delivery Services Inc., Panella Trucking, Carlucci Transport, AXA Equitable Insurance with Bob & Gina Estrada, Scelzi Enterprises, Red Line Oil, Metric Cycles Racing Engines, Schoenfeld Headers, Weld Wheels, FK Rod Ends, K&N Filters, Kaeding Performance, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, MicroBlue Bearings, KW Suspensions, Worldwide Bearings, Sweet Manufacturing, Blast Tech, Tim Jones, Todd Jorgensen, G&J Truck Sales, Sparco, Simpson Race Products, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Big & Deep Ag Development, ARP, Red Fuel, Meridian Steel, Kenny’s Components, Southern Pacific Farms and Auto Meter for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller