One night after losing the lead with a few laps remaining in the feature, Dominic Scelzi returned on Saturday to find redemption, claiming his third SCCT triumph of the season at the 63rd Johnny Key Classic.
The 26-year-old from Fresno took advantage when race-long leader DJ Netto hopped over the turn four cushion coming to complete lap 28. Scelzi then led the remaining distance to grab his ninth career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards victory aboard the Scelzi Ent. / Red Rose Transportation No. 41 mount.
“After how last night ended, I’m happy to be standing up here in victory lane as the winner tonight,” Scelzi commented. “We were able to pick off some cars at the right times and then move forward to challenge the leader. DJ Netto seemed like he was the class of the field, but that curb up there was tricky and almost bit me a couple of times. I have to thank my parents, Jimmy Carr and my entire crew, my whole family and everyone that supports us.”
The 35-lap Key Classic finale at Ocean Speedway started off with High Sierra Industries/ Gizdich Ranch Dash winner DJ Netto blasting into the lead. The former NARC champion easily pulled away from the field at times in impressive fashion and hit every restart to perfection.
Track conditions changed throughout the course of the contest as rubber came into play. The high side was the preferred groove, but several racers throughout the field were able to execute some pinpoint slide jobs to move their way forward. With the race winding down Scelzi and Fremont’s Shane Golobic began to close in on the leader through lapped traffic.
As Netto rounded turn four on lap 27 he hopped up over the cushion and that was all Scelzi and Golobic needed to scoot by for the lead and the runner up spot respectively. After that the line moved down low and Golobic hounded the rear of Scelzi hoping for any slip up.
Scelzi cut smooth laps however and accepted the Ed Entz checkered flag to become the first back-to-back winner at the Key Classic since Rico Abreu in 2013 and ’14. Golobic finished in the runner up spot for the second consecutive season at the event, with Netto, 12th starter Ryan Bernal and Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto rounding out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Concord’s Joey Ancona, 14th starter Kaleb Montgomery, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Colfax’ Willie Croft and 18th starter Dominic Gorden. Sprint Car Challenge Tour point leader Justyn Cox earned the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award with a drive from 22nd to 12th in the main event.
Cotati driver Jake Haulot began the evening by claiming the Sierra Foothills Wine Services Fast Time Award with a lap of 11.255, pacing the 29-car field.
The Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards will now gear up for the Wednesday September 6th running of the “Pacific Sprint Cup” at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway.
The Gold Cup Race of Champions lid lifter features no car count limit and showcases only the SCCT 360s during the night. Tickets can be purchased at https://silverdollar.ticketspice.com/pacific-cup-gold-cup-2023
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Ocean Speedway Results August 19th – Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards
A Feature 35 Laps
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[5]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[8]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[1]; 4. 22-Ryan Bernal[12]; 5. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 6. 88A-Joey Ancona[3]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[14]; 8. 69-Bud Kaeding[11]; 9. 4SA-Willie Croft[6]; 10. 10-Dominic Gorden[18]; 11. 121X-Caeden Steele[9]; 12. 42X-Justyn Cox[22]; 13. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[19]; 14. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[21]; 15. 2-Brooklyn Holland[20]; 16. 2K-Gauge Garcia[17]; 17. 3D-Caleb Debem[24]; 18. 8-Jeremy Chisum[23]; 19. 1-Chance Grasty[15]; 20. 121-Rickey Sanders[4]; 21. 72S-Bradley Dillard[7]; 22. 9L-Luke Hayes[10]; 23. 38-Colby Johnson[13]; 24. 61-Travis Labat[16]
B Feature 15 Laps
1. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[2]; 2. 42X-Justyn Cox[1]; 3. 8-Jeremy Chisum[3]; 4. 3D-Caleb Debem[6]; 5. 72W-Kurt Nelson[4]; 6. 72JR-Chris Nelson[7]; 7. 7H-Jake Haulot[5]; 8. 34B-Glenn Bryan[8]; 9. (DNS) 50-Bryce Eames
Dash 6 Laps
1. 88N-DJ Netto[1]; 2. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 3. 88A-Joey Ancona[3]; 4. 121-Rickey Sanders[5]; 5. 41-Dominic Scelzi[7]; 6. 4SA-Willie Croft[6]; 7. 72S-Bradley Dillard[4]; 8. 17W-Shane Golobic[8]
Heat 1 10 Laps
1. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]; 2. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[2]; 3. 69-Bud Kaeding[3]; 4. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[5]; 5. 10-Dominic Gorden[7]; 6. 42X-Justyn Cox[6]; 7. 7H-Jake Haulot[4]; 8. 50-Bryce Eames[8]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:02:25.000
1. 88N-DJ Netto[1]; 2. 121X-Caeden Steele[2]; 3. 22-Ryan Bernal[6]; 4. 121-Rickey Sanders[4]; 5. 2K-Gauge Garcia[3]; 6. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[5]; 7. 3D-Caleb Debem[7]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:02:32.000
1. 4SA-Willie Croft[4]; 2. 9L-Luke Hayes[2]; 3. 72S-Bradley Dillard[1]; 4. 1-Chance Grasty[3]; 5. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez[6]; 6. 8-Jeremy Chisum[5]; 7. 34B-Glenn Bryan[7]
Heat 4 10 Laps
1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[4]; 3. 38-Colby Johnson[3]; 4. 61-Travis Labat[2]; 5. 2-Brooklyn Holland[5]; 6. 72W-Kurt Nelson[7]; 7. 72JR-Chris Nelson[6]
Qualifying 1
1. 7H-Jake Haulot, 00:11.255[1]; 2. 88A-Joey Ancona, 00:11.339[6]; 3. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto, 00:11.509[4]; 4. 69-Bud Kaeding, 00:11.520[5]; 5. 3-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:11.557[7]; 6. 42X-Justyn Cox, 00:11.623[8]; 7. 10-Dominic Gorden, 00:11.696[2]; 8. 50-Bryce Eames, 00:11.836[3]
Qualifying 2
1. 121-Rickey Sanders, 00:11.489[6]; 2. 88N-DJ Netto, 00:11.508[7]; 3. 121X-Caeden Steele, 00:11.542[1]; 4. 2K-Gauge Garcia, 00:11.656[5]; 5. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield, 00:11.685[3]; 6. 22-Ryan Bernal, 00:11.781[4]; 7. 3D-Caleb Debem, 00:11.927[2]
Qualifying 3
1. 4SA-Willie Croft, 00:11.589[6]; 2. 72S-Bradley Dillard, 00:11.674[1]; 3. 9L-Luke Hayes, 00:11.710[5]; 4. 1-Chance Grasty, 00:11.842[7]; 5. 8-Jeremy Chisum, 00:11.924[3]; 6. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez, 00:11.950[2]; 7. 34B-Glenn Bryan, 00:12.599[4]
Qualifying 4
1. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:11.552[6]; 2. 41-Dominic Scelzi, 00:11.766[7]; 3. 61-Travis Labat, 00:11.933[3]; 4. 38-Colby Johnson, 00:11.968[2]; 5. 2-Brooklyn Holland, 00:11.992[1]; 6. 72JR-Chris Nelson, 00:12.131[5]; 7. 72W-Kurt Nelson, 00:12.144[4]
Story by Gary Thomas. Images courtesy of Paul Trevino and Devin Mayo
