BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi ruled the NARC-King of the West sprint car field in the 30-lap contest at The Dirt Track at Kern County on Saturday night.
His Roth Motorsports No. 83 led every lap and cruised to a straight away margin over Bud Kaeding to claim his fifth victory of the season. The Fresno, Calif., native had also won the spring event, making a sweep of both appearances there this year.
Ryan Bernal brought the Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 home in the third spot, ahead of Willie Croft and Chase Johnson, while series points leader D.J. Netto settled for a sixth-place finish.
Fifteen cars took the green flag but the field failed to complete the first lap as Kenny Allen brought out the race’s first caution.
The front row of Scelzi and Croft had a do-over as Croft once again put pressure on the polesitter. On the restart it would be Nathan Rolfe who bounced off the first turn wall and rode it up on two wheels for a few feet.
At the same time, it would be Sean Watts who would come to a stop on the inside of the track near the pit entrance. Both cars were pushed to the work area, however, neither driver was able to rejoin the race.
It was Scelzi who had to fend off Croft yet another time as the two charged into the first turn. Scelzi would prevail picking to drive a little higher line in the turns than Croft. Kaeding would get around Croft on the ninth circuit with a turn-one pass. Croft would continue to slide backward as Bernal would pass him on lap 12.
Meanwhile, Scelzi was mastering lapped traffic picking to stay high while most of the slower cars went to the bottom. Kaeding was struggling with the lapped cars and failed to make up any ground on the leader. Bernal also picked a similar line as Kaeding and either driver would come close to a determined Scelzi.
Scelzi admitted in his victory lane interview that he watched the backstretch scoreboard to see who his competition was. He knew it was Kaeding but that second place wasn’t a threat since he never heard or saw any cars close to him.
The finish:
Dominic Scelzi, Bud Kaeding, Ryan Bernal, Willie Croft, Chase Johnson, D.J. Netto, Geoff Ensign, Jace Vander Weed, Craig Stidham, Tim Estenson, Kenny Allen, Mark Brarroso, Gary Paulson, Nathan Rolfe, Sean Watts