MERCED, Calif. — 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.
The finish:
Feature (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]
