HANFORD, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi won the 36th annual Cotton Classic at Keller Auto Speedway on Friday night.
The 30-lap feature run under the Sprint Car Challenge Tour sanction opened two straight nights of racing at the three-eighths mile central California fairgrounds dirt oval.
Scelzi beat out local favorite D J Netto and veteran racer Shane Golobic. Scelzi was also victorious in the touring series May stop at the King’s County Fairgrounds track. Rico Abreu and Colby Copeland rounded out the top five.
Series points leader Ryan Robinson, who started from the pole position, finished eighth while Justin Cox who started the evening third in the points battle finished sixth.
Robinson and Scelzi brought the 24-car starting field down for the initial start with Scelzi gaining the advantage after the first lap. By the sixth circuit Scelzi had caught the back of the field while Robinson seemed to struggle with the car’s setup and began to fade.
Abreu who started sixth had a miscue going into the first turn and drifted over the banking. He would however recover without bringing out a caution but lost several spots he had gained since the start. Scelzi was leading Robinson, Golobic, Netto and Corey Day.
Robinson would begin losing position beginning with Golobic’s lap-nine pass on the backstretch. Two laps later, Netto would get around the pole sitter and take over third.Â
The race’s first caution would come out on lap 13 when four cars got tother on the frontstretch leaving Day having to be towed off. Steven Kent Kyle Hirst and Travis Coelho were all about to restart.
Golobic would have his first close shot at Scelzi with a double file restart however the race leader would have no part of it and showed his muscle, pulling away to build up a comfortable lead.
At the halfway point with Scelzi mastering lapped cars, Cox would move into the fourth spot past Robinson. With the track beginning to slick off due to a full night of races, a few cars including Coelho and Tanner Carrick would misjudge the cushion in turn one and end up over the bank and without stopping, the race continued under green.
With Scelzi running the high line and Golobic down low, the laps would click off quickly until Isaiah Vasquez stopped coming out of turn two.Â
With just six laps remaining, the race would restart single file. Scelzi would remain strongly out front while Netto would get around Golobic to take over second with a high pass in the second turn.
The only remaining passes were when Abreu took over the fourth spot and with two laps to go, Copeland moved into fifth.
The finish:
Dominic Scelzi, D.J. Netto, Shane Golobic, Rico Abreu, Colby Copeland, Justyn Coz, Kaleb Montgomery, Ryan Robinson, Sean Becker, Kyle Hirst, Tony Gomes, Chase Majdic, Tristan Guardino, Keith Day Jr., Michael Pombo, Max Mittry, Steven Kent, Travis Coelho, Isaiah Vasquez, Tanner Carrick, Andy Forsberg, Grant Duinkerken, Corey Day, Kalib Henry
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