COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. — Tony Gomes held off the relentless challenges of Dominic Scelzi over the closing laps at Cottage Grove Speedway to net his second career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory on Wednesday.
The Modesto, Calif., driver piloted the Menne Motorsports/ North Forty Films Sprint Car to the win on night five of SCCT Western Sprint Tour Speedweek.
Gomes’ previous tour win also came aboard the same No. 75 mount in 2022 at Petaluma Speedway.
“It feels great to rebound here tonight after the tough luck we have had so far during Speedweek,” said Gomes, who lost a right rear tire while leading late during the opening round in Chico. “Dominic Scelzi gave me everything I could handle there in the feature, but luckily, I picked the right spots in traffic. I want to send a huge thanks to the Menne family for allowing me to drive this car.”
Cottage Grove Speedway favorite Kinzer Cox charged out to the early lead in the Shop Kyle Larson 35-lap main event. A lap-five restart, however, saw Gomes get a great jump down low to snag the lead and move out front.
Fans were treated to some fantastic racing on the quarter mile bullring with a fast and frenetic pace set by the leaders.
Battling in lapped traffic Cox was able to take back the lead on lap 14, just prior to a caution period.
On the restart, Gomes once again got a great launch from the bottom to scoop up the lead. Tuesday night winner Dominic Scelzi moved into second following another restart on lap 17. The final half of the feature saw Scelzi hound Gomes in lapped traffic. The duo raced closely together and certainly gave fans on hand their monies worth.
Over the final couple of circuits Cox also closed back in the top two as well. Gomes hit his marks on the final lap though and edged out Scelzi, with Cox coming home not far behind in third.
Speedweek point leader Braden Chiaramonte crossed the stripe in fourth with 13th starter Camden Robustelli in fifth.
SCCT Western Sprint Tour Speedweek resumes on Friday at Skagit Speedway with opening night of the Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals presented by Bob’s Burgers and Brew.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 75-Tony Gomes[1]; 2. 41-Dominic Scelzi[3]; 3. 40-Kinzer Cox[2]; 4. 94TH-Braden Chiaramonte[4]; 5. 9T-Camden Robustelli[13]; 6. 2XM-Max Mittry[17]; 7. 25S-Seth Standley[7]; 8. 94-Greg Decaires V[16]; 9. 7-Jett Barnes[9]; 10. 77-Levi Klatt[10]; 11. 33-Kyle Alberding[5]; 12. 7X-Tyler Thompson[11]; 13. 2A-Austin Wood[14]; 14. 3-Cole Schroeder[18]; 15. 8-Aydan Saunders[21]; 16. 20K-Kai Dixon[19]; 17. 9-Adrianna DeMartini[6]; 18. 56C-Carson Hammes[20]; 19. 55D-Dawson Hammes[24]; 20. 51-Dustin Gehring[15]; 21. (DNF) 5D-Destry Miller[23]; 22. (DNF) 2JR-Kelly Miller[12]; 23. (DNF) 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[22]; 24. (DNS) 26-Levi Hillier
