STOCKTON, Calif. – On April 3, when the full purse for the second annual Asparagus Cup was revealed on social media, Gio Scelzi noted the top-heavy breakdown barely gave “a ham sandwich with no mayo” to anyone besides the winner.
Saturday night, Scelzi got his sandwich and got to eat it too, completing a weekend sweep of the two-day Sprint Car Challenge Tour event with his second-straight win at the Stockton Dirt Track.
Scelzi won the 30-lap feature at the four-tenths-mile clay oval by 1.369 seconds, driving the family-owned Scelzi Enterprises No. 41 to a weekend payout of $25,000.
Saturday night’s win was worth $15,000 to the 17-year-old, Fresno, Calif., young gun.
Wow, 15,000 to win, and a ham sandwich with no mayonnaise for everyone else
— Gio Scelzi (@GioScelzi) April 4, 2019
Tim Kaeding brought Josh Bates’ No. 42X home in the runner-up spot, while Kyle Hirst drove the Tiner-Hirst Motorsport’s No. 94 to a third-place finish.
Rounding out the top five were polesitter Colby Copeland and Tony Gualda Jr.
Unlike the previous night, Scelzi took the lead rather early in the race, passing Copeland on lap seven. Once out front, Scelzi went on cruise control after starting from the fifth spot.
Also unlike the Friday feature, the race was only slowed once, when D.J. Netto had an issue in the fourth turn on lap 11.
Scelzi picked the inside lane on the double file restart with Copeland and easily pulled away from the field, leaving Copeland to battle Kaeding and Hirst. Copeland’s white No. 5C did not give up positions without a fight, however, displaying some of the night’s best action.
Driving the Keith Day Trucking No. 22, Ryan Bernal moved up as high as fourth by lap 20, but would fade out of the top five by the checkered.
Meanwhile, Scelzi was untouchable, running the high groove around the fairgrounds oval. At the end of 30 laps, he had 10 car lengths in hand over Kaeding, with 20 cars still running at the waving of the checkered flag.
Willie Croft led the 37 cars on hand in qualifying. Heat races were won by Croft, Gualda, Logan Seavey and Bernal. Copeland won the six-lap dash event, putting him on the pole for the A-Main.
Top contenders from Friday’s feature Mitchell Faccinto and Shane Golobic had to transfer thru the B-Main, which Faccinto won.
The finish:
Gio Scelzi, Tim Kaeding, Kyle Hirst, Colby Copeland, Tony Gualda, Bud Kaeding, Ryan Bernal, Shane Golobic, Rico Abreu, Justyn Cox, Willie Croft, Justin Sanders, Logan Seavey, Kalib Henry, Cole Macedo, Lucas Ashe, Mitchell Faccinto, Sean Becker, Kyle Offill, Tucker Worth, Garen Linder, D.J. Netto, Andy Forsberg, Cody Lamar.
This tweet did age well
— Gio Scelzi (@GioScelzi) April 13, 2019