MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – Once the disappointment of coming up short settled, Gio Scelzi realized his second-place finish with the All Star Circuit of Champions on Friday at Williams Grove Speedway marked a trend in the right direction.
The 18-year-old led the first 13 laps of the Jack Gunn Memorial before Aaron Reutzel drove by and rolled to victory, the slick surface caving Scelzi in when it mattered most.
However, Friday marked the second night in a row Scelzi finished on the podium and had an opportunity to better manage slick conditions with the lead.
“We’ve made huge gains the past two nights,” said Scelzi, who also finished third on Thursday at BAPS Motor Speedway. “I think we’ve figured something out with this race car. Slick places like this are where we struggle. We’re definitely making gains on the car.”
For the first time since joining KCP Racing in mid-July, Scelzi set quick time in qualifying with a lap of 16.742 seconds. He started the 30-lap feature from the outside of the front row and raced out to a 3.4-second lead in the opening eight laps.
But that’s when he caught the tail-end of the field, and before he could pick off his first lapped car, Reutzel had chopped the margin to one second.
“I should’ve known whenever I couldn’t catch lapped cars anymore I should’ve moved down and protected,” Scelzi said. “[Reutzel] deserved to win. He drove a smarter race.”
On lap 14, Reutzel drove under Scelzi off turn two for the lead, and by then it was too late.
Scelzi is notably comfortable at Williams Grove considering his age and the track’s extreme difference to what he grew up on: bullrings to a flat surface. The conditions can often throw a young driver like Scelzi for a loop.
Thanks to a steady wind and a cool, fall night, Williams Grove fell off three seconds from when Scelzi posted fast time in qualifying to the end of the feature.
Instead of pounding the cushion the whole race, the bottom was the path to victory and Reutzel showed the way. When Scelzi won the National Open prelim night in 2018, the conditions played into his prototypical style.
“It was pretty much wide-open the whole time,” Scelzi said. “When this place gets slick, it’s a lot tougher to run around. When it gets black and takes rubber, it’s a lot harder to make decisions.”
Scelzi is trying to sharpen his split-second decision-making, which often makes or breaks a night. He isn’t the only young driver to have a Williams Grove win slip away because the top faded. In a recent race at the half-mile paper clip, Freddie Rahmer rolled past Anthony Macri, who was caught out of position up along the cushion.
Timing is key, and Scelzi knows that. He realizes all of these moments are just leading up to something bigger: the $75,000-to-win National Open at Williams Grove Oct. 2-3.
“This is something we need to work on,” Scelzi said. “We’ll be back.”