ELDON, Iowa — Dominic Scelzi had no peer in his first trip to the Eldon Raceway.
The Fresno, Calif., driver was able to sweep his heat the dash and the feature to take home the $1,500 prize in claiming his third career Sprint Invaders win.
A strange night saw two former series champions eliminated in preliminary action. Both defending champion, Cody Wehrle, and three-time titlist, Jon Agan, flipped hard in a heat race and the dash, respectively.
Chris Martin led early in the 25-lap main event over Scelzi and Jake Blackhurst. Austin McCarl shot around Blackhurst on lap two for third. A red flew on lap three, with an incident involving Dustin Selvage, Harold Pohren and John Schulz. Pohren would be done.
The red proved to be the only stoppage. When the green flew, Scelzi dogged the leader, until passing him on lap five. Mason Daniel was working his way forward, and claimed fourth from Blackhurst on lap nine. While Scelzi took off from the field, a dogfight between Martin, McCarl and Daniel ensued for second, third and fourth.
Daniel traded third twice with McCarl. McCarl moved up to second with five to go. Daniel went from fourth to third on lap 21, and then took second from McCarl a lap later. The “Super Half-mile” was fast, and yielded multiple grooves.
Scelzi’s win came ahead of Daniel, McCarl, Chris Martin and Jamie Ball. Blackhurst, Dustin Clark, Selvage, Josh Higday and Daniel Bergquist.
“Some of the lapped cars…it was tough to judge where they were going,” said Scelzi. “First and foremost, this racetrack was amazing. The track prep was absolutely perfect. We were about touching the wall on top and you could still run the bottom. Hat’s off to the track prep. This place was a blast to race on. This car was perfect. I knew from the first lap that I felt really strong. We got our wing back, and got better as the race went on. I think we’re three for three now on Sprint Invaders wins, so that’s pretty cool. The Sprint Invaders are fun to race with, and I’ve become friends with some of them. I always enjoy racing with them.”
“Starting seventh, it took me a while to get to fourth,” said Daniel. “I saw McCarl and (Blackhurst) battling it out. I got to watch it all and make my moves on the top and bottom. We were able to get to third and I clipped the tire down in one and two. I think I bent the axle a bit…something felt different. That’s when McCarl got back by me for second. The last couple laps, we were able to go on the bottom and use lapped traffic to get back by him. Danny (Lasoski) had the car set up well. We were able to go anywhere on the track we wanted.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 41s, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (4) 2. 33m, Mason Daniel, Springfield, CA (7) 3. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (6) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (1) 5. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (10) 6. 50, Jake Blackhurst, Hanna City, IL (2) 7. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (5) 8. 88, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (9) 9. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (13) 10. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (12) 11. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (15) 12. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (8) 13. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (16) 14. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (14) 15. 11c, Mason Campbell, New Berlin, IL (17) 16. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (18) 17. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (11) 18. 01, Travis Pence, Stronghurst, IL (19) 19. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (20) 20. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (3) DNS – 4 Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA, 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA, 11B, Ben Woods, Newton, IA.