ROSSBURG, Ohio — Logan Schuchart and Giovanni Scelzi each claimed $12,000 feature victories during the Double Down Duels presented by High Limit Racing Thursday night at Eldora Speedway.
The features were the cappers for the preliminary activities for Thursday night’s $100,000-to-win Joker’s Jackpot.
Schuchart, who won last year’s Eldora Million, started outside the front row and battled for the lead with Justin Peck and Brad Sweet before holding off a late-race charge from six-time Kings Royal winner Donny Schatz.
Schatz started eighth and finished a mere .242 seconds behind Schuchart.
“I love it,” Schuchart said of Eldora. “Every time we come here it is a unique race track. No matter what you are going to get a good race track. It is a big half-mile, even if it rains it puts on a good show, but when the track is like it was tonight it’s going to be the best show. This is the worst I have felt at Eldora. I was definitely fortunate to come away with a win.”
Sweet, Peck and Anthony Macri completed the top five in the opening 25-lap event.
There was little drama in the nightcap, as Scelzi started on the pole and dominated throughout. He led by as much as five seconds at one point and crossed under the checkered flag 1.408 seconds ahead of sixth-starting Kyle Larson to claim his first Eldora Speedway victory.
“There is not enough beer in the state of Ohio to feed all my guys tonight. This is so cool. Unbelievable race car. We timed well and we kept chipping away at it. It was a lot better race car than we had here in May. I’m proud of my guys for making it up here tonight. It sucks to win on Wednesday because then you have to wake up and survive your hangover tomorrow. It’s cool to win here.”
Tyler Courtney, David Gravel and Spencer Bayston completed the top five.
Rico Abreu was the fast qualifier for the 64-car field, turning a 12.985-second lap of the half-mile track during Group A qualifying. Kerry Madsen led Group B with a 13.084-second circuit.
After one night of competition, Schatz leads the every-point-matters standings that will help set Thursday night’s field. Schatz has 585 markers, while Larson is second with 581. Courtney (579), Gravel (574) and Scelzi (574) round out the top five.
The finishes:
First Feature (25 laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[8]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[6]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[4]; 5. 39M-Anthony Macri[7]; 6. 101-Kalib Henry[3]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[21]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[1]; 9. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg[22]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III[12]; 11. 87-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 12. 2KS-Chase Randall[15]; 13. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[5]; 14. 24-Rico Abreu[9]; 15. 99-Skylar Gee[17]; 16. 88-Tanner Thorson[24]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]; 18. 23B-Devon Borden[20]; 19. 32-Bryce Lucius[16]; 20. 25-Daison Pursley[14]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch[11]; 22. 50YR-Gary Taylor[13]; 23. 14-Corey Day[23]; 24. 16T-Cole Macedo[19]
Second Feature (25 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 4. 2-David Gravel[7]; 5. 5-Spencer Bayston[13]; 6. 83-James McFadden[11]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[14]; 8. 42-Sye Lynch[2]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 10. 8-Cory Eliason[15]; 11. 9P-Parker Price Miller[5]; 12. 5T-Ryan Timms[24]; 13. 1A-Jacob Allen[16]; 14. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 15. 1K-Kelby Watt[4]; 16. 9-Kasey Kahne[12]; 17. 27-Emerson Axsom[21]; 18. 18T-Tanner Holmes[17]; 19. 23J-Cale Thomas[22]; 20. 55V-Kerry Madsen[10]; 21. 45-Landon Brooks[20]; 22. 29-Logan McCandless[19]; 23. 70-Kraig Kinser[18]; 24. 49X-Tim Shaffer[23]