KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Gio Scelzi emerged victorious on night two of the 31st Annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals Presented by Great Southern Bank at Knoxville Raceway Friday evening.
The Fresno, Calif., native netted $3,000 aboard the KCP Racing No. 18 sprinter. Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman was the high point earner in Friday’s action and will start beside California’s Shane Golobic in Saturday’s championship event.
Carson McCarl led early in the 20-lap feature event, ahead of Scott Bogucki, Skylar Prochaska, Scelzi and Terry McCarl. Most action early was back in the pack, where B main winner, Sawyer Phillips, had charged up ten spots in the first six laps.
The leaders entered lapped traffic at the halfway point of the non-stop event, and things got interesting. Prochaska, who had started on the pole, shot under Bogucki into the runner-up position on lap 12. Scelzi also took off about that time, and on lap 13, in heavy lapped traffic, he shot from fourth to second, surviving a close call with Prochaska.
Scelzi suddenly pulled up to the rear bumper of the leader. As McCarl cruised on the low side of one and two, Scelzi chose a line through the middle and shot around to lead lap 19. He pulled away for his second career 360 win at Knoxville. His first came on July 31.
Following Scelzi and McCarl across the line were Prochaska, Bogucki and Pittman. Terry McCarl, Brooke Tatnell, Clint Garner, Ian Madsen and Jake Bubak rounded out the top ten. Pittman set quick time over the 47-car field, while Scelzi, Jake Martens, Bubak, Colby Copeland and Seth Brahmer won heats. Sawyer Phillips won the B main. B main flip victims included Boyd Peterson, Whit Gastineau, Tyler Blank and Rowdy Reber. (Tentative Feature Lineups Below)
“I got stuck behind Skylar there for a while,” said Scelzi in Victory Lane. “He was just good enough that I couldn’t clear him on top. Once I got clear of him, I got going. I lost track of where Carson was at, and he was right in front of me. Amazing car, this thing pretty much drove itself. When I could finally get out front and get my own lane running, I felt awesome.”
“The car felt really good,” said McCarl. “My guys gave me a great car. We got to traffic there, and there was so much juice in one and two, I could kind of go through the middle. I just slowed down a little too much. I knew there weren’t too many laps to go, and I just slowed down to make sure I didn’t miss it. Gio was able to stick that middle and get right around me. It was a great night for our team.”
“We were a little off at the beginning,” said Prochaska. “I can’t complain about the car. I made a couple of mistakes. Carson got out there, and I made another mistake and Gio got by me. I can’t complain about much. We’ll do it again tomorrow.”
The finish:
1. Gio Scelzi (3); 2. Carson McCarl (2); 3. Skylar Prochaska (1); 4. Scott Bogucki (4); 5. Daryn Pittman (8); 6. Terry McCarl (6); 7. Brooke Tatnell (5); 8. Clint Garner (7); 9. Ian Madsen (9); 10. Jake Bubak (13); 11. Sawyer Phillips (21); 12. Tyler Courtney (22); 13. Jeff Swindell (17); 14. John Carney II (16); 15. Davey Heskin (24); 16. Dylan Westbrook (23); 17. Josh Higday (10); 18. Colby Copeland (19); 19. Tanner Carrick (18); 20. Jake Martens (12); 21. Seth Brahmer (15); 22. Christian Bowman (20); 23. AJ Moeller (14); 24. Connor Loeffler (11).