YUMA, Ariz. — With his home state of California mostly quiet this weekend, Dominic Scelzi traveled down to Arizona for Cocopah Speedway’s Keith Bryan Memorial, and the decision immediately paid off on Friday night.
Scelzi survived a fierce duel with Oklahoma standout Ryan Timms to claim night one of the event, his first victory at the race track, and pocket $3,000. The triumph marked his 10th overall in 2022 between 410 and 360 sprint car competition.
Dustin Freitas with Timms alongside led the field to green, and Freitas pulled ahead in the early laps as Scelzi jumped from outside row two into third.
The battle between Scelzi and Timms immediately ignited as the two traded sliders on the wide surface. After a few laps of battling, Timms secured the spot and set his sights on Freitas.
On lap five Timms threw a slider at Freitas entering turn one but came up a little short as Freitas ripped around his outside.
Shortly after Timms’ bid at the lead, the leaders entered heavy traffic. A slower car impeded Timms heading into turn three, sending Timms above the cushion and allowing Scelzi to slip by for the runner-up spot.
In the next set of corners, Scelzi capitalized on Freitas having an issue in traffic and slipped by him on the cushion to take the lead. Timms followed him shortly after and jumped back into the second spot.
The race’s only caution came out with 18 laps to go.
On the ensuing restart, Scelzi pulled way ahead to nearly a straightaway advantage as the race dipped inside 15 to go.
With less than 10 circuits remaining, traffic began to present a problem for Scelzi. Coming out of turn four heading to four laps to go, Scelzi missed the bottom giving Timms a huge run. Timms pulled the trigger on a slider heading into turn one and cleared Scelzi, but the driver of the Scelzi Motorsports No. 41 slipped under Timms and jumped back in front of him exiting turn two.
From there, Scelzi pulled ahead and built another commanding advantage in the final few laps as Iowa’s Austin McCarl snuck around Timms for second in the closing circuits.
Scelzi took the checkered flag to claim his 59th career win at the 19th different track he’s visited victory lane in his career.
Timms completed the podium. Colton Hardy charged from 14th to fourth and Nick Parker rounded out the top five.
The finish:
1. Dominic Scelzi 2. Austin McCarl 3. Ryan Timms 4. Colton Hardy 5. Nick Parker 6. Logan Forler 7. Sammy Swindell 8. Wes Wofford 9. Trever Kirkland 10. Logan Calderwood 11. J.T. Imperial 12. Dustin Freitas 13. Dylan Harris 14. Tye Mihocko 15. Vance Wofford 16. Tuesday Calderwood 17. Chaz Baca 18. Alex Pettas 19. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. 20. Hayden Reinbold 21. Justin Lasiter 22. Sterling Cling 23. Lorne Wofford 24. Robbie Price