WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi won the 30-lap Taco Bravo 360 Series feature event at the Ocean Speedway on Friday night.
Driving the No. 41s Scelzi Enterprises/Whipple Superchargers mount, Scelzi inherited the lead on lap 26 and went on to pick up a $1,500 payday.
Jesse Schlotfeldt finished second and third went to Tristan Guardino in the No. 15t. Travis Labat scored his best ever Ocean Speedway feature finish taking fourth just ahead of Bryce Eames.
The looked like it would never officially start as the caution flag waved before the field could make it through the first turn as Logan Calderwood stopped after contact with another car at the drop of the green. With Keith Day Jr. and Justin Sanders bringing the field less Calderwood back for a double file restart, it would be Kurt Nelson who would have a flat left rear tire causing another quick yellow. He would pit for a replacement and rejoin the tail of the field.
The veteran Sanders would take the lead on the restart, but it would be Chris Nelson who would stop high on the track coming out of the second turn to bring another slowdown to the event. Nelson would get refired and continue racing but would eventually pull into the infield on lap six, ending his night.
With Sanders leading, he would catch the slower cars by the seventh circuit. On lap 10, Joey Ancona would move into the third spot taking advantage of lapped traffic. Finally, there was a fairly long stretch of green flag racing but with the leaders in lapped traffic. On lap 19, Scelzi would move to third.Â
It would be Day Jr who would bring out a caution as the former polesitter was dropping back in the running order only to see him slow on the back stretch and eventually stop just short of the pit entrance road.Â
Sanders was leading Ancona, Scelzi, Schlotfeldt and Guardiano. On the double-file restart, Sanders picked the inside starting spot over Ancona. Scelzi would take over the second spot and set his sights on the high-flying Sanders.Â
Suddenly, Sanders slowed on the 26th lap coming out of the fourth turn with Scelzi nearly running into the back of Sander’s familiar yellow No. 17. The caution would come out as Sanders wouldn’t make it off the track. During the caution third place Ancona would pull into the infield and would confirm later that he had run out of fuel which most likely also victimized Sanders.Â
Scelzi motored to his 16th victory of the season.
The finish:
Dominic Scelzi, Jesse Schlotfeldt, Tristan Guardino, Travis Labat, Bryce Eames, Joel Myers Jr, J.J. Ringo, Keith Day Jr., Jason Chisum, Jerry Bonnema, Kurt Nelson, Bradley Dillard, Tuesday Calderwood, Justin Sanders, Joey Ancona, Chris Nelson, Billy Chester, Logan Calderwood, Corey Day