TULARE, Calif. — After a three-year wait, the anticipation for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series return to Thunderbowl Raceway was through the roof and Friday’s event lived up to the hype.
Officially, Spencer Bayston and eventual winner Giovanni Scelzi were the only leaders, but Rico Abreu, Kyle Larson and David Gravel all held the top spot for brief moments throughout Friday’s exciting 35-lapper at the third-mile oval.
The 14-minute sprint was halted by only one caution for Bayston, who spun the CJB Motorsports No. 5 when he suffered a flat left-front tire while leading in his Tulare debut. From there, it was an all-out brawl as the leaders sliced through traffic, bounced off the boards, slid by and crossed each other time after time.
Scelzi, a native of nearby Fresno, Calif., assumed the lead on the lap seven restart and fought off anyone and everyone who dared to test the KCP Racing No. 18. Abreu tossed a lap 16 slider, Larson launched his move on lap 30, and Gravel slid by on lap 33, but none could shake the 20-year-old enough to take the lead for good.
At the checkered flag, Scelzi held a .395-second advantage to claim his fourth-career World of Outlaws win. It’s his first with The Greatest Show on Dirt in his home state and gives the Californians a 1-0 edge on the Outlaws to kickstart the six-race swing.
“You can go ahead and tally one for California over the Outlaws,” Scelzi said to a raucous Tulare crowd. “Seriously, though, this is really cool. I’ve never won a race this big in front of my home crowd. I haven’t been back in a long time, so to feel this support is incredible.”
Coming up short of his second win of the young season was David Gravel with a second-place effort in the Big Game Motorsports No. 2. The two-time Tulare winner faded to fourth near midway but found his line in lap traffic and bolted back into contention with Scelzi and Larson after disposing of a wild battle with Abreu, Brad Sweet & Sheldon Haudenschild.
Gravel is the only driver with a top-10 finish in every feature this season.
“I hope the rest of our season isn’t like this running second all the time,” Gravel joked afterward. “It always feels good to battle with the best for a win, but it only leaves you hungrier when you don’t get it. Larson & Sheldon were running torrid paces, but their mistakes gave me a chance at Gio. Once I found my lane, I knew exactly where to go, just needed to execute better.”
The final step on the podium went to Larson aboard Paul Silva’s No. 57. It was his first appearance at Tulare since his 2013 Trophy Cup title, and he picked right back up where he left off nine years ago.
“This has always been my favorite track,” Larson admitted. “It’s great to be back after such a long time and put on a show like that. I felt like we were good enough to win, but I just made too many mistakes on my part. Hopefully, we can get a better start to our night tomorrow and we’ll be in good shape.”
A pair of California’s rounded out the top-five at Tulare with Rico Abreu running fourth and Brad Sweet finishing fifth.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [1][$10,000]; 2. 2-David Gravel [4][$5,500]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson [9][$3,200]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [3][$2,600]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [6][$2,350]; 6. 83-James McFadden [21][$2,150]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo [7][$2,100]; 8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [8][$1,950]; 9. 57W-Tyler Courtney [10][$1,900]; 10. 17W-Shane Golobic [13][$1,850]; 11. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [17][$1,400]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz [14][$1,200]; 13. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5][$1,000]; 14. 26-Cory Eliason [24][$950]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart [20][$900]; 16. 16A-Colby Copeland [18][$900]; 17. 88-Austin McCarl [12][$900]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [15][$900]; 19. 5-Spencer Bayston [2][$900]; 20. 21-Mitchell Faccinto [19][$900]; 21. 83T-Tanner Carrick [11][$900]; 22. 3-Kaleb Montgomery [16][$900]; 23. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [23][$900]; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen [22][$900]. Lap Leaders: Spencer Bayston 1-6, Giovanni Scelzi 7-35. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83-James McFadden[+15]