9/5/2021
RacinBoys
Short, Scelzi claim Night 1 wins at Louie Vermeil Classic
By USAC Media (Chico, CA) -- In his first start with the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series, Carson Short (Marion, IL) led all 30-laps to win the opening night of the 13th Annual Louie Vermeil Classic at Silver Dollar Speedway. Driving Clayton Snow’s #17 United Mold Inc. / Gary Silva Ranches Triple X,, Short started on the pole position and sliced his way through traffic to claim the $5,000 prize. Series point leader, “The Demon’ Damion Gardner, “The Big Game Hunter” Austin Williams, and Ryan Bernal rounded out the top-five drivers.
PHOTO: Dominic Scelzi following NARC King of the West Saturday night win--CREDIT: Silver Dollar Speedway photo
Before claiming the main event, Short qualified seventh out of the thirty-five cars in attendance and won the night’s 10-lap All Coast Construction Third Heat Race. The Illinois driver enters the Sunday night finale tied with Gardner in the Vermeil Classic event points.
In Woodland Auto Display Qualifying, eight drivers topped the five year old track record held by Jake Swanson. Tony Gomes (Modesto, CA) set the new standard of 12.972 in Keith Ford’s #73 CAM 2 Blue Blood Racing Oil / Sun Valley AG Transport Triple X.. Gomes flipped in the first 10-lap heat race, scoring eighth, rebounded to win the 12-lap BillsJerky.com Semi-Main and take fifth in the feature.
Matt McCarthy (Riverside, CA) raced to victory in the 10-lap Flowdynamics Incorporated First Heat Race. Piloting the family owned #28M Flowdynamics Incorporated / Drinkpak DRC, McCarthy was twenty-first quick in time trials and placed sixteenth in the main event. The former USAC/CRA Rookie of the Year has climbed to tenth in the championship point chase.
Nate Schank (Santa Rosa, CA) returned to USAC/CRA action and won the 10-lap Huntington Beach Glass and Mirror Second Heat Race. Racing the family owned #1$ Joe Hunt Magnetos / Industrial Machine Maxim, Schank qualified twenty-second overall and finished fourteenth in the main event. In limited starts, the second generation driver ranks thirty-fourth in series points.
“The Pride of Garden Grove” Brody Roa (Garden Grove, CA) topped the 10-lap Component Repair Company Fourth Heat Race. Driving the BR Performance #91R HD Industries / Burris Racing Eagle, Roa was twelfth fast in time trials and charged from eleventh to sixth in the main event. The 2019 USAC SouthWest Sprint Car Champion ranks second in USAC/CRA standings and sixth in Louie Vermeil points.
‘Thunder” Tommy Malcolm (Corona, CA) earned the night’s In Memory of Jim & Chet Gardner Hard Charger Award with a twelfth place run from twenty-second. Before earning a $650 bonus, the pilot of Dino Napier’s #5X Indiana Truck Salvage / B&B Powder Coating Maxim was thirty-second fast in time trials, ran fifth in his heat race, and placed sixth in the semi-main. The young driver is sixth in the point standings.
The non-winged USAC/CRA Sprint Cars are back at Silver Dollar Speedway (Chico, CA) for the Sunday finale of the “Louie Vermeil Classic.” The winged 410 NARC King of the West Sprint Cars will share the action packed card. On Monday, September 6th, the traditional 410s will invade the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds and clash at Petaluma Speedway (Petaluma, CA).
The AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series thanks All Coast Construction, BillsJerky.com, Component Repair Company, Factory Wraps, Flowdynamics, The Gardner Family (In Memory of Jim & Chet Gardner), Hoosier Racing Tires, Huntington Beach Glass and Mirror, Woodland Auto Display, Competition Suspension Incorporated, Extreme Mufflers, Loudpedal Productions, Rod End Supply, Saldana Racing Products, Sway-A-Way Torsion Bars, surfnsprint.com, Ultra Shield Race Products, and Wilwood Disc Brakes for their support.
For more information on the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series, visit usacracing.com and the social media for USAC Racing. You can also find exclusive content on the USAC/CRA Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
FloRacing.com has live, flag-to-flag coverage of the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series. You can catch the action by subscribing to FloRacing on a monthly or yearly basis to view their huge catalog of live and on-demand auto racing and sporting events.
AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 4, 2021 – Silver Dollar Speedway – Chico, California – “13th Annual Louie Vermeil Classic”
WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Tony Gomes, 73, Ford-12.972 (New Track Record); 2. Kalib Henry. 33, Case-13.120; 3. Damion Gardner, 1, Alexander-13.159; 4. Ryan Bernal, 17W, Wood-13.197; 5. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-13.200; 6. Chase Johnson, 8M, May-13.221; 7. Carson Short, 17, Snow-13.242; 8. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-13.326; 9. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-13.370; 10. Logan Williams, 5W, McCarthy-13.464; 11. Jarrett Soares, 12, Soares-13.482; 12. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-13.482; 13. Shane Hopkins, 51, Sperry-13.552; 14. Kaleb Montgomery, 8, Richardson-13.570; 15. Danny Faria Jr., 17V, Faria-13.611; 16. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.665; 17. Trevor Schmid, 2, Schmid-13.666; 18. Daniel Whitley, 3F, Finkenbinder-13.679; 19. Jake Morgan, 2SB, Miller-13.729; 20. Verne Sweeney, 98, Tracy-13.730; 21. Matt McCarthy, 28M, McCarthy-13.847; 22. Nate Schank, 1$, Schank-13.867; 23. Ryan Timmons, 29T, Timmons-13.892; 24. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-14.007; 25. Bradley Terrell, 3T, Finkenbinder-14.046; 26. Ron Laplant, 69, Laplant-14.061; 27. Gary Paulson, 51X, Paulson-14.180; 28. Cody Smith, 5, Smith-14.220; 29. Tony Richards, 4, Richards-14.298; 30. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.321; 31. Sheldon Moniz, 1S, Moniz-14.396; 32. Tommy Malcolm, 5X, Napier-14.409; 33. Denny McNary, 77, McNary-14.927; 34. Christopher Muraoka, 25, Muraoka-14.954; 35. Clint Motta, 92Z, Schmid-15.642.
FLOWDYNAMICS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. McCarthy, 2. C.Williams, 3. Schmid, 4. A.Williams, 5. Hopkins, 6. Tafoya, 7. Laplant, 8. Gomes. NT.
HUNTINGTON BEACH GLASS & MIRROR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Schank, 2. Henry, 3. Johnson, 4. Montgomery, 5. Whitley, 6. Moniz, 7. Motta, 8. L.Williams, 9. Paulson. NT.
ALL COAST CONSTRUCTION THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Short, 2. Gardner, 3. Timmons, 4. Soares, 5. Malcolm, 6. Smith, 7. Morgan, 8. Faria. NT.
COMPONENT REPAIR COMPANY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Roa, 2. Davis, 3. Gansen, 4. Bernal, 5. Sweeney, 6. Grabowski, 7. Richards, 8. McNary. NT.
BILLSJERKY.COM SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gomes, 2. Hopkins, 3. Morgan, 4. Tafoya, 5. Faria, 6. Malcolm, 7. L.Williams, 8. Grabowski, 9. Paulson, 10. Moniz, 11. McNary, 12. Whitley, 13. Sweeney, 14. Smith, 15. Richards. NT.
FEATURE: (30 laps, With Starting Positions) 1. Carson Short (1), 2. Damion Gardner (5), 3. Austin Williams (30, 4. Ryan Bernal (4), 5. Tony Gomes (7), 6. Brody Roa (11), 7. Cody Williams (9), 8. Chase Johnson (2), 9. Chris Gansen (8), 10. Charles Davis Jr. (15), 11. Kaleb Montgomery (13), 12. Tommy Malcolm (22), 13. Jarrett Soares (10), 14. Nate Schank (19), 15. Danny Faria Jr. (14), 16. Matt McCarthy (18), 17. Logan Williams (23), 18. Ryan Timmons (20), 19. Shane Hopkins (12), 20. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (21), 21. Trevor Schmid (16), 22. Kalib Henry (6), 23. Jake Morgan (17). NT.
Terrell, Muraoka, and Sweeney flipped during qualifications. Gomes flipped on lap 1 of the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Short
IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER HARD CHARGER: Tommy Malcolm (22nd to 12th)
WILWOOD DISC BRAKES LUCKY 13 AWARD: Jarrett Soares
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Damion Gardner-784, 2-Brody Roa-745, 3-Austin Williams-677, 4-Chris Gansen-642, 5-Cody Williams-565, 6-Tommy Malcolm-538, 7-Verne Sweeney-422, 8-Danny Faria Jr.-414, 9-Matt Mitchell-408,10-Matt McCarthy-403.
LOUIE VERMEIL CLASSIC POINTS: 1-Damion Gardner-78, -Carson Short-78, 3-Austin Williams-71, 4-Ryan Bernal-69; 5-Tony Gomes-68, 6-Brody Roa-63, 7-Cody Williams-59, 8-Chase Johnson-56, 9-Chris Gansen-52, 10-Charles Davis Jr.-43.
NEXT AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 5 – Silver Dollar Speedway – Chico, California – “13th Annual Louie Vermeil Classic”
========================================================================================================================
SCELZI IS NIGHT ONE KING LOUIE
By Alex Nieten (Chico, CA - By leading all 30-laps of the Fujitsu Feature on night one of the Louie Vermeil Classic at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway, Dominic Scelzi earned his fifth series victory of the year, matching his career-high for a single season.
The result also marked his 18th overall feature win during his dream 2021 campaign and his seventh consecutive race standing on the NARC-King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car podium at the end of the night.
Scelzi’s biggest challenge of the night would come right as the green flag dropped and Scelzi led into turn one from the pole position. Third starting Mitchell Faccinto capitalized on a great initial start to swipe the lead from the point leader down the backstretch. Scelzi, though, aimed his Whipple Superchargers/Red Rose Transportations No. 41 to Faccinto’s inside coming out of turn four and beat him to the line to lead the opening lap. Shortly after Scelzi reclaimed the lead, the first of a flurry of race stoppages came out for contact between Justin Sanders and Kalib Henry that sent Henry on a wild flip outside of turn one. Both drivers were okay.
The adage “cautions breed cautions” proved true after the first red flag as just a few laps later Corey Day and front row starter Andy Forsberg tangled sending Forsberg over and heavily damaging Day’s Tarlton Racing machine. Following that issue, Bud Kaeding tumbled in turn three after contact with Ryan Robinson, ending BK’s night. Michael Ing slid to a stop in turn four shortly after BK’s issue, and a spin by the USAC/CRA portion winner, Carson Short, on lap twelve ended the avalanche of yellows. With curfew looming, the call was made to go to single file restarts for the remaining 19 circuits. All drivers involved in the incidents were okay.
A trio of drivers survived the early mayhem to put together strong charges. By the lap twelve restart, Tim Kaeding had gone from 22nd to 7th, Billy Aton from the rear to 11th and Shane Golobic from 10th to third.
Racing resumed with 19 to go, and Scelzi set the pace on a low line favored racing surface. He tiptoed around the bottom and distanced himself from second-running Willie Croft. Meanwhile, Croft had to deal with the NOS Energy Drink/Elk Grove Ford No. 17W of Golobic who was glued to Croft’s tail tank.
Even lap traffic couldn’t slow Scelzi during what continues to be a year for the history books. Scelzi patiently negotiated the slower cars, spotting opportunities to sneak to their inside on the straightaways before completing each pass in the turns, giving himself more of a cushion from Croft every lap. Eventually, Scelzi crossed the finish line with nearly a two second advantage to claim his first NARC-KWS victory at the Butte County bullring. Including lap money for leading all thirty circuits, the win netted Scelzi $5,750.
Croft held on to the runner-up spot to secure his second podium of the year aboard the Holey Smokes BBQ/Amerikote Powder Coating No. 29.
Golobic rounded out the podium with his fifth top-three finish of the year and continued his recent trend of charging toward the front. Over the last five Fujitsu Feature events, Golobic owns a net position change of plus-33.
The remainder of the top-10 was Kyle Hirst, Mitchell Faccinto, Tim Kaeding (from 22nd, earned Swift Metal Finishing Hardcharger), DJ Netto, Tanner Carrick, Colby Copeland and Billy Aton.
FUJITSU GENERAL USA FEATURE (30 laps): 1. Dominic Scelzi 41 2. Willie Croft 29 3. Shane Golobic 17W 4. Kyle Hirst 0 5. Mitchell Faccinto 37 6. Tim Kaeding 42X 7. DJ Netto 88N 8. Blake Carrick 38B 9. Colby Copeland 16A 10. Billy Aton 26 11. Austin McCarl 88 12. Justin Sanders 57 13. Sean Watts 98 14. Sean Becker 83V 15. Michael Ing 21X 16. JJ Ringo 2 17. Carson Short 7 18. Joel Myers Jr. 46JR 19. Mark Tabor Jr. 38N 20. Ryan Robinson 56 21. Bud Kaeding 69 22. Andy Forsberg 92 23. Corey Day 21 24. Kalib Henry 5J
HOOSIER TIRE LAP LEADERS: Scelzi 1-30
SWIFT METAL FINISHING HARDCHARGER: Tim Kaeding 22nd to 6th
ARP FAST QUALIFIER (31 cars): Willie Croft 11.384
BROWN AND MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS HEAT ONE (10 laps): Forsberg, Croft, Robinson, Bloomfield, Ing, Day, Clark, Cornet
FUJITSU GENERAL USA HEAT TWO (10 laps): Sanders, Faccinto, Becker, Short, Ringo, Strole, Aton
FLORACING.COM HEAT THREE (10 laps): Attard, Golobic, B. Kaeding, Hirst, Copeland, McCarl, T. Carrick
KAEDING PERFORMANCE HEAT FOUR (10 laps): Scelzi, B. Carrick, Netto, Watts, Myers Jr., Tabor Jr.
PYROTECT SEMI (12 laps): Henry, Day, T. Kaeding, McCarl, Tabor Jr., Aton, Cornet, Strole, Clark
SUNNYVALLEY “POWERED BY BACON” DASH (6 laps): Scelzi, Forsberg, Faccinto, Croft, Attard, Bloomfield
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
