WoO Notes: California Roots Stay Strong
MERCED, Calif. — Those who cut their teeth on the California bullrings continued their domination of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series’ West Coast swing as Carson Macedo picked up the victory at Merced Speedway Friday night.
For the Lemoore, Calif., native, it marked his 19th series victory and fourth in his home state. The Jason Johnson Racing pilot also has four consecutive finishes of eighth or better.
Chasing Macedo to the line to complete the podium was two more of the best to come from the Golden State in Brad Sweet and Gio Scelzi.
Sweet continued to pound on the door of his first victory of the season as he led laps and came up just short. The door blocking the way is barely hanging by its hinges as the three-time champion has stood on the podium in three of the last five races.
Scelzi notched his second podium in three races after his triumph last Friday at Thunderbowl Raceway. It’s the first time the KCP Racing driver has accomplished that feat with the WoO since mid-2019.
The top-five featured some Indiana flavor as Tyler Courtney and Spencer Bayston claimed spots four and five in the rundown.
It was the sprint car debut at Merced for both Hoosiers, and oddly enough the sixth career series top-five for both of them.
Finishing sixth was Kerry Madsen.
“The Mad Man” continued his adjustment to the Roth Motorsports machine with his first WoO top-10 of 2022 and second-best finish overall in the No. 83jr so far this year.
Leading the way for the true California locals was again Dominic Scelzi, who claimed eighth.
Scelzi climbed as high as fifth but dropped back a few spots late, ultimately hanging on to earn his 29th career Outlaw top-10. The solid outing followed his seventh place effort last weekend in Tulare and marked the first time since 2018 that he’s notched back-to-back top-10s with the nations’s best.
Ninth in the rundown belonged to St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu.
Abreu added to his consistent stretch during the swing through his home state as he and Ricky Warner continue to get acquainted. It was Abreu’s fourth straight top-10 overall and third in California as he’s yet to miss the top-10 during the swing.
Corey Day wheeled the Meyers’ No. 14 car to a 14th-place finish to cap a resilient night.
After making his Outlaw debut last week, Day had to endure a hectic heat race that saw him drop back a few spots. After making the feature through the last chance showdown, more bad luck bit Day in the feature as the right-rear tire blew. With a fresh right-rear following a visit to the work area, Day advanced from the back to 14th.
One spot behind Day was point leader David Gravel.
Early on, Gravel seemed bound for another strong run to continue his unbelievable start to 2022, but an incident in turn four that left Gravel spun on track complicated that pursuit.
Gravel managed to recover up to 15th, but he saw his point lead trimmed to just 10 markers with Sweet’s runner-up result.
On tap for tonight is another narrow quarter-mile in the form of Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway.
Keyword: Californias Show Strong In Merced Sprint