Giovanni Scelzi Gets Third Win of the Year at Beaver Dam

Giovanni Scelzi competing at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — After taking a break from touring due to Independence Day, the World of Outlaws sprint cars headed to Beaver Dam Raceway to take part in the 40-lap, $20,000-to-win Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial.

Continuing on with making his name known across the board, Carson Macedo clocked the night’s fastest time during qualifying by making a 11.566 second lap. This got him into the Dash, but he was unable to get into the top two in the Dash to be on the front row as Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and Emerson Axsom occupied those positions. 

From jump street, Kofoid shot out to the lead as Giovanni Scelzi went to the inside of Axsom in an attempt to get second. But Axsom was able to get away for Scelzi for the time being and went for the lead. He slidejobbed Kofoid coming out of Turn 2 to claim the top spot. A little ways back, Macedo and Garet Williamson fought for fifth. 

On Lap 5, Kofoid, now in second, made contact with Scelzi going into Turn 2. The two let off of each other for the time being to reassess their plans. Meanwhile, Macedo was still trying to get past Williamson for fifth.

Four laps later, Axsom had caught up to lap traffic. Just as Axsom had a plan in place on how he was going to weave through the cars, Scotty Thiel spun in Turn 3 and 4, drawing a caution when he and Brock Zearfoss tangled. Zearfoss was able to drive away and go to the pits only to find out that he had a broken rear end. 

On the restart, Kofoid and Scelzi were side-by-side going into Turn 1. Scelzi went down to the bottom and pulled off a successful slidejob to claim the runner-up position. 

Just as Scelzi was going to keep his momentum going by going after Axsom, Christopher Thram and Logan McCandless both flipped in Turn 4, bringing out red light conditions. McCandless made contact with Cale Thomas and flipped over. Thram, having no-where to go, hit him and flipped over as well.

Because of the two accidents in a row, the restart was single-file. This proved to be great for Macedo, who ended up getting by Williamson because Williamson tagged the wall coming out of the first corner. 

Carson Macedo competing at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WI (Photo: Trent Gower | World Racing Group)

Scelzi lost second on the restart because he didn’t complete a lap yet, but he was edging closer and closer to Kofoid to try and reclaim second. Kofoid was on the bottom this time with Scelzi on the top. They swapped lanes coming down the back stretch and as they raced side-by-side, Scelzi was able to get second away from Kofoid.

Entering the corner, Scelzi stayed on the bottom and was able to take the lead away from Axsom coming out of Turn 4. Crossing the line, Scelzi had some traffic in front of him, but that didn’t stop “Hot Sauce’s” major movements.

Lap 20 saw Sheldon Haudenschild up to the fourth place spot. It was not held very long though, because David Gravel got it back from him coming out of the first corner. Now in fifth, Haudenschild was being challenged by Logan Schuchart who went to the inside of him, looking to crack the top five.

Traffic now a major factor for leader Scelzi, Axsom had caught up to “Hot Sauce.” Scelzi weaved through traffic very well though, putting some major space between him and Axsom. Axsom was not going to be pushed away like that and was right there behind Scelzi, following in his tire tracks.

Scelzi continued working through the traffic, putting cars a lap down left and right. Axsom, following in his dust trail, had third-place holder Kofoid getting closer and closer to him. He got real close to Axsom, and was able to steal second from him in a slidejob coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 32. Axsom started fighting with Kofoid to try and get the coveted spot back.

Scelzi was on the move so much that he started lapping cars a second time. Kofoid saw this and tried to take advantage of the situation to win, but just could not do it. Axsom, Macedo and Schuchart rounded out the top five.

“What an incredible track and crowd,” said Scelzi about Beaver Dam. “I knew the lappers [cars] were damn near three-wide in front of me, so I had to be careful. Thank you to my guys.”