Scott’s redemption, last-lap passes highlight final day at Quincy Grand Prix

QUINCY — A frustrating weekend turned into pure joy for Riley Scott on Sunday.

After four second-place finishes over the first day and a half of racing at the Grand Prix of Karting in South Park, the fortunes finally turned for Scott in the Pro FK 100 championship race. Scott overtook Pete Vetter halfway through the final lap and held on to win his fifth career race at the Grand Prix.

“This weekend had been kind of a dry spell,” Scott said. “I’ve just been hunting for a win. This meant a lot.”

Scott passed Vetter in turn 5 and used what he had observed in previous races to his advantage.

“My two previous races, the leader won by holding the inside line down the back stretch,” Scott said. “I thought I might as well give it a shot. That’s what I did, and it paid off.”

Riley Scott, a Quincy native and son of promoter and racer Jeff Scott, saw familiar faces and heard familiar voices on his way around the track on his victory lap.

“Everybody knows me,” Riley Scott said. “I go around on my victory lap, and everybody is screaming my name.”

These weren’t the only last-lap heroics during Sunday’s action. In the final race of the day — the Pro Briggs championship — Jeff Dolian and Matt Krechel exited the 12th and final turn nose to nose. Dolian beat Krechel to the line by 0.023 seconds, the closest finish of the weekend.

“We didn’t know who won (when we crossed the finish line),” Dolian said. “Then we came back around and found out I won. Hell of a day.”

Just like Riley Scott, Krechel did not give up the inside line, so Dolian had to make the pass the hard way.

“I was able to get a good run on him, and he wasn’t going to give me the inside,” Dolian said. “I had to take the outside. We were side-by-side coming through this last turn. I’d say there was a moment where he was ahead and a moment where I was ahead. I don’t think it could have been closer.”

Dolian gets to bring the championship belt back to his home state of Texas.

“I think they’ll have to check (at the airport) because I don’t think the metal detectors are going to be too friendly,” Dolian said.

Two other Quincy natives — Ryan Whicker and Lance Curry — each won in convincing fashion in the Vintage Open and Open Shifter classes, respectively.

In the Briggs Medium championship, Prosser, Wash., native Gabe Sessler edged out Krechel by 0.077 seconds. Sessler also won the Ignite Senior championship by 0.090 seconds.

In Formula 3-Mini Moto, St. Louis, Mo., native Alex Wisdom notched his third victory of the weekend by finishing 25.776 seconds ahead of second place Michael Van Benten.