August 13, 2002; Eagle River, WI. - 27 cars came from as far as Norway, MI for Riverside Raceway's 4-Cylinder Shootout, but in the end it was an Eagle River driver Dan Zelten taking the $150 winner's share of the purse.
To determine starting positions for the heat, the drivers drew numbers ranging
from one to sixty, with the lower numbers getting the best starting positions. It didn't take Zelten too long to work his way to the front. On lap four he passed Jim Nieckula, the driver he drove for on August 6, for second and set his sights on the leader, Frank Luce. Luce proved to be no match for Zelten as Zelten made the winning pass on lap six and earned the pole for the 4-Cylinder Feature. Zelten then watched and waited to find out who his competition would be. Pickerel's Chris Jaeger charged from the seventh starting position to the lead in under three laps. Jaeger would cruise to victory and the outside pole position for the feature. The final heat race went to Rich Rosemark, Riverside Raceway Bandit points leader. Rosemark had earned his points lead through consistency, but he had a strong car on this night as he held off Dustin Miller for victory. The top four finishers out of each heat transferred automatically to the feature. This
left 15 drivers to fight for seven starting spots in the semi-feature. For a few of
drivers who looked as though they would transfer to the feature, the semi-feature was The problems began for Mark Schuenemann in his heat race. Schuenemann retired from heat
number two after contact with eventual winner Chris Jaeger. Reports from the pits
said a broken spindle was the culprit. At any rate, Schuenemann, who was third in the
Banditpoints at Riverside, failed to make the start of the semi-feature and saw and chance
of winning a track Another driver for which the semi-feature was tough on way the young Brantwood, WI driver, Andy Wild. In his first night of racing, Wild was running second on lap four when Cody Schmidt got him from behind and sent him spinning. Wild would had been restored to second place, but his car would not retire after the spin, and Wild was done for the evening. Finally, the semi-feature was one that Iron Mountain's Don Jones would like to forget. Jones led the first half of the race, but while in front on lap six, Jones cut a tire and faded back to eight place and out of the feature. One driver who liked the semi-feature was Phil Malouf as he took the first of seven transfer spots. There was rain before the feature got underway. The was talk about calling the race, but the drivers didn't want to, the rains quit, and we went racing. Chris Jaeger took the early advantage for the outside pole position. Dan Zelten battled back on lap two to retake the lead. The yellow flag waived for the first time when Brandon miller stalled on the raceway. This allowed Rich Rosemark, and the rest of the field to catch back up. Zelten got a good restart, and regained a solid advantage. Zelten would have to get a good restart again after a caution flag waved again on lap 10 of 20, and he did. Zelten cruised as a battle shaped up behind him for second between the top two in Riverside's Bandit points, Rich Rosemark and Jim Nieckula. Zelten would again see his lead disappear when Rob LaPointe spun in turn one on lap 15. This would set up a six-lap dash for cash. But as he did all night long, Dan Zelten got a great restart and that spelled the end for the rest of the field. On his eighteenth birthday, Dan Zelten got $150 for his dominating victory in the 4-Cylinder Shootout. The battle ended up being for second. Rich Rosemark held off Jim Nieckula for the position. Dustin Miller and Frank Luce rounded out the top five the special. For Zelten, the win was his second straight at Riverside Raceway. Still, Dan Zelten has put his car up for sale. The reason: He plans to race a Pure Stock next season. Happy with the success of the special, Riverside Raceway owner and track
promoter, Don Scharf, has already began to make plans for next year's 4-Cylinder Shootout. Jeremy Melton Rolls to Victory Not to be out done by the 4-Cylinder Shootout, Riverside Raceway's other
classes put on a spectacular show as well last Tuesday. What could possibly steal the
headlines on the night of a special? A big wreck and an upset victory in the Our story begins on the first lap of the second heat of the Pure Stocks. Battling for position were Jeremy Melton and Neal Slizewski. Melton, thinking he was clear, drifted toward the outside wall. Melton wasn't clear. In his way was the front bumper of Neal Slizewski's 21 car. Melton's car was spun into the outside retaining wall and the momentum of Neal Slizewski's car, still going straight, sent Melton's orange 81 tumbling down the front straightaway. The audience held it's collective breath until it knew that Melton was unhurt. 30 second later a member of the safety crew gave the audience the O.K. signal, and Melton climbed out of his apparently battered racecar. Everybody was shocked to find out the Jeremy Melton and the 81 car were not done racing for the evening. Track officials made Melton hot lap before the features to make sure his car was still raceable. It was. As if the story wasn't amazing enough already, Jeremy Melton took the lead
from the outside pole, twice. Neither his first pass, nor the first lap would count
because Jeremy's father, Jim, brought out the caution. Jeremy Melton led the first 11
laps, but his wrecker-to-checker story seemed over as the two heat winners, Rob Rodziczak
and B.J. Slizewski began to Marlys Scharf tried her best to foil the storyline. She got under Melton off of turn four on the final lap and tried to beat him back to the line, but she couldn't. Jeremy Melton won in what is certainly the story of the year so far at Riverside Raceway. Marlys Scharf, B.J. Slizewski, Rob Rodziczak, and Ron Reese completed the top five. The Miller Lite A-Mods put on one of there better shows of the season, as a couple drivers who usually run mid-pack stepped up and won, and an incident occurred in the feature that had big implications on the points. Accustom to the best racing surface possible, TheMiller Lite A-Mods were thrown a curve on this night as their heat race followed the heats for the 4-Cylinders. The track they got was not a good track for passing, which was good news for Mike Vogt. From the pole, Vogt would lead every lap and take his first victory of the season. At the end of the heat, we had a situation similar to the week prior when Mike Boyd and Tad Schoonover got hooked together on the front stretch. This time, the delay would be to get the car of Mark Albertus and Bob Kleinschmidt, who battled fiercely for fifth, unhooked. The track that the A-Mods got for their feature wasn't the best either as rain changed the characteristics of the surface. It led to some good racing though. But before the cars even completed two corners, the caution flew for an incident involving Mark Albertus and points leader Tad Schoonover. The wreck put Schoonover into the infield with a seventh place finish. When the green flag flew again Spencer Bolte got the early lead in the fifteen-lap feature as he looked for his first feature win of the year. Behind him, charging through the pack was Bob Kleinschmidt. Kleinschmidt, second in the A-Mod points, had every motive to win the feature and cut Schoonover's points lead to next to nothing. On lap 5, Klienschmidt began to pressure Bolte for the lead. A-Mod drivers seldom use it, but thee top groove can be a producer of fast
lap times. For three-quarters of a lap, Bolte would use the top line to perfection. The
only place he had problems was in turn four. Bolte would push high there, which allowed
Bob Kleinschmidt to stay to Bolte's inside, battling for the lead. Bolte and Kleinschmidt
would battle side-by-side for The reason that Ken Valeria has the points lead is the Street Stock is because he is very consistent and simply does not have any mechanical problems...until last week that is. Valeria had charged his to second in the Street Stock heat when he lost the right rear wheel on his car. Valeria would finish last in the heat, and do damage to his car which would affect him in the feature. Attrition helped Valeria move up to fourth in the feature. He would finish there as he was stuck behind Kevin Maulson, who returned on this night, battling for third. That battle was well behind the leaders. Fritz Scharf looked to trim
Valeria's point lead, and on lap 5 he passed John Eckert for the lead. Scharf pulled away,
took victory and trimmed the point lead to five in the Street Stocks. Miller Lite A-Mods Street Stocks Pure Stocks |
