August 27, 2002; Eagle River, WI. - It all comes down to one night at Riverside Raceway. All four classes championships will be decided Sunday night at Riverside Raceway. The drama will mainly focus on the Miller Lite A-Mods. Entering Tuesday night, Tad Schoonover led Bob Kleinschmidt by three points.
Jerry Grasse cruised to victory in heat number one, but Tad Schoonover was right behind him. This would be important when heat number two rolled around. Bob Kleinschmidt's car was showing smoke and did not complete a lap in the heat, which Guy Carley won. This meant that Schoonover's lead was five entering the feature. Schoonover would end up needing every point of that advantage. On lap number 3, he brought the caution when he spun trying to get under Spencer Bolte for position. Then, late in the going, he spun in turn four, while running fourth. That was Schoonover's second caution flag and per Riverside Raceway Rules, he was out of the race. Whatever problems Bob Kleinschmidt had in the heat, were fixed before the feature. While Schoonover was scored in seventh position, Kleinschmidt was having a good run in the second position. After Schoonover's second caution, Kleinschmidt had one more chance to catch the leader Jerry Grasse. Grasse would get a good restart, though, and would take the victory. Kleinschmidt would settle for second, but the finish put him even with Schoonover in the battle for the A-Mod track championship. Ken Valeria and Fritz Scharf won the heat races for the Street Stocks. This meant that Valeria's lead over Scharf remained at four points. Scharf was in position to gain on Valeria in the feature, but the was some smoke showing from his car. On lap 10, Valeria got by Scharf for third position, and on lap 12, Scharf pulled off the track and finish seventh. Valeria had a chance to gain more points. He was running third with three laps to go, but he was only four car lengths behind the leader Chad Lederer. The two cars in front of Valeria, Lederer and John Eckert, were both looking for their first feature victory of the season and would not give and inch. In the end Valeria would extend his lead to eight, but would not be able to get by John Eckert or the feature winner Chad Lederer. Marlys Scharf entered the night with a 24-point lead in Pure Stocks, but it would Roger Walker who would steal the show. Walker, in only his third appearance of the season, would sweep the heat and the feature. Scharf fared well as she finished second, behind Walker, in her heat and finish third in the feature. Meanwhile, B.J. Slizewski won his heat, but only managed a fifth place finish. Marlys Scharf, with a 25-point lead now, could clinch the track championship by stating Sunday night Pure Stock Feature. Rich Rosemark entered the night with a realistic chance of clinching the Bandit championship, and right away it seemed as though he would do it. The drivers were warned in the driver's meeting about rough driving. The message was directed primarily at the Bandit drivers, but on the start of the first heat, it seemed like that message fell on deaf ears. Cars were three and four wide entering the first corner on the first lap. As expected,
the cars slammed and banged into one another. Jim Nieckula, the only driver that had a
realistic chance of catching Rosemark, had his left-front tire was cut in the Rosemark's lead was 51 entering the feature and was in position to clinch the track championship, leading in the late going. With Rosemark leading, and Nieckula fourth, Rosemark would clinch the track championship. That was the scenario on the final lap, but going into turn two, Rosemark lost his right front tire, his lead and his chance to clinch. All of the sudden, a fierce battle for second between Dustin Miller and Mark Schuenemann, became a battle for the win. Schuenemann took the advantage heading into turn three, but pushed up the track, Miller tried to make the winning pass to the inside but fell short. With Nieckula's third place finish, Rosemark point lead ended up being 47 points. As soon as Rosemark begins to pack the track on Sunday, he will earn his 10 show points, and clinch the Bandit championship. The race for the track championships will be decided this Sunday, September 1. It all
gets underway at 7:30pm with hot laps and the Simac's Plumbing and Heating Pre-race Show.
Racing will begin at 8:00pm. Street Stocks Pure Stocks Bandits |
