June 25, 2002; Eagle River, WI. - Thirty-three cars
took to the track last Tuesday for exciting action on B93 night at
Only four cars showed up in the Street Stock class, but they put on a good show nonetheless. John Eckert appeared to be in control of the heat race until his rear-end broke, sending him to the infield on lap 5. Shawn Bialas inherited the lead and held on to victory over Fritz Scharf and Ken Valeria. Marlys Scharf got the jump in heat one of the Pure Stocks and had clear sailing the rest of the way. The battle was for second as Jim Melton held off the challenge of Rob Rodziczak. Neal Slizewski led from flag to flag in the second Pure Stock heat, but the win wasn't as easy as it seemed. B.J. Slizewski drove to within a car length of Neal in the closing laps. B.J. looked for the win, diving low off of turn 4 on the final lap, but he ended up getting very loose and losing second place to John Dorion. Jim Nieckula started fourth in the first heat of the Bandits, but charged forward on the high side and by the time they got to the B93 sign off of Turn 2, Nieckula had the lead. Richard Rosemark started sixth and followed Nieckula through to move to second. They would finish one-tow in that order, with Rob LaPointe finishing third. A lap 1 caution retired Wade Morris from Bandit heat race number two and Robert Whittaker for the evening. On the restart, Mark Schuenemann got the lead and checked-out to victory. Cody Schmidt, in his first Riverside start of the season, finished second, and Rob Schmidt, who broke on lap 4, finished third. Mother Nature lit up the sky after intermission as strong storms approached the Eagle River area, but the racing finished just as the rain was beginning to fall. Most all the fans stuck around despite the threat of thunderstorms, and they were treated to racing that got more and more exciting as the storms drew closer and closer. Unlike the week prior, the feature race in the Miller Lite A-Mods went caution free. Just as in the heat race, Mark Albertus took the lead from the drop of the green flag and never looked back. Kenny Smith ran comfortably in second as he neither challenged for the lead, nor was challenged for second. On the final lap, Bob Kleinschmidt looked inside of Guy Carley for third, but Kleinschmidt lost control of his vehicle, spinning in turn 2. The spin allowed Carley to finish third, allowed Spencer Bolte to inherit fourth, and sent Kleinschmidt back to fifth. The news was all bad for Bobb-O though. With Mickey Nosser not racing, Kleinschmidt took the lead in the points. Big trouble occurred on lap 10 of the Street Stock feature. John Eckert, who was running second at the time, broke the rear end again. This time it broke in Turn 1 causing his car to flip side-over-side. Moments later, Eckert climbed out of his car unhurt. Ken Valeria gained the points lead by leading every lap to win. Shawn Bialas cut a tire getting the white flag causing him to spin down the front-stretch. This gave Fritz Scharf second. Bialas finished third. Dan Melton got the early lead in the Pure Stock feature, but broke on lap 3, handing the lead over to John Dorion, who would go on to win. Neal Slizewski's car was smoking heavily as it crossed the line in second followed by Rob Rodziczak in third. Marlys Scharf has troubles getting through traffic, however, she extended her points lead with a fourth place run. Keith Durand rounded out the top five. Fast and furious action was present in the Bandit feature as car went three and even four wide during the race. Frank Luce held the early lead, but gave it up on lap 6 when Phil Malouf passed him for the lead. Malouf held on to the lead until lap 11 when the steering gave way on his car in turn 4, handing the lead over to Jim Nieckula. The sweep was complete for Nieckula as he won the feature as light rain began to fall on the raceway. Frank Luce had a very good run, finishing second. Richard Rosemark piloted the points-leading car to third. Mark Schuenemann and Donnie Jokinen, from Florence, WI, rounded out the top five.
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