July 30, 2002; Eagle River, WI. - The blanket of severe thunderstorms that covered the Northwoods had a hole. A hole that must have been right over the top of Riverside Raceway, because the racing program was completed without delay.
In a change of pace, the Bandits were the first class to take to the raceway and Frank Luce became the first winner of the night, leading every lap of heat number one. Dan Zelten made an appearance at Riverside Raceway and lead from green to checkered in the second bandit heat race. Ron Reese was a victor in the first Pure Stock heat and Jeremy Melton took victory in the second Pure Stock heat. Melton was challenge for victory by B.J. Slizewski, a story line that would reappear later in the evening. Shawn Bialas made a lap 4 pass on John Eckert to take victory in the heat race for the Street Stocks. The top two in points, Ken Valeria and Fritz Scharf, finished sixth and fifth, respectively, in the six car field. Jerry Grasse was hardly challenged as he won the first heat of the Miller Lite A-Mods, and Mark Albertus extended his streak to six straight nights with at least one victory as heat won the second A-Mod heat. Speedo the Clown performed in between heat races and again during intermission. It looked as though Speedo might be the finale as severe weather bared down on Vilas County, but the storms stayed away and all the feature races were completed. The fans who left because of the threat of severe weather missed some great racing. Rich Rosemark and Mark Schuenemann dueled in the final six laps of the Bandit feature. Rosemark looked to extend his lead in the points as two of his main pursuers Phil Malouf and Wade Morris were deep in the field and his other main pursuer, Jim Nieckula, was out of the race after hard contact with the back stretch guard rail. Mark Schuenemann tried to get underneath Rosemark, but never couldn't. Rosemark was the winner. Schuenemann was second. Nick Warwick came up into the fight on the last lap and finished third. Phil Malouf and Frank Luce rounded out the top five. Jeremy Melton and B.J. Slizewski would do battle again in the Pure Stock feature. Ron Reese dominated the first 11 laps of the event, but spun off of turn four on lap 12, bringing out the yellow and giving the lead to Melton. This set the stage for a four-lap battle between Melton and B.J. Slizewski. Melton looked as though he had the race in the bag when Slizewski got loose in turn four on lap 13, but Slizewski charged back to make a last lap, last corner attempt for the win which fell just short. Melton took victory with B.J. Slizewski second. Marlys Scharf recovered from a lap 10 spin to finished third. Rob Rodziczak went from tenth to fourth in the last five laps. Neal Slizewski was fifth. Shawn Bialas was hooked up in the Street Stock feature as he took an easy victory. John Eckert held off Ken Valeria for second. Chad Lederer and Fritz Scharf rounded out the top five. Just as heat did in his heat, Jerry Grasse took it to the field of Miller Lite A-Mods in the feature. Grasse was never challenged as Tad Schoonover ran a comfortable second and tied Bob Klienschmidt, who finished third, for the lead in the A-Mod points. Rounding out the top five were Guy Carley and Spencer Bolte. |
