August 6, 2002; Eagle River, WI. - The action at
Riverside Raceway was exciting yet again as 39 cars took to the track.
Shawn Bialas was a winner in the Street Stock heat. John
Eckert was Bialas only challenger as John Johnson held off and held up all challengers for Jeremy Melton, coming off a sweep, continued winning races in the first Pure Stock heat. B.J.Slizewski won the second Pure Stock heat. Dan Zelten's 17Z became car # 4 for the evening to help out points contender Jim Nieckula, whose car sustained heavy damage on July 30. Zelten would indeed help as he claimed victory in Bandit heat race number one. Mark Schuenemann claimed victory in the second Bandit heat. Two red flags shortened the Miller Lite A-Mod feature. The first was a scary incident on the front straightaway on lap 2 when Stan Rychlock's car rolled and landed on its roof after making contact with Jerry Grasse. Rychlock was alright, but it took him a couple minutes to free himself from his car. The cars failed to complete another lap before the yellow waived again. Mike Body got together with points leader Tad Schoonover and the cars became hooked together on the front stretch. The red flag eventually flew for the incident because the cars were so entangled, that the Jaws of Life had to be used to separate the vehicles. Both cars rejoined the race after they were freed and finally, we saw some racing. Mark Albertus pulled away. The race ended on lap 9 as Mike Vogt brought out the caution while battling for second. Albertus earned the sweep for the night. Tad Schoonover widened his new found lead in the points with a second place finish. Jerry Grasse, Guy Carley and Spencer Bolte rounded out the top five. Chad Lederer was looking for his first victory of the season as he led most of the way in the Street Stock feature. He would be foiled by lapped traffic and the move of the season. John Johnson did not want to go a lap down and he made his car wide to keep the leader, Lederer, behind him. This allowed class points leader Ken Valeria to close in. Then, on lap 12, Lederer got to the inside of Johnson in turn two. Lederer did not get a good run up off the corner. Ken Valeria took advantage as split Lederer and Johnson through a hole barely big enough to fit through to take the lead. The race wasn't over yet. John Eckert spun after contact with Ryan Glembin on lap 13. Ken Valeria got a good jump on the restart, though, and cruised to his fifth feature victory of the year, which leads all drivers. Lederer had to settle for second. Fritz Scharf, Shawn Bialas and Ryan Glembin completed the top five. B.J. Slizewski got to the front early in the Pure Stock feature and dominated the race. Marlys Scharf was his main competition, but she never could make a challenge. Rob Rodziczak was third. Fourth went to Jim Melton. Scott Bender, in his first start of the season, was fifth. The wildest race of the night was the Bandit feature. For the first six laps, the cars battled side by side and three wide from first all the way back to last. The field was slowed as Chris Snyder climbed the turn two guard rail. When the race resumed, Dan Zelten got around Rob LaPointe for the lead. Zelten had clear sailing for a while, but on lap 10, Mark Schuenemann got around LaPointe for second and began to reel in Zelten. Schuenemann closed the gap rapidly, but could not make a last lap move and Zelten earned the victory for Jim Nieckula and the #4 car. Schuenemann was second. It was a dog fight for third between four drivers. Nick Warwick lost his passenger-side door and then more pieces of body work due to contact, but still held on for third. Rich Rosemark and Tim Miller completed the top five. |
