August 26, 2003; Eagle River, WI. -Ken Valeria and
Duane Dunbar won again at Riverside Raceway, but for the The racing program opened with skydivers out of Minnesota. Little did anybody know they would not catch the biggest air of the evening. The first big wreck of the night occurred in the second Pure Stock heat race and involved Neal Slizewski. Slizewski was running near the front of the pack on lap five of the race when his car pushed up the racetrack in turn four. Slizewski hit the outside guardrail and skidded for about 50 feet on the rail. Then, the car climbed the guardrail and was launched out of the racetrack and down the embankment outside of turn four. Fans, drivers, pit crews and track officials all held their collective breath for a couple minutes until the Slizewski climbed out of his car, and walked away from the incident. The second big wreck of the evening occurred in the WISSOTA Midwest Mod Presented by Miller Lite feature, and involved the point leader Scott Anderson. On lap five, Anderson slipped up, allowing Guy Carley and Bob Kleinschmidt to battle him for second. Kleinschmidt got out of shape on the front stretch, and came down into Anderson, sending Anderson hard into the inside guardrail. Anderson was angry, but unhurt. His car, on the other hand received heavy front-end damage. Despite the big wrecks, the night proved to be a fine night for racing, especially for
Street Stock point leader Ken Valeria. Valeria came out in the heat race and dominated,
leading every lap en route to victory. Valeria came back in the feature and pulled off the
same feat, leading every lap to take his fourth feature victory in the last five races.
With the sweep, Valeria all took full control of Street Stock point standings, opening the
lead to 14 points over Fritz Scharf, who finished fourth in his Scott Anderson needed to gain just one point on Duane Dunbar to clinch the WISSOTA Midwest Mods Championship. Anderson did his best to seal the deal in the heat race, picking his way through the field, taking the lead on lap seven and taking the win. Dunbar finished fourth. Anderson had his problems in the feature, however, and Dunbar was able to capitalize. Anderson's lap five wreck put him in seventh position and out of the race. Meanwhile, Dunbar dominated a caution-filled feature that was cut two laps short when Guy Carley stalled, bringing out the caution after the time limit expired. Dunbar staved off elimination from the point hunt with his sixth feature victory of the season, but with a 53-point lead, all Scott Anderson has to do is roll onto the track this Sunday to clinch the track championship. In the Pure Stocks, Joel Miller won heat one while point leader Marlys Scharf finished back in fourth after being involved in an incident with Pete Luedke. In heat number two, while Neal Slizewski did the flying in the air, his nephew B.J. did the flying on the racetrack and won heat two, halving Scharf's lead in the points. Scharf's troubled continued in the feature. Scharf picked her way up to third in the feature, but spun out while battling with Mark Schuenemann for the position. Scharf's car would not refire and she had to settle for a seventh place finish. The door was wide open for B.J. Slizewski to take the point lead. Slizewski did just that, settling in behind the leader, Rob Rodziczak, and finishing second. Rodziczak scored his second feature victory of the season and regained third in the point standings. B.J. Slizewski finished second and took the Pure Stock point lead by two points over Marlys Scharf entering season championship night. Eli Gustafson won a thrilling Bandit heat race, passing Rick Peterson on the front
stretch coming to the checkered flag. The Bandits/Super Bandit feature had its own drama.
There was another big wreck as Eugene Reinke spun down the backstretch, collecting Jordan
Kurtti, the Super Bandit point leader entering the night. While Kurtti spun violently,
Reinke got the worse end of the incident, as his car came to rest on its side. Nick
Warwick worked his way through the field, earning his Phil Malouf took full control of the Super Bandit points by winning the Super Bandit heat. Malouf went on to finish fourth in the feature, but both Dustin Miller and Jordan Kurtti had problems and were knocked out of the race early. Malouf's lead is ten entering the final night. Heidi Diers took the Bandit point sole possession of the Bandit point lead, bettering
Scott Scharf in the heat and the feature by one position.So who will win the track
championships? We will find out the answers this Sunday at Riverside Raceway with a full
racing program, which will include a Pure Stock Special, another spectacular Harry's
Fireworks show and the dash |
