August 31, 2003; Eagle River, WI. -Scott Anderson had
to borrow Stan Rychlock's Midwest Modified, but he The car the Anderson usually drives was damaged heavily in a wreck last week at Riverside, but Anderson used his back up car rather well. In the heat race, it was all Pat Zdroik. Zdroik dominated the race, but Anderson ran well and finished second. Anderson came back and dominated Chuck Gross in the Perfect Attendance Dash race, picking up an extra $200 in the process. And in a fitting end to the season, Anderson and Duane Dunbar got to the front of the field in the feature and staged one more classic battle. The final ten laps of the race were a side-by-side duel between the top two in the Midwest Mod points, and for the seventh time this season, Dunbar came out on top. Anderson finished second. Meanwhile Troy Smart and Spencer Bolte both finished in the top five in the feature, propelling them into the top five in the final Midwest Mods standings. Bruce Belland was back on the form that allowed him to take a commanding lead in the
Street Stock points early on in the season. Belland drew well and started towards the
front of the pack in the heat, the Perfect Attendance Dash, and the feature. Belland used
the track position to win all three races, becoming, unofficially, the first driver to
ever win three Right behind Belland most of the evening was Ken Valeria. Valeria clinched his third
consecutive track championship when he pulled onto the racetrack for the feature. Valeria
had another solid run, finishing third in the heat and second in the feature, capping his
strong second half charge. Since July 22, Valeria has captured three heat wins, four
feature wins, and failed to The Pure Stock Championship was in the balance on the final night with B.J. Slizewski leading Marlys Scharf by a slim two-point margin. To complicate matters, these two drivers were thrown in with twelve other hungry drivers in the Pure Stock Special. The lineup was based on a draw, which proved to be a huge advantage for Slizewski. He drew the pole for his heat race, and finished second. Scharf, on the other hand, drew the fifth position for her race and only finished fourth. Slizewski lead the points by four heading into the twenty-lap feature, but in a reversal of fortunes form the heat race, Scharf was on the pole, and Slizewski started fifth. Scharf did not hold the lead for long. Pete Luedke and Wayne Nylund worked their way past her early on. Luedke quickly developed mechanical problems and retired from the race. This left Marlys Scharf running second, with B.J. Slizewski running comfortably in fourth. Mark Schuenemann was on the charge as he passed Scharf and then used the bump-and-run on Wayne Nylund to take the lead. Scharf was able to get by Nylund for second, but with four laps to go, her championship hopes ran out of air as her right-rear tire went flat.Mark Schuenemann went on to win the Pure Stock Special. B.J. Slizewski did all he needed to do, finishing third. Slizewski failed to win a feature in Riverside Raceway's most competitive class, but using consistent runs like Sunday night's took the point lead away from Marlys Scharf and won the 2003 Pure Stock Championship. Phil Malouf used the comfortable point lead he got last week when Jordan Kurtti and Dustin Miller had problems to cruise to the championship in the Super Bandits. Dustin Miller went on to sweep the evening's proceedings, overtaking Kurtti for second in the final point standings. Finally in the Bandits, Heidi Diers entered the night leading by two points over Scott Scharf, but her night quickly turned sour as a flat right-front tire put her out of the heat race early. Scharf, on the other hand, had a steady run, finishing second. Scharf took a three-point advantage into the Bandit feature, which for only the second
time this season was run separate of the Super Bandit feature. Diers and Scharf started on
the front row. Diers quickly faded back in the pack, while Scharf held on to the lead for
a while. Eli Gustafson would eventually work his way on by Scharf and take a clean sweep
for the Bandits, Riverside Raceway will officially crown the track champions on Tuesday, September 9,
during intermission. We invite you to come celebrate the season on Fan Appreciation Night.
Not only will the champions be crowned, we will also have many other special and fun
events to close the 2003 season. Racing begins at 7 p.m. Pure Stocks |
