June 17, 2003; Eagle River, WI. - The rain disappeared as race time drew closer and it turned out to be a beautiful and exciting night at Riverside Raceway. The WISSOTA Street Stocks kicked the evening off whit their heat race. Kevin Maulson looked for the lead early, but contact with the leader Fritz Scharf sent Maulson to the back of the field. Scharf cruised the rest of the way for the victory in front of John Kallas and Bruce Belland.Duane Dunbar took the victory from the pole in the heat race for the WISSOTA Midwest Mods. The action was for second as Scott Anderson passed Troy Smart on the last lap for the position. The Bandits and Super Bandits were split up for the heat races. Dale Jaeger started last in the Super Bandit heat, his first start of the season, but charged to the lead in just five laps. Jaeger survived a green, white, checkered finish to take the win with Dustin Miller and Jordan Kurtti close behind.Scott Scharf picked up his first win in the Bandit heat followed by newcomer Elliot Marquardt and Heidi Diers. It was a Slizewski night in the heat races for the Pure Stocks. Neal Slizewski held off Rob Rodziczak, Mark Schuenemann and Marlys Scharf to win the first heat. Then his nephew, B.J. Slizewski, cruised to victory in the second heat in front of Wayne Nylund and Pete Luedke. The feature races were marred with cautions. The only exception was the WISSOTA Street Stock feature, which ran caution-free. Bruce Belland turned it into a rout. Belland started from the pole and checked out. Belland lead all 20 laps and won by nearly a half a lap. Ken Valeria minimized Belland's point gain with a second place finish. John Kallas, Chad Lederer and Fritz Scharf rounded out the top five. Troy Smart started from the pole in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods feature but never took the
green flag. Outside pole sitter Bob Kleinschmidt got loose off of turn four and triggered
a multi-car incident that took out Smart. After two more attempts at a start, the race
finally got underway and Bob Kleinschmidt, who inherited the pole after the wreck was
declared to be a Kleinschmidt lead the first 18 laps, but Duane Dunbar and Scott Anderson were breathing down his neck. On lap 19, Kleinschmidt slipped in turn two and Dunbar and Anderson slipped by. Dunbar led the rest of the way, took his second consecutive feature victory at Riverside Raceway, and moved into a tie for the Midwest Mod point lead with second place finisher, Scott Anderson. Kleinschmidt had to settle for third in front of Guy Carley and Chuck Gross. For the second consecutive week, Super Bandit point leader Phil Malouf started for the sixth position and made an early charge to the front, but things would change in turn four. Contact with Tim Stolar sent Malouf toward the inside guardrail. Malouf saved the car, but triggered a pile up behind him. In total eight of the eleven cars that started were involved in the crash. Brandon Miller got the worse of the wreck as his car smacked the inside guardrail on the front stretch, and his night was over. Jordan Kurtti was one of the few drivers that made it through the wreck cleanly. On the restart, Kurtti worked passed Scott Scharf to take the lead and would not look back. Kurtti dominated the race to take his first feature win. Dustin Miller beat out Phil Malouf for second, and trimmed Malouf's lead in the points to one. Heidi Diers was the highest finishing Bandit in fourth and Scott Scharf finished fifth. It was not a Slizewski night in the feature race for the Pure Stocks. On lap one, Neal Slizewski got sideways off of turn four. He saved the car, but B.J. Slizewski had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting his uncle. Mark Schuenemann ended up being the loser in the exchange as he could not get on the breaks in time and slammed into the back of B.J. Slizewski. The hard contact ended Schuenemann's evening. Neal Slizewski was put to the back because of the incident and never was a contender. B.J. Slizewski was just in front of the scariest incident of the night as Marlys Scharf dove to the inside of Chad Rosinski for fourth in turn one on lap seven, Scharf's car pushed all the way up the race track and Rosinski ran out of room and climbed the guardrail in turn two, nearly rolling over. On the restart the bad luck hit B.J. Slizewski as he hit the guardrail on the backstretch and slowed dramatically. Meanwhile, out in front, Pete Luedke was the class of the field and earned redemption after being found illegal after the feature on June 3. Luedke was legal on this night and took it to the field again. Wayne Nylund finished second. Marlys Scharf came back to finish third. Dennis Lacrosse and Rob Rodziczak rounded out the top five. Racing continues next Tuesday Night with WRJO as the sponsor. |
