July 15, 2003; Eagle River, WI. - First National Bank Night was a wild night of racing at Riverside as the fans were treated to great racing, a couple of dramatic accidents, and even an upset in the Bandits. In the WISSOTA Midwest Mods Presented by Miller Lite, Scott Anderson checked out from the pole position to win the heat race ahead of Guy Carley, who held off Duane Dunbar for second. Carley has got his machine running well as of late and he showed it in the feature race. Carley held the point for 15 laps with Dunbar and Anderson hot on his heels. Anderson swung by Dunbar for second and then tried to get by Carley as they went into turn one. Anderson came up into Carley, causing Carley to spin and the yellow flag to be displayed. Anderson was sent to the back for causing the spin, but Carley unfortunately was unable to return to the race. That gave the lead to Duane Dunbar and he checked out in the final five laps to claim his third feature victory of the season at Riverside. Chuck Gross worked up to second. Spencer Bolte was third. Scott Anderson could only work his way back to fourth and Bob Kleinschmidt finished fifth. Fritz Scharf cruised to victory in the heat race of the WISSOTA Street Stocks. In the feature, Bruce Belland took the lead for the pole as Jermey Wolfe lost ground in second, fighting with a loose condition. On lap four, Wolfe could not hold on the car, got sideways and spun into the side of John Kallas. Kallas was spinning toward the outside guardrail when his left rear tire went flat, the rim of the tire caught on the clay, his car started to roll over violently. The race was stopped for about 10 minutes, as Kallas was slow to climb out of his mangled car. Kallas was alright and after track officials burned off some fuel spilled in the wreck, the Street Stocks were back to racing. When they resumed, Bruce Belland continued his domination of the race. Ken Valeria would close to within three car lengths in the late going, but not any closer. Belland took his second feature of the year at Riverside with Valeria, Scharf and Dan Zelten right behind. Jermey Wolfe finished the race fifth, one lap down. Phil Malouf charged from last to first in just two laps as he won the heat race for the Super Bandits. Heidi Diers claimed her second heat victory of the season as she held off James Williams for the win. Diers would get the lead from the outside pole for the combined Bandit/Super Bandit feature. She held off the Super Bandit charge lead by Nick Warwick for the first nine laps of the race, but Warwick was able to bang his way on by on lap 10. Caution came out on lap 12 as last week's feature winner Jordan Kurtti had a fire in his car. This set up a four lap dash and on the restart, Eli Gustafson, in a regular Bandit worked his way past Warwick. Gustafson became the first 8-valve Bandit to win in a combined feature this year at Riverside. Nick Warwick held off Super Bandit point leader Phil Malouf for second. Dustin Miller came up for fourth. Heidi Diers slipped back to fifth, but with Bandit point leader Scott Scharf having problems, Diers closed the gap to just three in the quest for the track championship. Joel Miller led every lap of the first Pure Stock heat. In heat two, B.J. Slizewski took the lead and cruised to the win when Dennis LaCrosse had problems. Rookie Cody Valeria also had problems as he lost control and hit the guardrail hard in turn two. Neal Slizewski led the first eight laps of the Pure Stock feature, but things got interesting once Rob Rodziczak passed him for the lead. Slizewski fell back into the clutches of Pete Luedke. Luedke tried to pass Slizewski on the high side, but Slizewski drifted up into him, spinning him out. Luedke was forced into the pits because of the incident, but Luedke, thinking he was entitled to get his position back charged through the field, trying to get back to his position. Because he went into the pits, Luedke was not entitled to his position back. Track officials were forced to waive off the restart just before the field was supposed to get the green flag. This created a pile up in the middle of the pack taking Keb Krouse and Ron Reese out of the race.It took about 10 minutes to clean up the crash site as Krouse's car had heavy front-end damage and more fluids were put on the track. When the race continued, Rodziczak jumped ahead of the pack, but Mark Schuenemann was on the charge. He slipped by Marlys Scharf for second and began to close in. Schuenemann got to Rodziczak's back bumper, but no closer. Rob Rodziczak pulled into a tie for the Pure Stock point lead with his first feature win of the year. Schuenemann settled for second. Marlys Scharf, Dennis LaCrosse and Joel Miller rounded out the top five. Racing continues next Tuesday with Miller Beer Night at Riverside Raceway. |
