It was a familiar song in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods as Jerry Grasse had the dominant car. The only runner who could challenge Grasse was Bob Richardson. Richardson pulled close to Grasse in the opening laps of the feature, but came into contact with him in turn three, sending Grasse spinning and Richardson to the back.

Richardson fought his way back to second in the waning laps and a late caution seemed to help his chances, but in the end Grasse was too strong and pulled away to his seventh feature victory of the season at Riverside.

A couple new faces showed up in the Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks. Early on in the feature, one of the newcomers, Kip McIntyre, held the lead. Trouble, however loomed when Chad Boettcher drove deep into turn three
triggering a three-car crash.

Craig Tarsi was the third car involved in the wreck, and inherited the lead despite heavy damage on the left-front corner. Tarsi held on to the lead for most of the race, however the aforementioned damage came back to haunt him as the handle went away on his car in the final laps, handing the lead to Mark Schuenemann.

Schuenemann went on to win the feature, but the problems got worse for Tarsi as a flat tire dropped him from second to fifth in the final rundown.

The Pure Stock feature was full of incidents early on as only six minutes remained on the timer with 11 laps to go. The field settled out, however and the race turned into a duel between the top two finishers in the Pure Stock point standing, Rob Rodziczak and Pete Luedke. Luedke applied pressure in the final eight laps, but Rodziczak never slipped and claimed his sixth feature victory of the season.

The sub-plot of the Bandit/Super Bandit class was an announcer/columnist turned racecar driver for one night. I hopped behind the wheel of Duane Porier's  #71 Rex Angeli's Dodge for the night's action. A second place finish in the heat race seemed to be an indicator of good things to come in the feature, but and early contact from Trista Placek sent the car into a
spin. A few laps later the right-rear tire departed from the car, forcing me to retire with a disappointing seventh place finish.

The main story of the class was again the KGL Racing Team as Eli Gustafson claimed yet another clean sweep as car spun behind him across the finish line.

During intermission, the trophy presentation was held. Among the notable winners were Most Popular Driver, Eli Gustafson; Sportsman of the Year, Rob Rodziczak; and Most Dedicated Driver Ron Reese.

So concludes another season at Riverside Raceway. We would once again like to extend our thanks and gratitude to the drivers, crews, sponsors, fans, employees and volunteers who made this season another success. As in 2003,
there will be an off-season drivers' meeting to discuss potential rule and procedural changes in 2005 at Riverside. The date and location of the meeting have not been set at this time, but will be published when made available.

Riverside Raceway Results: September 21, 2004

Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods #
Heat: 1st 2-Richardson; 2nd 30-Carley; 3rd 14-Smart
Feature: 1st 5-Grasse; 2nd 2-Richardson; 3rd 27T-Frantz; 4th 30-Carley (out); 5th 14-Smart (out)

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks #
Heat 1: 1st 5-Boettcher; 2nd 1-F.Scharf; 3rd 1T-T.Scharf
Heat 2: 1st 48-McIntyre; 2nd 96-Schuenemann; 3rd 55-Tarsi
Feature: 1st 96-Schuenemann; 2nd 1T-T.Scharf; 3rd 5-Boettcher; 4th 1-F.Scharf; 5th 55-Tarsi

Pure Stocks
Heat 1: 1st 15-Rodziczak; 2nd 190-Jackson; 3rd 35-Bodamer
Heat 2: 1st 7-Luedke; 2nd 21-M.Scharf; 3rd 5-R.Valeria
Feature: 1st 15-Rodziczak; 2nd 7-Luedke; 3rd 35-Bodamer; 4th 21-M.Scharf; 5th 5-R.Valeria

Bandits/Super Bandits
Heat 1: 1st 01-Drengler; 2nd 26-Kurtti; 3rd 127-A.Gustafson*
Heat 2: 1st 27-E.Gustafson; 2nd 71-Mayo*; 3rd 128-Rose
Feature: 1st 27-E.Gustafson; 2nd 128-Rose; 3rd 26-Kurtti; 4th 37-D.Miller;
5th 127-A.Gustafson*

# Not a WISSOTA Sanctioned Event
* Denotes Regular Bandit

Year End Awards
Most Dedicated Driver: Ron Reese
Sportsman of the Year: Rob Rodziczak
Most Improved Driver: Ryan Valeria
Most Popular Driver: Eli Gustafson
Best Appearing Race Car: Craig Tarsi
Hard Luck Award: Bob Richardson
Rookies of the Year: Mark Schuenemann, Charlie Jackson, and Steve Justin