Initially, the race looked like it was going to be a Maulson runaway, he had built over a straightaway advantage in the first twelve laps of the race as Dan Vedder and Ron Reese battled for second, holding up strong runners Wayne Nylund, Chad Rosinski, and Jeff McDonald. Troy Smart was in the battle for positions two through six as well. The veteran of the WISSOTA Midwest Mods purchased Pete Luedke’s car about an hour before race time.

Things changed on lap 13 as Reese drove deep into turn three, and made contact with Vedder, causing a spin. Vedder had to go to the pit road, and Reese was sent to the tail end of the lead lap for causing the caution.

The caution erased Maulson’s big lead and put Nylund right behind him on the restart with three laps to go. Nylund applied pressure, threatening twice to the inside, but was unable to make a move.

On the final lap, Nylund setup what he thought would be the winning move, pulling to Maulson’s outside through turn two. Maulson slid up the racetrack in turn three allowing Nylund to dive to the inside. Maulson got loose out of turn four and Nylund barely edged him out as they crossed the finish line.

As that was happening, Troy Smart was spinning out in turn four. Smart was running third at the time, and with the rest of the field approaching the accident, track officials threw the yellow flag. That set up a discussion.

Nylund was the first to take the checkered flag, but not all the drivers crossed the finish line before the yellow was displayed. After a brief conference in the scorer’s tower, track officials ruled that since not all drivers crossed the line before the caution, the lap would not count, and scoring would revert back to lap 14. Also, since the leader already took the white flag, under track rules, the race was official. Maulson Jr. was credited with the win. Nylund had to settle for second, with Chad Rosinski third and Jeff McDonald fourth. Rosinski gained three points on McDonald in the track championship battle and sits three points back with three nights to go.

Eagle River’s Bob Richardson put on another dominating performance in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods. There was the potential for trouble early as Richardson was involved in a multi-car accident in turn three that started when Duane Dunbar got in the back of rookie Neal Dixon. Six cars ended up making contact when it was all said and done.

Despite the contact, everything was fine on Richardson’s car as on lap three, he moved to the inside of Cody Schmidt and took the lead. From there, it was smooth sailing as Richardson cruised to his sixth feature victory at Riverside in just the eighth race of the season. He also doubled his point lead on Jason Zdroik from 14 to 28 on the night.

Schmidt was on his way to a solid second, place finish until something apparently broke on his car in the race’s final lap. His car pushed high and slammed into the guardrail in turn four. Dunbar wound up in second because of it. Bob Kleinschmidt was third, marking the second consecutive top-three feature finish for the Arbor Vitae driver.

Chad Boettcher went a long way to solidifying his bid for the Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stock track title. Boettcher wasted no time getting to the front as he rocketed past Neal Slizewski and Fritz Scharf on lap two of the feature.

The race was slowed three times for cautions, twice because of spins by Lee Christjohn, who held the point lead for much of the season. Christjohn finished seventh. His final spin occurred with five laps to go, setting up a shootout for the win. On the restart, Boettcher proved he was too much for the rest of the field as he pulled away to his second feature win of 2006, and extended his points lead over Christjohn to 16. Scharf came home second with Jordan Kurtti third.

Eric Scharf of Eagle River won the Family Four feature. The 16-year old rookie won his third feature of the season and took the point lead from Larry Leonarduzzi in the process. The feature had to be cut short by four laps because of a scary accident in turn one.

Michael “Gweedo” Diak of Three Lakes, nipped the tires protecting the edge of the guardrail entering the corner. That sent his car onto two wheels and eventually caused him to flip side-over-side for three revolutions. The car landed hard on all four tires. Rescue workers rushed to the scene where Diak was awake and alert, but complaining of a tingling sensation in his extremities and pain. Diak was able to move his arms and legs according to an EMT on scene. He was transported to Eagle River Memorial Hospital for observation. An update on his status was not immediately available.

Racing continues next Tuesday at Riverside Raceway in Eagle River. The annual Pure Stock Special will be held. Track owner/promoter Don Scharf says it will be a 25-lap feature that will pay $200 to win. Drivers will draw for their starting position in the heat and start the feature “straight up” based on their performance in the heat race. Hot laps will be at 7:30 with racing at 8:00.


Riverside Raceway Results: Tuesday, August 15, 2006

MILLER LITE WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
Heat 1: 1st 15-Rob Rodziczak; 2nd 7-Duane Dunbar; 3rd 22B-Dennis LaCrosse; 4th 8D-Neal Dixon; 5th 28-Mark Rose
Heat 2: 1st 2-Bob Richardson; 2nd 18-Nick Dolezal; 3rd 15S-Cody Schmidt; 4th 0-Bob Kleinschmidt; 5th 7D-Charlie Derickson
Feature: 1st 2-Richardson; 2nd 7-Dunbar; 3rd 0-Kleinschmidt; 4th 1J-Jason Zdroik; 5th 15S-Schmidt; 6th 28-Rose; 7th 22B-LaCrosse; 8th 15-Rodziczak; 9th 8D-Dixon; 10th 18-Dolezal

FIRE-UP FIREWORKS WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
Heat: 1st 5-Chad Boettcher; 2nd 1-Fritz Scharf; 3rd 9-Neal Slizewski; 4th 55-Craig Tarsi; 5th 93-Lee Christjohn; 6th 06-Tom Waara; 7th 26-Jordan Kurtti; 8th 1Z-Robbie Waara
Feature: 1st 5-Boettcher; 2nd 1-F.Scharf; 3rd 26-Kurtti; 4th 06-T.Waara; 5th 9-Slizewski; 6th 55-Tarsi; 7th 93-Christjohn

PURE STOCKS
Heat 1: 1st 71-Wayne Nylund; 2nd 50-Steve Locy; 3rd 2J-Dan Vedder; 4th 38-Steve Glinski; 5th 72-Roger Wilson; 6th 101-Leif Gunderson
Heat 2: 1st 8-Chad Rosinski; 2nd 14-Troy Smart; 3rd 7-Jeff McDonald; 4th 23M-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 5th 01Z-Ron Reese; 6th 61-Jim Melton
Feature: 1st 23M-Maulson, Jr.; 2nd 71-Nylund; 3rd 8-Rosinski; 4th 7-McDonald; 5th 101-Gunderson; 6th 50-Locy; 7th 38-Glinski; 8th 72-Wilson; 9th 2J-Vedder; 10th 01Z-Reese; 11th 14-Smart; 12th 61-Melton

FAMILY FOURS
Heat: 1st C4-Michael Diak; 2nd 19S-Chris Snyder; 3rd 111-Jamie Hedlund; 4th 43X-Kevin Cogar; 5th 44-Eric Scharf; 6th 30-Nic Visser
Feature: 1st 44-E.Scharf; 2nd 111-Hedlund; 3rd 43X-Cogar; 4th 19S-Snyder; 5th 30-Visser; 6th C4-Diak