Tom Waara was originally slated to start from the pole in the 30-lap main event, but a scaling issue caused him to lose his starting spot. Track officials said he did not go directly to the scales following his heat race victory, a violation of WISSOTA rules. That gave to pole to Cory Crapser, fourth in the latest national Street Stock points update from WISSOTA.

The field of 16 was narrowed to 14 before the first lap was completed. Joe Wolfe broke an axle in the middle of the pack, causing a six-car wreck. Wolfe’s night was over as was Lee Christjohn’s. Chritsjohn ran over the wheel that fell off of Wolfe’s car.

Crapser took the lead on the restart, but something broke in the right front-suspension of his car as he drove up the track in turn three and eventually fell out of the race.

The lead proved to have a hex in the feature. Craig Tarsi led the first six laps, before long-time Riverside Raceway veteran Ken Valeria took the top spot on the outside. Valeria, making his first and only start of 2006 started to open a little bit of a gap on Tarsi as the event neared halfway.

Tarsi began to reel Valeria back in on lap 15. A few laps later it became apparent as to why. Valeria pushed high out of turn four and brushed the outside retaining wall. His right-rear tire had gone flat. His car stopped in turn two, bringing out the caution.

The restart came with 13 laps to go, and no one was in position to catch Tarsi. John Kallas was holding on to second, but pressure was coming in the form of Michael Truscott and Chad Boettcher, both of whom started outside the top 10 in the feature.

Kallas’s car fell of the pace with five laps to go, but by that time, Tarsi had a commanding ten-plus car length lead. The only thing that could have stopped him was a caution.

That’s exactly what happened with two laps to go. Rob Waara lost a wheel and part of an axle down the front straightaway. His car came to a rest at the entrance of turn one, while his wheel bounded over the guardrail.

That set up a green-white-checkered finish. The leader’s hex struck again on the restart as Tarsi car never got up to full speed. That allowed Truscott and Boettcher to pass him three-wide in turn two. Truscott wound up with the lead going in to turn three, setting up the thrilling finish.

On the white-flag lap, Truscott slipped in turn two allowing Boettcher to pull even with him on the inside. The two raced door-to-door down the back straightaway and through turns three and four, but it was Truscott who got the better run off the final corner and claimed the checkered flag.

Boettcher had to settle for second, but his finish, coupled with Christjohn’s bad night has all but assured Boettcher the track championship in the Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks. He has a 28-point lead with one night to go, and would only need to start this Sunday’s feature to lock-up the title.

Fritz Scharf of Eagle River wound up third. Jordan Kurtti was fourth. Valeria recovered from his flat tire to finish fifth. Tarsi wound up seventh. After the races, reports from the pits area said that his rear axle was beginning to malfunction on the final restart.

In the other races Tuesday night at Riverside, Eagle River’s Bruce Belland continued his recent good form in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods. He took the lead from Nick Dolezal on lap two and never looked back. He dominated the race and scored his first feature win of the season at Riverside. It was Belland’s second win in four days. He also scored a feature win last Saturday at TNT Speedway in Three Lakes.

Bob Richardson finished fifth in the Midwest Mod feature, but maintained his 44-point lead over Rob Rodziczak. Richardson only needs to start his heat race Sunday night to lock-up the track championship.

Laona’s Cliff Houle borrowed Troy LaRock’s car and gave it a strong showing in the Pure Stocks. Houle’s only serious challenger on the night was Dan Vedder, who battled for the lead for the first ten laps of the feature. The battle came to an end when Vedder spun coming out of turn four, slapping the inside guardrail. Houle went on to claim the victory in his first start of the season at Riverside.

Jeff McDonald finished second and gained a few points on class leader Chad Rosinski, but Rosinski’s lead is 27 points. Like Boettcher in the Street Stocks, all Rosinski has to do is start the feature Sunday night to clinch the title.

One driver who will have no worries on Season Championship night will be Family Four driver Eric Scharf. The 16-year old rookie from Eagle River clinched the championship in the class with a dominating clean-sweep of the heat and feature in the class.

For Boettcher, Richardson and Rosinski, Sunday night’s Seasons Championship should be all but a formality in the track title quests, but as the Eagle River 30 proved, just about anything can happen. Racing Sunday will be at the normal time with hot laps at 7:30 and racing at 8:00.

RIVERSIDE RACEWAY RESULTS: Tuesday, August 29, 2006


MILLER LITE WISSOTA MIDWEST MODS
Heat 1: 1st 2-Bob Richardson; 2nd 15-Rob Rodziczak; 3rd 0-Bob Kleinschmidt; 4th 7-Duane Dunbar; 5th 8D-Neal Dixon
Heat 2: 1st 22B-Bruce Belland; 2nd 18-Nick Dolezal; 3rd 30-Guy Carley; 4th 15S-Cody Schmidt; 5th 28-Mark Rose
Feature: 1st 22B-Belland; 2nd 18-Dolezal; 3rd 7-Dunbar; 4th 15-Rodziczak; 5th 2-Richardson; 6th 30-Carley; 7th 8D-Dixon; 8th 28-Rose; 9th 15S-Schmidt; 10th 0-Kleinschmidt

FIRE-UP FIREWORKS WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
Heat 1: 1st 07-Cory Crapser; 2nd 2-Ken Valeria; 3rd 22M-Chad Manor; 4th 93-Lee Christjohn; 5th 9-Neal Slizewski
Heat 2: 1st 55-Craig Tarsi; 2nd 76-John Kallas; 3rd 56W-Joe Wolfe; 4th 5-Chad Boettcher; 5th 1Z-Rob Waara
Heat 3: 1st 23D-George Dalbeck; 2nd 01-Bill Muhlig; 3rd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 4th 1-Fritz Scharf; 5th 22-Michael Truscott
Eagle River 30: 1st 22-Truscott; 2nd 5-Boettcher; 3rd 1-F.Scharf; 4th 26-Kurtti; 5th 2-Valeria; 6th 9-Slizewski; 7th 55-Tarsi; 8th 23D-Dalbeck; 9th 22M-Manor; 10th 1Z-R.Waara; 11th 76-Kallas; 12th 06-Tom Waara; 13th 01-Muhlig; 14th 07-Crapser; 15th 93-Christjohn; 16th 56W-Wolfe

PURE STOCKS
Heat 1: 1st 01Z-Ron Reese; 2nd 70-Cliff Houle; 3rd 29-Dennis LaCrosse; 4th 7-Jeff McDonald; 5th 8-Chad Rosinski; 6th 23M-Kelly Nutter; 7th 14-Vaughn Smart
Heat 2: 1st 2J-Dan Vedder; 2nd 35-Shawn Bialas; 3rd 50-Steve Locy; 4th 38-Steve Glinski; 5th 11-Rondal Vernick; 6th 22-Charlie Jackson
Feature: 1st 70-Houle; 2nd 7-McDonald; 3rd 29-LaCrosse; 4th 8-Rosinski; 5th 01Z-Reese; 6th 11-Vernick; 7th 14-Smart; 8th 38-Glinski; 9th 23M-Nutter; 10th 2J-Vedder; 11th 50-Locy; 12th 35-Bialas

FAMILY FOURS
Heat: 1st 44-Eric Scharf; 2nd 11-John Johnson Jr.; 3rd 12-Kyle LeSieur; 4th C4-Michael Diak
Feature: 1st 44-E.Scharf; 2nd 11-Johnson Jr.; 3rd 12-LeSieur