If Sunday’s Fan Appreciation Night at Riverside Raceway was any indication, then the competition in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods is going to have to look out for Eagle River’s Chad Boettcher next season.

The 2006 Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stock champion bought Bob Richardson’s championship-winning car following Season Championship Night and took to car to another victory on his maiden voyage.

The win did not come with out plenty of dramatics. Boettcher started toward the back of the feature, but it didn’t take him long to drive toward the front. In laps four through nine, he picked up a position a lap. On the ninth lap, he slipped by Guy Carley for the lead, making some contact in the process.

Boettcher cut a tire in the pass, and spun in turn one. Meanwhile, three cars crashed behind the spin, knocking Cody Schmidt and Rob Rodziczak out of the race.

Carley remained in front until lap 16 when class Rookie of the Year Nick Dolezal drove to the inside entering turn one. Carley slipped on the outside, the two made contact and Carley spun out.

The final restart came with five laps to go. Boettcher made his way around Bob Kleinschmidt into second place and set his sights on Dolezal. Boettcher closed in and made his move on the final lap. He drove to the inside down the back straightaway, setting up a drag race to the line.

Boettcher and Dolezal leaned on each other off of turn four and almost spun coming to the line, where Boettcher edged out Dolezal by six inches.

Jason Zdroik took a wild ride in the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature. He jumped the cushion early in the feature and slapped the guardrail and rollover over. His car came to rest on all four tires. Zdroik quickly got out of his car all right.

It was a sour end to what was otherwise a very good night. He hopped into a Street Stock and earned a clean sweep on the evening. In the feature he pulled away from Fritz Scharf and John Kallas in the waning laps.

During the season trophy presentation during intermission, Pure Stock Champion Chad Rosinski was reminded that he was winless since a four-race winning streak during the early portion of the season. Rosinski quickly replied that it would end by the end of the night. He was right. Rosinski passed Jeff McDonald on lap eight and cruised to an easy victory.

The second surprising finish of the evening occurred in the Family Fours. Eric Scharf dominated the feature and was on his way to his sixth win of the season, but on the last lap, Scharf lost his right-front tire, handing the win to Rhinelander’s Mike Kirkham.

Riverside Raceway’s 2006 season is over. A long off-season awaits until Riverside’s 2007 opener on Sunday, May 27.

RIVERSIDE RACEWAY RESULTS: Saturday, September 9, 2006


Miller Lite Midwest Mods
Heat: 1st 30-Guy Carley; 2nd 15S-Cody Schmidt; 3rd 18-Nick Dolezal; 4th 0-Bob Kleinschmidt; 5th 1J-Jason Zdroik; 6th 2-Chad Boettcher; 7th 15-Rob Rodziczak; 8th 8D-Neal Dixon
Feature: 1st 2-Boettcher; 2nd 18-Dolezal; 3rd 0-Kleinschmidt; 4th 8D-Dixon; 5th 30-Carley; 6th 15S-Schmidt; 7th 15-Rodziczak; 8th 1J-Zdroik

Fire-Up Fireworks Street Stocks
Heat 1: 1st 1-Fritz Scharf; 2nd 1Z-Rob Waara; 3rd 76-John Kallas; 4th 9-Neal Slizewski; 5th 26-Jordan Kurtti
Heat 2: 1st 69-Jason Zdroik; 2nd 76H-Michael Huff; 3rd 5-Ron VanDuzen; 4th 02-Gina White
Feature: 1st 69-Zdroik; 2nd 1-F.Scharf; 3rd 76-Kallas; 4th 26-Kurtti; 5th 9-Slizewski; 6th 1Z-Waara; 7th 76H-Huff; 8th 02-White; 9th 5-VanDuzen

Pure Stocks
Heat: 1st 35-Shawn Bialas; 2nd 7-Jeff McDonald; 3rd 23M-Kevin Maulson Jr.; 4th 8-Chad Rosinski; 5th 2J-Dan Vedder; 6th 101-Leif Gunderson; 7th 22-Charlie Jackson
Feature: 1st 8-Rosinski; 2nd 2J-Vedder; 3rd 22-Jackson; 4th 23M-Maulson Jr.; 5th 7-McDonald; 6th 001-Jake Ison; 7th 01Z-Ron Reese; 8th 35-Bialas

Family Fours
Heat: 1st 27-Bill Martin; 2nd 44-Eric Scharf; 3rd 2-Mike Kirkham
Feature: 1st 2-Kirkham; 2nd 27-Martin; 3rd 44-E.Scharf

2006 End of Season Awards
Most Popular Driver (as voted by fans): 5-Chad Boettcher

Best Appearing Race Car: 5-Chad Boettcher

Most Improved Drivers: 18-Nick Dolezal; 38-Steve Glinski

Rookies of the Year: 18-Nick Dolezal (Midwest Mods); 9-Neal Slizewski (Street Stocks); 23M-Kevin Maulson Jr. (Pure Stocks); 44-Eric Scharf (Family Fours)