Bob Richardson has been dominant this season in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods at Riverside Raceway. He made it four feature wins in four race nights with an Independence Day triumph.

The win was not as easy this time. Richardson’s win streak was in serious jeopardy when something appeared to go a miss in his right front suspension, while he was leading his heat race. Richardson’s crew, with the help of some of its competitors was able to fix the problem and get him on track for the feature.

Rob Rodziczak pulled away early in the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature. His advantage was erased when Mark Rose brought out the caution on lap nine. Richardson picked his way through the field and passed Bruce Belland for second following the restart. From there, Rodziczak and Richardson began a side-by-side battle, which was paused for an unusual incident in turn one.

Bob Kleinschmidt pulled off the race track on lap twelve and it quickly became obvious as to why when Belland slid and became momentarily airborne in turn one. Belland ran over a large piece of debris – namely Kleinschmidt’s fuel cell. Luckily, the fuel cell remained in tact following the impact. It was removed from the field was put under the red flag while track officials burned of the excess fuel.

The restart came with seven laps remaining and Richardson dove to the inside of Rodziczak right away. This time, he was able to make the move work and took the lead coming out of turn four. Richardson was beginning to pull away when a second scary incident happened in turn one.



Duane Dunbar’s car just missed the racing groove in turn one. His car slipped up the racetrack and his right-front wheel caught the guardrail. The guardrail served as launch ramp, flipping Dunbar’s Mod into the air. After one and a half rotations, Dunbar’s mod came to rest on its roof. Dunbar was all right and was able to get out of the car after a few moments.

The time limit expired, meaning that the next caution flag would mark the end of the race. That caution flag came soon after the restart as Bruce Belland pushed high in turn one and nearly met the same fate as Dunbar. Belland barely missed collecting the guardrail in turn one. His car came to a rest, bringing out the yellow and the checkered flags for Richardson.

The Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stock feature field quickly broke into two packs. Jordan Kurtti, Chad Boettcher, John Kallas and Lee Christjohn formed the lead group in stayed in that order for the entire 20-lap caution-free feature. Kurtti picked up his first feature win of the season.

The exciting battle in the Street Stock feature was for fifth. Tate Scharf was back in a Street Stock following a two-year layoff. He held on to the position for most of the race, with Dennis Lacrosse in pursuit. On the final lap, LaCrosse got into the back of Scharf on the final lap, sending him for a spin. Scharf was restored to fifth position. Lacrosse finished sixth as he was already the last car on the lead lap.

In the Pure Stocks, Steve Glinski expressed confidence in his car when he signed in for the night, and it looked like he had the car to back it up, at one point building a ten-car length lead during the feature. Behind Glinski was a furious battle for second as second-year driver Dan Vedder from Phelps held off Chad Rosinski and Jeff McDonald.

It took almost ten laps for Rosinski to pass Vedder. From there he set his sights on Glinski looking for his third feature victory of the season. Rosinski began to chop away at the led as Glinski had a difficult time trying to pass Will Roffers, who was trying to stay on the lead lap.

In just three and a half laps, Rosinski caught and passed Glinski for the lead and the win. Glinski’s run for second ran out of air when his right front tire went flat. Glinski finished fourth.

Kevin Cogar was much the best in the Family Fours on the night. Cogar led every lap of his heat and the feature for a clean sweep on the evening. Point leader in the class Larry Leonarduzzi expanded his advantage in the class. He finished third.

After the races, the fans were treated to the Fire-Up Fireworks Show. Next week, the fans will be treated to fireworks of a different kind. Emotion is sure to run high as the driver in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods compete for the $1,000 top prize in the Firecracker 40 sponsored by Eagle Lanes, Custom Build by Richardson and the Tiny Tap. Hot Laps will start at 7:30. Racing begins at 8.

Riverside Raceway Results: July 4, 2006

Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods
Heat 1: 1st 15-Rob Rodziczak; 2nd 18-Nick Dolezal; 3rd 22B-Bruce Belland
Heat 2: 1st 1J-Jason Zdroik; 2nd 0-Bob Kleinschmidt; 3rd 7-Duane Dunbar
Feature: 1st 2-Bob Richardson; 2nd 15-Rodziczak; 3rd 18-Dolezal; 4th 5-Jerry Grasse; 5th 1J-Zdroik

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat: 1st 76-John Kallas; 2nd 9-Neal Slizewski; 3rd 5-Chad Boettcher
Feature: 1st 26-Jordan Kurtti; 2nd 5-Boettcher; 3rd 76-Kallas; 4th 93-Lee Christjohn; 5th 1-Tate Scharf

Pure Stocks
Heat: 1st 13-Will Roffers; 2nd 2J-Dan Vedder; 3rd 8-Chad Rosinski
Feature: 1st 8-Rosinski; 2nd 7-Jeff McDonald; 3rd 2J-Vedder; 4th 38-Steve Glinski; 5th 01Z-Ron Reese

Family Fours
Heat 1: 1st 64-Larry Leonarduzzi; 2nd 13-John Barlowski; 3rd C4-Michael Diak
Heat 2: 1st 43X-Kevin Cogar; 2nd 12-Kyle LeSieur; 3rd 02-Scott Viz
Feature: 1st 43X-Cogar; 2nd 13-Barlowski; 3rd 64-Leonarduzzi; 4th 24-Josh Wilson; 5th 02-Viz