Chad Boettcher, John Kallas and Erik Scharf all got to experience that feeling Sunday as they took home checkered flags. While Chad Rosinski was not as fortunate, he got to witness a great finish in Riverside’s fourth-annual Pure Stock Special that put a familiar face back in victory lane.

The final points-paying night of the year at Riverside saw some anti-climatic points battles. Scharf had long since clinched the track championship in the Family Four division, while Boetther, Kallas and Rosinski only needed to start their respective features to sew up the titles.

The slate of features began with the 30-lap Pure Stock Special. The race was originally scheduled for 25 laps, but the drivers were given the option to extend the race to 30 in the drivers’ meeting.

The motion passed on a 10-1 vote. One of the drivers that gave the idea the go ahead was Dicky Carlson of Phelps. He almost wound up eating his words.

Carlson started from the pole, lost the lead on lap one to outside polesitter Shawn Bialas, but got it back on lap two. Carlson checked out while everyone else battled for second.

One of the drivers charging through the pack was Rhinelander’s Wayne Nylund. After starting ninth, Nylund patiently picked his way through traffic and finally got to second with ten laps to go.

By then, he was more than a half lap behind the leader. But fate would turn with five laps to go as Bialas smacked the outside guardrail in turn one. 25 laps were complete and instead of already securing the win, Carlson had a fight on his hands with Nylund.

Caution flew twice more as Rosinski’s night got cut short. He cut a right rear tire on the restart. His crew repaired the tire, but apparently failed to get all of the lug nuts tightened as one green flag lap later, the new tire came off the car.

That turned the race into a four-lap sprint. Nylund made his move with two laps to go, pulling to the inside of Carlson in turn three, but got loose off of turn four. That gave Carlson a two-car length lead and enough of a cushion to hold on for his seventh feature win of the season and the $200 top prize.

Despite finishing ninth, Rosinski claimed his second consecutive Pure Stock title, beating Steve Locy by seven points.

Chad Boettcher completed a successful jump up from WISSOTA Street Stocks to Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods by winning his third feature of the season on Sunday and clinching the track title in the process.

Boettcher took the lead away from Troy Smart on lap seven and cruised to a seven-car length win over Jason Zdroik and an 11-point win in the championship over Rob Rodziczak. Boettcher becomes the first driver in Riverside Raceway history to win a WISSTOA Street Stock and WISSOTA Midwest Mod championship in back-to-back years.

After 19 years in racing, the happy-go-lucky John Kallas finally got his much awaited first career track championship. He sewed up the Fire-Up Fireworks title by starting the feature, but wanted desperately, with several family members and friends in attendance, to win one more feature.

It was a tough battle for much of the race as Jordan Kurtti got out to the lead with Kallas right behind him. It turned into another one of those classic Riverside Street Stock battles as Kallas had the faster car but could not pass Kurtti who hugged the edge of the cushion.

Things changed with four laps to go as Kallas got a good run off turn two and drove even with Kurrti to the inside entering turn three. The two went side-by-side through turn four, but Kurtti got loose and spun into the outside wall, bringing out the yellow.

On the restart, Kallas pulled away from Ken Valeria and went on to his fourth feature win of the season and the track title by 19 points over Valeria.

Erik Scharf passed Dan Melton on lap seven of the Family Four feature and capped off his second straight track championship with his sixth feature win of the season.

There were several hairy moments with the Riverside Raceway guardrail on Sunday. Will Roffers, Cory Dickman and Leo Nippa all got at least two wheels airborne after contact with the guardrail. Scott Krueger launched halfway over the guardrail and almost into the trees in turn one during the Family Four feature. None of the drivers involved were hurt.

Riverside Raceway puts an official end to the 2007 season on Tuesday, September 11 with its annual Fan Appreciation Night. Admission is free to fans that night with non-sanctioned racing, an autograph session and the awards presentation all planned for the evening.

Everything gets underway an hour earlier next Tuesday. Hot laps begin at 6:30, with racing at 7:00 PM.

RESULTS: Riverside Raceway – Sunday, September 2, 2007

Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat: 1^st 7M-Jeff McDonald; 2^nd 15-Rob Rodziczak; 3^rd 14-Troy Smart; 4^th 8-Chad Boettcher; 5^th 13R-Will Roffers; 6^th 2-Jerry Grasse; 7^th 1J-Jason Zdroik

Feature: 1^st 8-Boettcher; 2^nd 1J-Zdroik; 3^rd 15-Rodziczak; 4^th 14-Smart; 5^th 7M-McDonald; 6^th 13R-Roffers; 7^th 2-Grasse

Final Points (Top 5): 1^st 8-Boettcher; 2^nd 15-Rodziczak; 3^rd 7M-McDonald; 4^th 1J-Zdroik; 5^th 14-Smart

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat: 1^st 1-Fritz Scharf; 2^nd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 3^rd 99-John Kallas; 4^th 23M-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 5^th 3-Mike Vogt; 6^th 2-Ken Valeria

Feature: 1^st 99-Kallas; 2^nd 2-Valeria; 3^rd 1-F.Scharf; 4^th 23M-Maulson, Jr.; 5^th 26-Kurtti; 6^th 3-Vogt

Final Points (Top 5): 1^st 99-Kallas; 2^nd 2-Valeria; 3^rd 26-Kurtti; 4^th 1-F.Scharf; 5^th 22-Michael Truscott

Pure Stocks

Heat 1: 1^st 11-Shawn Bialas; 2^nd 71-Wayne Nylund; 3^rd 7-Jason Melton; 4^th 22-Charlie Jackson; 5^th 20-Scott Schwinn; 6^th 01Z-Ron Reese

Heat 2: 1^st 50-Steve Locy; 2^nd 61-Jim Melton; 3^rd 19C-Dicky Carlson; 4^th 22C-Michael Diak; 5^th 8-Chad Rosinski

Pure Stock Special: 1^st 19C-Carlson; 2^nd 71-W.Nylund; 3^rd 50-Locy; 4^th 22-Jackson; 5^th 22C-Diak; 6^th 01Z-Reese; 7^th 61-Ji.Melton; 8^th 20-Schwinn; 9^th 8-Rosinski; 10^th 11-Bialas; 11^th 7-Ja.Melton

Final Points (Top 5): 1^st 8-Rosinski; 2^nd 50-Locy; 3^rd 22C-Diak; 4^th 20-Schwinn; 5^th 19C-Carlson

Family Fours

Heat 1: 1^st 6 7/8-Scott Krueger; 2^nd 57-Ryan Schuppler; 3^rd 58-Jason Gaylord ($); 4^th 72-Chris Nylund; 5^th 75-Cory Dickman; 6^th 26-Leo Nippa

Heat 2: 1^st 81M-Dan Melton; 2^nd 44-Erik Scharf; 3^rd 27-Bill Martin ($); 4^th 41-Dennis Mikkelson ($); 5^th 31-Richard Barlowski; 6^th 2-Mike Kirkham

Feature: 1^st 44-E.Scharf; 2^nd 81M-D.Melton; 3^rd 2-Kirkham; 4^th 27-Martin ($); 5^th 57-Schuppler; 6^th 41-Mikkelson ($); 7^th 58-Gaylord ($); 8^th 72-C.Nylund; 9^th 75-Dickman; 10^th 26-Nippa; 11^th 6 7/8-Krueger; 12^th 31-Barlowski

Final Points (Top 5): 1^st 44-E.Scharf; 2^nd 2-Kirkham; 3^rd 31-Barlowski; 4^th 26-Nippa; 5^th 6 7/8-Krueger

($) Denotes 16-Valve Car (receives no points)