Before the race, both Kallas and Scharf admitted that the outcome of opening night might have been different if Kallas’s car had not slowed before going up in plume of smoke with two laps to go. Four laps into Tuesday’s main event, they were in position to prove it as Kallas had the lead and Scharf moved to second.

Kallas had a sizeable advantage on Scharf in the early going, but that was erased when Cory Crapser spun in turn three, bringing out the caution. For the rest of the race, Scharf put plenty of pressure on Kallas. He pulled along side of the lead machine a couple times but could not make a pass.

For Kallas, it was his first win at Riverside since June 29, 2004. While it was a good night for the Hurley driver, others had runs to forget in the Streets.

Eagle River’s Ken Valeria took the lead on the first lap of the feature, but his night ended in turn one on the second lap as something gave way in the steering of his car and he plowed into the turn one guardrail. Rick Krus had a one-off ride in Neal Slizewski’s car and nearly went over the fence in turn two later in the show.

Krus pushed up into the loose clay with six laps to go in the feature, and climbed the guardrail in the second corner. Luckily, the car stayed inside the confines of the racetrack, but preliminary reports from the pits afterward said that the car received extensive underbody damage.

Eau Claire’s Cory Crapser, second in WISSOTA National Street Stock points last year, could never find the handle at Riverside. He retired his car early in both the heat and feature following spins.

In other action at Riverside, Rhinelander’s Rob Rodziczak found himself in the right place at the right time in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mod Feature. Rodziczak ran second to Tomahawk’s Keith Troutman for much of the first half of the race, with Eagle River’s Chad Boettcher in close pursuit.

Troutman, a Midwest Mod rookie, battled a loose racecar for much of the race. It finally got to him on lap nine. Troutman got sideways out of turn four. Rodziczak slowed to the outside line while Chad Boettcher dove to the inside. Troutman came down, made contact with Boettcher and spun.

Troutman was out of the race, Boettcher had to go to the pits and Rodziczak inherited the lead. From there, Rodziczak had clear sailing. Boettcher worked his way back to second with six laps to go, but could never get up and challenge Rodziczak, who scored his first feature win of the season.

After struggling on opening night, Conover’s Chad Rosinski was back to dominant form in the Pure Stocks. He passed Michael Diak on the fourth lap of the feature and cruised from there. Dicky Carlson eventually got around Diak and finished second.

In the Family Fours, Eric Scharf held off Mike Kirkham and Mark Rose to take the win. It was Scharf’s second feature win of the season.

The car count was a bit better in the Family Fours on Tuesday. Track Owner/Promoter Don Scharf hammered out an agreement with the drivers in the class that will allow more powerful 16-valve cars race in the class to improve car count. Drivers in 16-valve cars will not be eligible for trophies or points.

There was one 16-valve car at Riverside on Tuesday. Rhinelander’s Wade Morris finished fourth in the feature.

Racing continues at Riverside next Tuesday with Hot Laps at 7:30 PM and racing at 8:00 PM.


RESULTS: Riverside Raceway – Tuesday, June 5, 2007


Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat: 1st 7M-Jeff McDonald; 2nd 8-Chad Boettcher; 3rd 28T-Keith Troutman; 4th 55-Mike Boyd; 5th 15-Rob Rodziczak

Feature: 1st 15-Rodziczak; 2nd 8-Boettcher; 3rd 7M-McDonald; 4th 55-Boyd; 5th 28T-Troutman

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat: 1st 99-John Kallas; 2nd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 3rd 50-Jermey Wolfe; 4th 1-Fritz Scharf; 5th 2-Ken Valeria; 6th 9-Rick Krus; 7th 8-Ron Van Dusen; 8th 07-Cory Crapser; 9th 3-Mike Vogt

Feature: 1st 99-Kallas; 2nd 1-F.Scharf; 3rd 8-Van Dusen; 4th 26-Kurtti; 5th 50-Wolfe; 6th 9-Krus; 7th 3-Vogt; 8th 07-Crapser; 9th 2-Valeria

Pure Stocks

Heat: 1st 8-Chad Rosinski; 2nd 20-Scott Schwinn; 3rd 01-John Osterman; 4th 22C-Michael Diak; 5th 50-Steve Locy; 6th 21-Bill Slizewski

Feature: 1st 8-Rosinski; 2nd 19C-Dicky Carlson; 3rd 22C-Diak; 4th 20-Schwinn; 5th 01-Osterman; 6th 21-Slizewski; 7th 50-Locy

Family Fours

Heat: 1st 44-Eric Scharf; 2nd 65R-Mark Rose; 3rd 2-Mike Kirkham; 4th 97-Brett Bray; 5th 12-Luke LeSieur; 6th 90-Wade Morris*; 7th 10-John Johnson, Jr.

Feature: 1st 44-E.Scharf; 2nd 2-Kirkham; 3rd 65R-Rose; 4th 90-Morris*; 5th 97-Bray; 6th 12-LeSieur

* – Denotes 16-Valve Car (no points awarded)