That champion was Bob Richardson in the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods. In just his third start of the season, he made it a charm with a walk-away win in the 20-lap main event.

Richardson started eighth in the feature, but quickly picked his way to fifth after the opening lap. A few laps later, he picked up two more spots and moved to third. He gained second spot on lap five and the lead on the next lap and never looked back.

The battle wound up being for second place between Rob Rodziczak and Chad Boettcher. The top two in the class point standings waged war for position for the final 15 laps of the race. Rodziczak held off all of Boettcher’s advances, took second place and trimmed the gap to just four points.

The best finish of the night was in the Pure Stocks. Eagle River’s Steve Locy led the race from the pole and opened up a sizeable early lead. A slew of cautions kept everyone in the hunt, however, including class point leader Chad Rosinski and Dicky Carlson, who was looking for his fourth straight feature win.

Carlson’s bid for the four-peat finish in sudden fashion when his right rear wheel flew off with six laps to go.

With three laps left, Rosinski closed to the back of Locy and gave him a bump going into turn three. The two were set to race side-by-side for the lead, but a spin back in the pack by Ron Reese brought out the race’s final caution.

On the final lap, Rosinski made one last frantic move for the win. He got a run on Locy down the backstretch, drove deep into turn three and took the lead. But, because he drove so deep into three, his car washed up the track in turn four, leaving the door open to the inside.

Locy went through the hole and the two raced side-by-side to the line with Locy getting back by for the win by an estimated three inches. Rosinski had to settle for second, but doubled his point lead in the class to ten over Michael Diak and Locy.

Jordan Kurtti beat Ken Valeria into turn one at the start of the Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stock feature. That was the only break the Bruce Crossing, Michigan driver would need as he led all 20 laps of the feature.

The battle was for second as Ken Valeria utilized the upper groove of the racetrack to hold of John Kallas and Michael Truscott for position. Valeria gained three points on Kallas in the race for the championship on Tuesday, but still sits 25 points back at the halfway point of the season.

Rhinelander’s Mike Kirkham picked up his second Family Four win of the season on Tuesday. He and class point leader Eric Scharf were ready to stage a great battle in the second half of the race, but Scharf overdrove turn four and smacked the outside guardrail.

While Scharf continued, his momentum, rhythm and possibly car were damaged and he had to fight to hold off Jason Gaylord for second. He managed to do so, by less than a foot.

The tight finishes between Locy and Rosinski and between Scharf and Gaylord were just a couple of the close finishes on the night. Mike Boyd won the first in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods by about a foot over Jason Zdroik. Scott Schwinn held off Dicky Carlson last-ditch effort to win the Pure Stock heat race.

Racing continues next Tuesday Night at Riverside Raceway as Wireless Advantage sponsors the action. In addition to the normal racing program, the six-cylinder class from ABC Raceway in Ashland is scheduled to appear. Hot laps begin at 7:30, with racing at 8:00 PM.


RESULTS: Riverside Raceway – Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat 1: 1st 55-Mike Boyd; 2nd 1J-Jason Zdroik; 3rd 8-Chad Boettcher; 4th 23M-K.J. Fox; 5th 8D-Neal Dixon

Heat 2: 1st 2-Bob Richardson; 2nd 15-Rob Rodziczak; 3rd 14-Troy Smart; 4th 7M-Jeff McDonald; 5th 14V-Vaughn Smart

Feature: 1st 2-Richardson; 2nd 15-Rodziczak; 3rd 8-Boettcher; 4th 14-T.Smart; 5th 23M-Fox; 6th 55-Boyd; 7th 8D-Dixon; 8th 1J-Zdroik; 9th 7M-McDonald; 10th 14V-V.Smart

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat: 1st 22-Michael Truscott; 2nd 2-Ken Valeria; 3rd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 4th 99-John Kallas; 5th 96-Mark Schuenemann; 6th 1X-Justin Paulsen

Feature: 1st 26-Kurtti; 2nd 2-Valeria; 3rd 99-Kallas; 4th 22-Truscott; 5th 1X-Paulson; 6th 96-Schuenemann

Pure Stocks

Heat: 1st 20-Scott Schwinn; 2nd 19C-Dicky Carlson; 3rd 8-Chad Rosinski; 4th 22c-Michael Diak; 5th 50-Steve Locy; 6th 01Z-Ron Reese; 7th 2T-Todd Brass

Feature: 1st 50-Locy; 2nd 8-Rosinski; 3rd 20-Schwinn; 4th 01Z-Reese; 5th 19C-Carlson; 6th 22C-Diak; 7th 2T-Brass

Family Fours

Heat: 1st 2-Mike Kirkham; 2nd 44-Eric Scharf; 3rd 58-Jason Gaylord (#); 4th 1-Michael Bedish; 5th 26-Leo Nippa

Feature: 1st 2-Mike Kirkham; 2nd 44-Eric Scharf; 3rd 58-Jason Gaylord (#); 4th 1-Michael Bedish; 5th 26-Leo Nippa

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