Add in the driver 29^th in the points, a couple of former track champions and a strong runner from Phillips, and it made for a star-studded main event. In the end, it was the man who has sat atop the WISSOTA National Points for much of the season, Eau Claire’s Cory Crapser, that came out on top and gained some valuable points in his quest for a national title.

Crapser finished second in his heat race behind Keith Tourville, third in national points as of Monday, July 23. Crapser would do one spot better in the 20-lap feature.

Starting from pole thanks in part to a lack luster run at Riverside earlier this year, Crapser quickly asserted himself at the front of the pack. That lead grew and grew as the first 17 laps of the feature clicked by caution-free.

The battle was for second on back as 2005 track champ Mark Schuenemann fought to hold off Phillips’ Roger Walker, three-time track champ Ken Valeria, John Kallas (11^th in national points), Michael Truscott (10^th in national points), Tourville and Jordan Kurtti (29^th in national points).

With three to go, the yellow flag flew when National rookie of the year points leader George Dalbeck spun in turn three.

On the restart, Crapser held off Schuenemann to take the win and 54 valuable national points. Walker, Valeria and Kallas rounded out the top five. Tourville finished ninth after being docked two positions for jumping the final restart.

The rest of Wireless Advantage night at Riverside Raceway was pretty entertaining as well. In the Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods, Jason Zdroik and Bob Richardson again went to battle with Zdroik coming out on top for the second time in three races.

Richardson looked like he had thrown away his chance for a win five laps into the feature when he spun trying to get around Troy Smart for third. Undaunted, Richardson worked his way back through the field and thanks to a couple of cautions moved back into third at the halfway point.

The next lap, Zdroik ended a multi-lap side-by-side battle with track point leader Chad Boettcher as he slid up and took the lead out of turn four.

The yellow flew again with eight laps remaining. Richardson moved to second on the restart and began to close on Zdroik, but the lap it took for Richardson to move by Boettcher gave Zdroik enough breathing room to hold on and win by less than three-car lengths.

Boettcher meanwhile spun out of fourth position coming to the white flag. He finished seventh, while Rob Rodziczak placed fourth, cutting Boettcher’s led in the class to just two points.

There was a dramatic finish in the Pure Stock feature. Todd Brass led the first 13 laps of the event and was inching away from Dicky Carlson when the yellow flew for a spin at the back of the pack, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

On the restart Carlson, in search of his fourth feature win of the season, drove to the inside of Brass. The two went side-by-side through turns three and four. Brass broke loose out of turn four and spun, handing the lead to Carlson.

Carlson held off Steve Locy and Chad Rosinski to take the win. Locy moved into second in the points, six points behind Rosinski.

In other action, Rhinelander’s Mike Kirkham moved his way around Michael Bedish with nine laps to go in the Family Four feature and held off Erik Scharf for his third win of the season, and second in a row at Riverside.

The special attraction Tuesday night was the 6-cylinder class from ABC Raceway in Ashland. The cars had not seen the Eagle River track in nearly three years, but 16-year old Travis Swanson looked like a Riverside regular. His car hooked up much better than the rest of the seven-car field as he cruised to a clean sweep.

Racing continues at Riverside Raceway next Tuesday on OK Auto Parts/Auto Value night at the track. FASTRAK Late Models are scheduled to appear for the final time in the 2007 season to go along with a complete racing program. Hot laps are at 7:30 with racing at 8:00 PM.

RESULTS: Riverside Raceway – Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Miller Lite WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat 1: 1^st 2-Bob Richardson; 2^nd 8-Chad Boettcher; 3^rd 15-Rob Rodziczak; 4^th 1J-Jason Zdroik; 5^th 55-Mike Boyd; 6^th 8D-Neal Dixon

Heat 2: 17-Wayne Dean; 2^nd 14-Troy Smart; 3^rd 7M-Jeff McDonald; 4^th 13-Chris Bretting; 5^th 23M-K.J. Fox; 6^th 14V-Vaughn Smart

Feature: 1^st 1J-Zdroik; 2^nd 2-Richardson; 3^rd 17-Dean; 4^th 15-Rodziczak; 5^th 14-T.Smart; 6^th 7M-McDonald; 7^th 8-Boettcher; 8^th 8D-Dixon; 9^th 23M-Fox; 10^th 55-Boyd; 11^th 14V-V.Smart; 12^th 13-Bretting

Fire-Up Fireworks WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat: 1^st 111-Keith Tourville; 2^nd 07-Cory Crapser; 3^rd 2-Ken Valeria; 4^th 96-Mark Schuenemann; 5^th 5-Roger Walker; 6^th 26-Jordan Kurtti; 7^th 23D-George Dalbeck; 8^th 99-John Kallas; 9^th 22-Michael Truscott

Feature: 1^st 07-Crapser; 2^nd 96-Schuenemann; 3^rd 5-Walker; 4^th 2-Valeria; 5^th 99-Kallas; 6^th 22-Truscott; 7^th 26-Kurtti; 8^th 23D-Dalbeck; 9^th 111-Tourville

ABC Raceway 6-Cylinders

Heat: 1^st 28-Travis Swanson; 2^nd 1X-Don Muzzy; 3^rd 57-Jim Pelto; 4^th 25-Dan Moncher; 5^th 7S-Forrest Schultz; 6^th 33-Ron Lillie; 7^th 12-Zach Pagels

Feature: 1^st 28-Swanson; 2^nd 1X-Muzzy; 3^rd 12-Pagels; 4^th 57-Pelto; 5^th 25-Moncher; 6^th 7S-Schultz; 7^th 33-Lillie

Pure Stocks

Heat 1: 1^st 50-Steve Locy; 2^nd 19C-Dicky Carlson; 3^rd 20-Scott Schwinn; 4^th 01Z-Ron Reese

Heat 2: 1^st 22C-Michael Diak; 2^nd 29-Dennis Lacrosse; 3^rd 2T-Todd Brass; 4^th 8-Chad Rosinski

Feature: 1^st 19C-Carlson; 2^nd 50-Locy; 3^rd 8-Rosinski; 4^th 20-Schwinn; 5^th 01Z-Reese; 6^th 22C-Diak; 7^th 29-Lacrosse; 8^th 2T-Brass

Family Fours

Heat 1: 1^st 1-Michael Bedish; 2^nd 44-Erik Scharf; 3^rd 18-Bobby Sheldon ($); 4^th 26-Leo Nippa

Heat 2: 1^st 58-Jason Gaylord ($); 2^nd 2-Mike Kirkham; 3^rd 31-Richard Barlowski; 4^th 6 7/8-Scott Krueger

Feature: 1^st 2-Kirkham; 2^nd 44-Scharf; 3^rd 26-Nippa; 4^th 18-Sheldon ($); 5^th 6 7/8-Krueger; 6^th 58-Gaylord ($); 7^th 1-Bedish

($) Denotes 16-valve cars (receive no points)