WARTBURG, Tenn. – Josh Rice made his first trip to Wartburg Speedway a memorable one by winning Friday’s Schaeffer’s Oil Iron-Man Championship Late Model Series Donald “Ducky” Jones Memorial.
The win by Rice, worth $4,000, makes him the third different winner in three series events so far this season. It was his first series victory.
The initial start of the race would draw the first of three caution flags for a multi-car tangle in turn four that would halt action getting started. The race would go green on the next attempted start and Victor Lee would take the lead of the race, followed by Dustin Linville, Skylar Marlar, Josh Putnam and Ryan King.
The second caution would wave on lap three when fifth-place starting Stacy Boles would spin his machine in turn two and pull pitside for the rest of the event. Lee would control the restart, with Marlar working past Linville for second and King getting by Putnam for fourth.
Tenth place starting Rice was already showing some muscle as he would take the fifth position away from Putnam on lap five. The final caution of the race appeared on lap six when Jamie Oliver slowed on the backchute.
Lee again would control the restart, with Linville reclaiming the second position from Marlar, while Rice would work past King for the fourth position. Lee would open up a comfortable advantage until he would catch the rear of the field on lap 19.
However, Lee could not advance past the backmarkers at this point and this allowed Linville and Marlar to close in on Lee, with Marlar and Linville racing side-by-side for several laps for the spot, with Rice and King joining the fray as well by lap 28.
Lee would finally get back some of the slower traffic on lap thirty, while Rice would take third from Linville on lap 31 and King would shuffle Linville back to fourth on the same circuit. As Marlar pressured Lee for the lead, Rice would rip the highside of the track and the trio would race three-wide for the top spot on lap 33, with Rice going from third to first on lap 34.
Rice would begin to pull away at this point as Marlar would also get by Lee on lap thirty-five, with King taking third from Lee on lap 36. Rice would cruise the rest of the way to claim the victory, with Marlar finishing second and King taking third, while Lee and Linville would complete the top five.
The finish:
Josh Rice, Skylar Marlar, Ryan King, Victor Lee, Dustin Linville, Kenny Collins, Jordan Rodabaugh, Michael Chilton, Ray Cook, Josh Putnam, Jadon Frame, John Ownbey, Jake Knowles, Dakotah Knuckles, David Payne, Pearson Lee Williams, Joey Standridge, Drew Kennedy, Eddie King Jr., Camaron Marlar, Jamie Oliver, Stacy Boles, Anthony White.