QUINCY, Mich. — The Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series Fueled by VP Racing Fuels was in action at Butler Motor Speedway on Saturday evening and Josh Rice led all 30 laps on the way to his second consecutive series victory.
The 26-year-old driver earned $5,000 for his 18th career victory with the traveling series.
Rice took the lead at the start after a side-by-side battle on the opening lap with Chad Finley, with Rusty Schlenk, Logan Nickerson and Rod Conley third through fifth.
Nickerson would take third from Schlenk on lap two and the pair would continue to battle for the spot, with Schlenk retaking the third spot on lap five. Rice would hold a steady lead until the first caution would wave on lap seven for a two-car tangle in turn four involving Rylee Knoll and Austin Lay, with Knoll being finished for the night.
The restart would see Rice maintain the top spot, with Schlenk, Nickerson, and Conley jumping past Finley to go the second through fourth, with Finley now being fifth. Tyler Erb would make his way into the top five when he worked past Finley for fifth on lap nine. Rice would continue to hold a comfortable lead when the caution waved again on lap eleven when Dona Marcoullier slowed in turn one.
This restart would again see Rice set a good pace and keep the race lead, followed by Schlenk and Nickerson, while Erb would take the fourth position from Conley.
The front five remained the same when the final caution would appear on lap sixteen for Adam Stricker, who suffered a flat left-rear tire and slowed in turn two (he would change it and return to action). Rice would again set the pace on the restart, with Schlenk, Nickerson, Erb, and Conley giving chase.
Rice built a better than two second advantage over Schlenk, however, Rice would begin to lap slower traffic on lap 24 and with Rice’s brakes going away on his machine, Schlenk would begin to close the gap between he and Rice to under three-quarters of a second by lap 28.
Rice would survive the last few laps without any brakes and score the win over Schlenk, Nickerson, Erb and Conley.
The finish:
Josh Rice, Rusty Schlenk, Logan Nickerson, Tyler Erb, Rod Conley, Clint Keenan, Colton Burdette, Colin Shipley, Jeff Babcock, Dusty Moore, Seth Daniels, Rob Anderzack, Jake Rendel, Jerry Bowersock, Austin Lay, Devin Shiels, Ryan Missler, Carter Schlenk, Adam Stricker, Chad Finley, Dona Marcoullier, Rylee Knoll.
