Rusty Schlenk heads to victory at I-96 Speedway.
What won the race: Second-starting Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio, outran sixth-starting Dona Marcoullier of Houghton Lake, Mich., for his first career American Ethanol Late Model tour victory. His I-96 Speedway triumph paid $4,000 as he led all but the first lap.
Quotable: "I knew Dona (Marcoullier) was back there, I knew (Eric) Spangler and (Brandon) Thirlby, I knew there was a lot of good cars chasing me, so if I didn't get rid of them lapped cars quick, I knew we were going to have a race on our hands," Schlenk said. "Sometimes you do what you've gotta do. We had to thread the needle (in traffic) down the backstretch. Somebody got into me there, one of them lapped cars got me, and thank God it didn't put a tire down."
Key notes: Polesitter Eric Spangler led the first lap before Schlenk took command. .... Spangler and runner-up Dona Marcoullier banged together in turn three midway thorugh the race while battling for second with both briefly skittering up the racetrack. ... Herb Reich drew two cautions. ... Through four events the series hasn't had a repeat victor.... The series returns to I-96 on Aug. 5.
Winner's sponsors: Schlenk is sponsored by Velocita, Allstar Performance and Warpaint Graphics.
Points chase: Entering the week, Marcoullier led the standings (164) over Ryan VanderVeen (137).
Car count: 40
Polesitter: Eric Spangler
Heat race winners: Dona Marcoullier, Brandon Thirlby, Rusty Schlenk, Eric Spangler, , , ,
Consolation race winners: Nick Kurtz, Rich Bell, ,