Michael Rice was SCA Muscle Division champion in 2024 and while we are in between rounds of the 2025 season, we look back at how he got to be champion.

Round 1 – Sydney Motorsport Park

Round 1 was a highly anticipated round as there was a record number of entries.

Michael qualified with a best lap time of 1:54.1486 and Race 1 was going well for him until his car came to a halt, it got going again but it was weekend over as a fuel pump issue sidelined the VT Commodore after just the one race.

Round 3 – Winton Motor Raceway

Michael returned to SCA action in Round 3 at Winton and qualified twelfth out of the fifteen runners with a time of 1:54.2092.

Race 1 gave Michael a finish of twelfth position and his best lap time was a 1:44.4659.

Race 2 saw Michael finish in the Top 10 for the first time and his best lap time was 1:40.2062, an improvement of over four seconds on Race 1 and it was also the tenth fastest time in the field.

Race 3 saw Michael improve further as he finished in ninth position, improved his race pace to 1:40.2062 and was ninth fastest in the field too.

Race 4 gave Michael a tenth-place finish to give him three Top 10’s for the weekend and get his season back on track.

Round 4 – Calder Park Raceway

The series went to Calder Park Raceway for the second time in series history and it started well for Michael with a seventh-place qualifying run with a time of 1:09.5111.

Race 1 started good for Michael; he had a best time of 1:10.1507 before the car struck mechanical trouble and Michael had to battle on to finish twelfth and bank points.

Race 2 brought no joy as the VT Commodore was parked after three laps with a best time of 1:12.6189.

Sadly, the VT Commodore was unable to make an appearance on Sunday and was done for the round.

Round 5 – One Raceway

The season finale was at One Raceway with the field trying out the new trackwork for the first time since its Wakefield Park days.

Michael qualified thirteenth just 0.0010 behind Lukas Gates in the SCA AUSCAR.

Race 1 saw Michael finish eleventh with a best lap time of 1:12.0030 and finished just behind Colin Matton in tenth position.

Race 2 saw Michael finish in fourteen position after a close battle with Brad Lighton with a best lap time of 1:12.3752.

Race 3 saw Michael finish twelfth after a battle with Brad Lighton and Lukas Gates with a best lap time of 1:11.5460.

Race 4 resulted in a thirteenth-place finish after a battle with Jamey Hollier, Michael’s best lap was a time of 1:20.4730.

It was clear that Michael’s car was a close match to the SCA AUSCAR field as he was super competitive against those cars, form that would continue into 2025.

The season concluded with Michael being Muscle Division champion, he showed up every possible round he could, he battled through mechanical issues to get to the title and was a deserved champion.