FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4th, 2010

Thrilling Victory at Fayetteville Motor Speedway Tops Successful Weekend in Southeast for Josh Richards

SHINNSTON, W. Va. - May 3, 2010 - Josh Richards rolled the dice last Friday night (April 30) at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway and hit the jackpot. Taking a chance by opting to use a soft tire compound on a reworked track surface, the 22-year-old sensation from Shinnston, W.Va., surged to the front from the 10th starting spot and held off Tim McCreadie in a thrilling finish to win the 50-lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series A-Main at the four-tenths-mile oval.

The $10,600 triumph made Richards the first repeat winner in nine WoO LMS events this season and highlighted his solid weekend of racing in the Southeast. He also drove his Mark Richards Racing Enterprises/Seubert Calf Ranches Rocket No. 1 to a fourth-place finish on Saturday night (May 1) in the 50-lap Outlaw event at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway.

"We pulled out on the racetrack and I knew we gambled on tires," Richards said after his 22nd career WoO LMS victory, which ranks him second to Steve Francis (27) on the tour's win list since 2004. "We ran a few laps and I was like, 'I don't know if they're gonna hold up or not,' so I charged to get by Francis (for the lead on lap 16) so I could at least run where I needed to run.

"The last seven or eight laps (the car) was chattering (from worn tires) and I was holding on. I knew somebody had to be coming because I could see people giving hand signals, and I could hear (Tim McCreadie) with a couple laps to go.

"Going down into (turn) three on the last lap I rolled in kind of high because I was gonna turn and come back low, then I saw (McCreadie) so I stayed in the gas and carried it out to the little bit of cushion there was. Fortunately I was able to maintain to the checkered, but obviously, if there were a couple more laps, I was done. My tires were pretty much bald at the end."

Richards, who defeated McCreadie by just 0.131 of a second (about a half car length), has a feast-or-famine history in his three career WoO LMS starts at Fayetteville. He made a spectacular charge forward from the 18th starting spot to win the track's 2008 event, while last year he dropped from a probable second-place finish to 23rd in the final rundown when he got hooked up on the last lap with Vic Coffey, who slowed with a flat tire.

"We kinda gambled with the same tire (as '08), although the track was way different (on Friday)," said Richards. "I thought I was holding on last time (in '08), but that was nothing like this. I was doing everything I could to win, but at the same time you want to make sure you can to finish for the points. Timmy's gonna be tough all year, so we gotta do everything we can in every race."

Indeed, Richards and McCreadie are locking up in a tight early-season battle for supremacy in the WoO LMS points standings. They entered the weekend tied for the lead; Richards then went ahead by four points after Friday's win and McCreadie somersaulted back on top by four points after his first victory of 2010 on Saturday night at Swainsboro.

Richards finished a quiet fourth in his first-ever appearance at Swainsboro, inching forward from the seventh starting spot but never seriously challenging the leaders.

"We struggled with some engine or carburetor issues," said Richards. "The motor wasn't running quite right after we ran it so hard the last two nights, so I couldn't drive quite like I needed to. We were just stuck with the situation we had so I was content with fourth.

"It was a good trip," he added. "Anytime you run top five with these guys, it's great. It just takes so much luck and effort to qualify well, get up front and be there at the end of the feature."

Richards will head to the Midwest for WoO LMS action this weekend, racing on Fri., May 7, at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway and Sat., May 8, at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky. Bluegrass Speedway, incidentally, is the track where he made first-ever dirt Late Model start as a 15-year-old in the October 2003 Future Dirt Track World Championship, an event for teenage racers.

For more information on Josh Richards, visit www.joshrichards.com or follow on Twitter @Josh_Richards1.

Josh Richards's No. 1 team carries support from Rocket Chassis, Cornett Racing Engines, Seubert Calf Ranches, Ernie D's Enterprises, ACE Metal Works, MCB Motorsports, Petroff Towing, Tony Stewart Racing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Hoosier Racing Tires, Integra Shocks, Slavic Custom Decals, Valvoline, AEM, AFCO, ATL Fuel Cells, Aurora Bearing Company, Autolite, Banshee Graphics, Barnes Systems, Beyea Performance, Brinn Transmissions, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Braswell Carburetion, Butlerbuilt Seat Systems, CV Products, Dohm Cycles, Dyer's Top Rods, Fram Filters, Frankland Rearends, Howe Racing, Kwik Change Product, LSI, Mason Racin', MSD Ignition, Outerwears, Performance Bodies, Performance Friction Brakes, Performance Rod & Custom, Ringers Gloves, Scott Performance Wire, Simpson Race Products, Sweet Manufacturing, Tel Tech, TWM Racing Products, Trick Carbon Fiber Driveshafts, Jones Racing Products, TurboStart Racing Batteries, US Brake, Weld Racing Wheels, Wehr's Machine, Wilwood and Wrisco Aluminum.