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Josh Richards Racing
SHINNSTON, W.V. (July 30) - Up. Down. Up. Down. Josh Richards rode a rollercoaster for the final week of his busy July stretch of competition with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, culminating with an early-race tangle in Tuesday night's Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., that ended his shot at a $40,000 victory.
During a swing that included four Alltel Ohio Speedweek events and the rescheduled Firecracker 100, the 20-year-old sensation from Shinnston, W.Va., recorded two solid top-five finishes but also saw three potentially strong runs dive-bombed by bad luck or incorrect decisions.
"We just couldn't put together good finishes back-to-back," said Josh, who ended the five-race swing tied with Steve Francis for second in the WoO LMS points standings, 146 points behind leader Darrell Lanigan. "We were fast just about every night, but some stupid stuff just keeps happening to us."
A silver lining for Josh: his top-five finishes earned him a spot in the 'Alltel Ohio Speedweek All-Star' contest. Each driver who scored a top-five finish in one of the Speedweek A-Mains is eligible for the contest, which boasts a $10,000 top prize for the racer who receives the most votes in on-line polling that began on Sunday at www.AlltelAllStar.com. Fans can vote once a day through Sept. 9.
"Hopefully all our fans and friends will go on-line and vote for us," said Josh. "We would love to earn a $10,000 bonus from Alltel."
Josh began Alltel Ohio Speedweek last Thursday night (July 24) with a disappointing 13th-place finish at Muskingum County Speedway in20Zanesville, Ohio. He entered the 40-lap A-Main with high hopes after winning a heat race and picking the fourth starting spot, but the wrong compound tires for the track conditions were bolted on his Josh's Mark Richards Racing-owned Seubert Calf Ranches/Ace Metal Works/TSR-Tony Stewart Racing/Petroff Towing/MCB Motorsports/Ernie's Auto & Hauling Rocket Chassis No. 1 and he faded dramatically.
'Kid Rocket' came back strong on Friday night at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, starting and finishing fourth in the 'Subway 50.' He briefly reached second place, but a lap-13 restart that saw him fall to back to fifth left him playing catch-up for the remainder of the distance.
Josh appeared headed toward a top-10 finish on Saturday night at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, until the final lap, when contact from Matt Miller sent him spinning in turn two as he battled for sixth place. He rebounded on Sunday night with a third-place finish in the 50-lapper at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., after running as high as second.
Tuesday's Firecracker 100, meanwhile, had the makings of a great night for Josh when he drew the pole position for the A-Main. But on lap 19, while battling for third place with Shane Clanton, the two WoO LMS regulars tangled in turn one and spun, effectively ended their hopes for victory.
Josh accepted responsibility for the incident, which came after Clanton had used a 'slider' to pull ahead of Josh in turn four. Josh came back to finish 12th in the Firecracker 100.
"It's just something that's sort of been going the last couple races with me and Clanton," Josh said of the tangle. "I'm sure most of the time it wasn't anything he did on purpose, but I guess I kind of over-reacted tonight. I meant to just bump him and let him know I didn't appreciate (the slider in turn four), and I ended up taking us both out.
"I feel dumb for that part because I took us both of contention for the win. That was a rookie mistake, I guess you could say.
"I don't know if our car was good enough to win the race, but I think we could've got a decent top-five finish."
With Josh's own team returning to the shop for the first time in three weeks to regroup, 'Kid Rocket' plans to stay active this weekend behind the wheel of the Ernie Davis-owned Rocket No. 25. He'll run the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series tripleheader on Thursday night (July 31) at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway; Friday night (Aug. 1) at Winchester (Va.) Speedway; and Saturday night (Aug. 2) at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.
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