SHINNSTON, W. Va. - March 29, 2010 - A pair of solid outings during the World of Outlaws Late Model Series "Texas Two-Step Weekend" capped a successful week-long road trip for Josh Richards, who headed home to Shinnston, W.Va., with his name still atop the national tour's points standings.
The defending WoO LMS champion recorded an eighth-place finish Friday night (March 26) in the Lone Star 50 at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas, and improved to third at the checkered flag on Saturday night (March 27) at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas. That gave him three top-five and four top-10 runs in the four races he entered over the last two weekends in the Southeast and Texas.
"I want to win again, but I'm happy that we keep putting together good runs," said Richards, who hasn't visited Victory Lane since his score in the season opener on Feb. 11 but has led the points standings after all but one of the six events contested so far in 2010. "We have a real good car and if we just keep our heads up and keep plugging away we'll pick up some more wins."
Richards went back to work last Friday night at the four-tenths-mile Battleground oval outside Houston. He appeared to be a contender for victory in the 50-lap A-Main after climbing from the eighth starting spot to fourth before lap 20, but a scrape with Steve Francis moments later effectively dive-bombed his hopes.
"We had a good car," said Richards, who qualified ninth-quick and transferred to the A-main with a second-place finish in his heat. "I passed four cars when I got to the outside on the front straightaway trying to pass Francis, but I don't think he knew I was coming. He closed the hole real quick and we hit wheel-to-wheel. I hit his right-front and then I hit the wall with my right-front, and that knocked the alignment out. From then on it was pretty ill-handling and I was just holding on. We're just lucky to salvage a top 10 out of it."
Twenty-four hours later about 200 miles to the north at Lone Star Speedway, Richards kept the Mark Richards Racing Enterprises/Seubert Calf Ranches Rocket machine in the front of the pack most of the night. He timed second quick, finished second in his heat race and ran as high as second in the 50-lap A-Main before crossing the finish line third.
Richards, who started from the outside pole, challenged eventual winner Francis for the lead several times early in the distance. But the young sensation lost second to Clint Smith on a lap-14 restart and was resigned to running third for the remainder of the distance - though staying there wasn't easy thanks to the pressure Richards received late in the race from Tim McCreadie, who has been Richards's closest pursuer in the points standings for the last four events.
"I chose the outside for one restart (on lap 14) and Clint just beat me down into turn one (to take second)," said Richards. "But Clint was really good and Francis was pretty much checked out. We were a little free (handling), so I'm happy with a third."
With McCreadie finishing fourth at Lone Star, Richards ended the WoO LMS's springtime southern excursion leading the points standings by four points over McCreadie. The tour will be idle until the $20,000-to-win Illini 100 on April 9-10 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
Richards is planning to spend his upcoming off-weekend from WoO LMS action driving the Ernie Davis-owned Rocket No. 25 in a regular dirt Late Model show on Sat., April 3, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.
For more information on Josh Richards, visit www.joshrichards.com.
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.
The defending WoO LMS champion recorded an eighth-place finish Friday night (March 26) in the Lone Star 50 at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, Texas, and improved to third at the checkered flag on Saturday night (March 27) at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas. That gave him three top-five and four top-10 runs in the four races he entered over the last two weekends in the Southeast and Texas.
"I want to win again, but I'm happy that we keep putting together good runs," said Richards, who hasn't visited Victory Lane since his score in the season opener on Feb. 11 but has led the points standings after all but one of the six events contested so far in 2010. "We have a real good car and if we just keep our heads up and keep plugging away we'll pick up some more wins."
Richards went back to work last Friday night at the four-tenths-mile Battleground oval outside Houston. He appeared to be a contender for victory in the 50-lap A-Main after climbing from the eighth starting spot to fourth before lap 20, but a scrape with Steve Francis moments later effectively dive-bombed his hopes.
"We had a good car," said Richards, who qualified ninth-quick and transferred to the A-main with a second-place finish in his heat. "I passed four cars when I got to the outside on the front straightaway trying to pass Francis, but I don't think he knew I was coming. He closed the hole real quick and we hit wheel-to-wheel. I hit his right-front and then I hit the wall with my right-front, and that knocked the alignment out. From then on it was pretty ill-handling and I was just holding on. We're just lucky to salvage a top 10 out of it."
Twenty-four hours later about 200 miles to the north at Lone Star Speedway, Richards kept the Mark Richards Racing Enterprises/Seubert Calf Ranches Rocket machine in the front of the pack most of the night. He timed second quick, finished second in his heat race and ran as high as second in the 50-lap A-Main before crossing the finish line third.
Richards, who started from the outside pole, challenged eventual winner Francis for the lead several times early in the distance. But the young sensation lost second to Clint Smith on a lap-14 restart and was resigned to running third for the remainder of the distance - though staying there wasn't easy thanks to the pressure Richards received late in the race from Tim McCreadie, who has been Richards's closest pursuer in the points standings for the last four events.
"I chose the outside for one restart (on lap 14) and Clint just beat me down into turn one (to take second)," said Richards. "But Clint was really good and Francis was pretty much checked out. We were a little free (handling), so I'm happy with a third."
With McCreadie finishing fourth at Lone Star, Richards ended the WoO LMS's springtime southern excursion leading the points standings by four points over McCreadie. The tour will be idle until the $20,000-to-win Illini 100 on April 9-10 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway.
Richards is planning to spend his upcoming off-weekend from WoO LMS action driving the Ernie Davis-owned Rocket No. 25 in a regular dirt Late Model show on Sat., April 3, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.
For more information on Josh Richards, visit www.joshrichards.com.
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.
