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SHINNSTON, WV – Josh Richards got his coveted first-ever dirt Late Model
feature win at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, on Sunday
night.
And immediately after finishing his Victory Lane celebration for capturing
the 25-lap Sunoco American Late Model Series ‘Johnny Appleseed Classic,’
‘Kid Rocket’ started thinking about bagging a much bigger prize at the famed
half-mile oval.
“Now that we finally won a race at Eldora,” said the 20-year-old star from
Shinnston, W.Va., “maybe we’ll have some luck on our side for the Dream
(which pays $100,000 to win on June 6-7).”
Josh, who arrived at Eldora after a nine-hour overnight haul from West
Plains (Mo.) Motor Speedway where he finished 14th in Saturday night’s
Show-Me 100, was the dominant force in the 39th annual ‘Johnny Appleseed
Classic.’ He passed Matt Miller for the lead on lap 15 and never looked
back, easily controlling a restart with two laps remaining to pocket the
$2,000 top prize.
The only real scare Josh experienced came on the race’s initial start. He
started from the pole position after winning the first heat, but he watched
Miller overtake him for the top spot at the drop of the green flag.
“I felt like (the third-starting Miller) was by me before we got to the
flagstand, so I thought they’d call the start back,” said Josh, who
registered his third overall feature win of 2008. “But they didn’t, and he
took off pretty good.
“But I ran him back down and I finally got by him in lapped traffic.”
The win meant a lot to the young sensation, who has contended for a win at
Eldora several times since 2005 when he became, at the age of 17, the
youngest driver in history to qualify for both the Dream and the World 100
at Eldora.
“I love going to Eldora – I have ever since I ran my first race there,” said
Josh. “It seems like we’ve always been fast there and we’ve been close to
winning so many times, but we just couldn’t quite get it done. I’m real
happy that we finally did it.
“What really makes me happy is that it was the first time my Dad (Mark
Richards) won a race at Eldora with one of his cars (that he worked on or
owned). He’s been going there with a car for 33 years but had never won a
feature.”
Josh raced at Eldora and West Plains behind the wheel of a new 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. He said
it performed very well at Eldora and will likely be his ride for the
upcoming Dream event.
The Show-Me 100 didn’t go as well for Josh. After timing 27th-fastest among
79 cars on and finishing third in a heat race on Friday night to make his
first career Show-Me 100 A-Main, Josh’s hopes of contending in the
Saturday-night headliner weren’t realized. He was never a factor and
finished one lap down in 14th – the same spot from which he started the
race.
“We just didn’t have the right setup for the conditions,” said Josh, who
didn’t attempt to qualify for last year’s Show-Me 100 after suffering a
concussion in a wild flip during the event’s Thursday-night practice
session. “But it was the first time I made the Show-Me, so we accomplished
something.”
Josh will return to action on the WoO LMS this Thursday night (May 29) at
Delaware International Speedway in Delmar, Del., and Saturday night (May 31)
at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. He enters the doubleheader ranked fourth in
the tour’s points standings, just 10 points behind leader Steve Francis. |
