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SHINNSTON, WV – Josh Richards was hoping his recent back-to-back victories
on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series were a sure sign the bad luck
that’s been plaguing him had disappeared.
Well, judging by Josh’s frustrating three-race stretch on the World of
Outlaws Late Model Series ‘National Interstate Speedweek,’ Lady Luck hasn’t
come completely to his side.
After the scheduled opener of the mini-tour rained out on Wednesday night at
Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park, the 19-year-old star from Shinnston, W.Va.,
experienced three difficult evenings of action in-a-row. He finished 11th in
Thursday night’s 40-lap A-Main at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway after being
involved in an early tangle; placed 19th in Friday night’s ‘Subway 50’ at
Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, after mechanical trouble forced him to
retire while running a strong second; and salvaged a seventh-place finish in
Saturday night’s ‘Buckeye 50’ at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, after
surviving a hard heat-race accident.
The toughest fate for Josh to accept came at Eldora, where he was a serious
contender to win the famed half-mile track’s first-ever WoO LMS event. He
was third-fastest in time trials, drew the pole position for the A-Main, and
passed Chub Frank for the lead on the third lap. Frank regained command on
lap 17, but Josh hung tough and was fully engaged in a battle for the top
spot with Chub when disaster struck. As Josh was circling the track under
caution on lap 26, he had to steer his Mark Richards Racing-owned Seubert
Calf Ranches/Ace Metal Works/TSR-Tony Stewart Racing/Petroff Towing/MCB
Motorsports Rocket Chassis No. 1 into the pit area due to a broken jackshaft
on its rearend.
“The track was so fast (after a rain delay), and there was some attrition,”
said Josh. “So after Chub got by us, I was just trying to stay close to him
without wearing my stuff out. Then all of a sudden, off (turn) two, it (the
jackshaft) just snapped.
“I think I could’ve got back by him. Chub’s not gonna give an inch – he’ll
run hard every lap – but I felt like I had a real good car. We just didn’t
have any luck again – that’s racin’.”
Josh had no better fortune in his position as crew chief for NASCAR star
Tony Stewart’s effort behind the wheel of the Tracker Boats/Bass Pro Shops
Rocket dirt Late Model at Eldora. Josh watched from the pit area as
Stewart’s bid for victory in the ‘Subway 50’ ended when he tangled with
Frank on lap 40 while battling for the lead.
Accidents hampered Josh’s efforts in the other Speedweek events.
At the quarter-mile Lawrenceburg oval, Josh was swept up in a lap-one tangle
in turn one with Scott James and Steve Shaver. He made a quick pit stop for
hasty repairs, then made another stop during an ensuing red-flag period on
lap one to fix the car more substantially. Josh’s crew went as far as
welding the car’s left-front spindle back in place, but the machine was
still bent as he persevered to finish 11th.
After rain caused a two-hour delay to the start of Saturday night’s
Speedweek finale at Sharon, Josh ran into more trouble. His car’s left-rear
tire rolled off the rim as he slid through turns one and two early in the
third heat, causing him to spin and take a hard t-bone hit in the driver’s
side door from Robbie Blair. Josh had the wind knocked out of him from the
impact, but he was able to drive the car to the pits for repairs.
While Josh had to qualify through a B-Main, he made a steady move forward
from the 20th starting spot to finish seventh in the ‘Buckeye 50’ – his only
top-10 of National Interstate Speedweek.
Josh finished seventh in the National Interstate Speedweek points standings.
He ended the swing ranked fourth in the overall WoO LMS points standings,
116 behind leader Steve Francis.
With the WoO LMS now idle until the Aug. 21-23 ‘Scorcher 100’ at Volunteer
Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., Josh had originally planned to spend his first
free weekend racing in this weekend’s ‘USA Nationals’ at Cedar Lake Speedway
in New Richmond, Wis. But his team has decided to bypass the event in order
to spend some time in the shop regrouping after a particularly strenuous
stretch of summer competition.
With two cars damaged by wrecks over the weekend and Josh’s team seeking
some extended time in the shop to get their equipment ready for the
remainder of the 2007 season, the decision was made to take the 18-hour
one-way haul to Cedar Lake off Josh’s schedule.
Josh’s next event will be the annual North-South 100 on Aug. 10-11 at
Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.
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