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Shinnston, WV --- Josh ‘Kid Rocket’
Richards headed back to Ohio this past weekend competing in his Mark
Richards Racing-owned #1 Seubert Calf Ranches, Ace Metal Works, MCB
Motorsports, Hoosier Racing Tires, Rocket Chassis, Cornett Engines Grand
Prix for his second WORLD 100 at Eldora Speedway.
Richards’s bid to win Saturday night’s 36th annual World 100 at Eldora
Speedway in just his second career start fell short, but his fourth-place
performance still made him the highest-finishing World of Outlaws Late Model
Series regular in the prestigious dirt Late Model event.
Richards, 18, had no qualms with his run in the show, which was sanctioned
by DIRT MotorSports’s United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) division. He enjoyed
being the evening’s leader of the WoO LMS
brigade, which numbered eight drivers strong in the feature.
“I’ll take fourth in the World 100 any day,” he proudly said following the
race.
Earl Pearson Jr. of Jacksonville, Fla., emerged victorious in the thrilling
show, which observers immediately considered one of the most memorable in
World 100 history. He started from the pole position, but didn’t take the
lead until lap 86 when he got the extreme inside line to work for him. |
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The final 25 laps saw
Richards in the middle of a titanic battle at the front of the pack that
included Pearson, Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., and Jeep VanWormer of
Piconning, Mich. Several other drivers, including WoO LMS regulars Dale
McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., and Clint Smith of Locust
Grove, Ga., were also in the mix.
Richards, who started 10th in his father Mark’s Rocket Chassis House Car,
climbed as high as second, on lap 79. But moments after Richards challenged
Babb for the lead, VanWormer passed
both Richards and Babb with a high-side assault to assume command.
Pearson then came on to pass Richards, Babb and VanWormer in succession and
grab the lead for good. He marched on to earn $39,000 for his first career
World 100 triumph, taking the checkered
flag several car lengths ahead of Babb.
VanWormer finished third, while Richards, who attempted to pass Babb for
second on lap 94 during the race’s frenetic final moments, settled for
fourth place. It was Richards’s best career World 100 finish, easily topping
the 25th-place run he had in his first start a year ago.
The sheer intensity of the World’s late stages amazed Richards, who realized
he was part of a special race.
“When we were all racing so hard for the lead, I was like, ‘Holy cow, I
can’t believe this is going on!’” offered Richards, the 2005 WoO LMS Rookie
of the Year. “I thought, Whoa! This is the World 100!
“With so much stuff happening you can easily get caught up in all it (the
excitement). You just try to
pretend it’s like a video game and focus on what you’re doing.”
As he accepted well-wishes while sitting on the door of his No. 1 outside
his team’s hauler following the 100, Richards summed up his night: “That’s
the most fun I’ve ever had racing.”
Of course, Richards felt he should’ve finished a bit higher.
“I had probably a second-place car, but there were some mistakes I made,” he
analyzed. “I thought the middle of the track was pretty good, but Earl
showed me the bottom when he went by. I should’ve moved down there earlier,
but I didn’t know my car was good down there.
“I learned a lot, though. Being in a race like that is great experience.”
Kid Rocket, who may have been the youngest highest-finishing driver in WORLD
100 history, also assisted Eldora Speedway owner Tony Stewart on Wednesday
night for The Prelude race with NASCAR drivers. Stewart drove a Rocket
Chassis Late Model owned by Josh & Mark Richards and took it to victory
Wednesday evening. The Richards’ then auctioned off a door panel from the
car with proceeds going to the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame and
sold it for $600.
Up next for Kid Rocket is West Virginia Motor Speedway on September 15 & 16
before returning to World of Outlaws Late Model Series competition at
Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pa., on Sept. 22-23
for the Pittsburgher 100. |
