CONCORD, NC – It is #8 for Josh Richards. Richards endured dangerous track conditions, a postponed 50-lap feature event and a late-race charge from Scott Bloomquist en route to his eighth win of the 2009 World of Outlaws Late Model Series’ campaign.
The victory at the “Hungry Man Showdown” propelled Richards to the top of the board for the most victories on this year’s tour. But with the race only garnering show-up points, he still trails Steve Francis by four points for the championship title. The performance will help the No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches/ACE Metal Works Rocket Chassis team build momentum going into this weekend’s two-part “World Finals”.
Twenty-one year-old Richards spent the most time atop the championship standings following a blistering start to the season and continued pace during the summer but Victory Lane has been elusive since his July 16th win at the Dakota State Fair Speedway and this allowed veteran Steve Francis to inch past him as the duo now squares off at the season finale. Richards passed Francis on lap 12 of Thursday’s event and remained unchallenged other than a final attempt by Scott Bloomquist following a caution with three laps to go but that effort was thwarted by another yellow. The West Virginian crossed the stripe with a 0.844-second lead over Bloomquist.
“My right-rear tire gave up with about seven laps to go,” said Richards, who recorded his second career WoOLMS’ win at The Dirt Track. “I was leaning on it pretty hard trying to get by lapped cars because I didn’t know how much of a lead I had. Then all of a sudden it just died. I was just skating around. I just ran it harder and wider after the last restart and I figured I was either gonna win or just kill the tires. I gave it all I had and it worked out.”
Richards and his team now have a little momentum going in to the dual events of the “World Finals”. In a post-race interview, he stated, “This is definitely a big confidence booster. We’re still second in the points and I know it’s gonna be tight for the rest of the weekend but this gets the whole crew pumped up.”
Both Richards and Francis qualified within a few positions of one another for Friday and Saturday’s events. Racing action will resume tonight at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.