FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Richards Collects Podium-Finish in Pittsburgher 100
ST MARYS, Ohio (Oct. 9, 2017) – Josh Richards collected a podium-finish of third in the Pittsburgher 100 Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.
The prestigious Pittsburgher 100 weekend began Friday with qualifying and heat races. Richards began the evening by running the second quickest time in Group B qualifying. His time trial result lined him up on the pole for Heat Race 4. Richards easily led flag-to-flag to win the 10-lap event. With the top-four in each heat race guaranteed a starting spot in Saturday’s finale, Richards secured the fourth starting spot by virtue of his heat race win.
Saturday began with hot laps where the West Virginia native ran the fourth quickest circuit in his group. After hot laps, the field lined up for the Feature where Richards started on the outside of Row 2. When the green flag flew, the Best Performance Motorsports driver slipped back to fifth on Lap 1, before muscling his way back to third on Lap 2. At Lap 10 the field was approaching lapped traffic and Richards remained in third until the third caution flag of the race flew on Lap 22. Forced to restart on the inside, Richards slipped back to fourth and settled into that position until the sixth caution period of the 100-lap race on Lap 43. Again, Richards was slated to start on the inside for the ensuing restart and he fell back to fifth before he was able to move up to his preferred outside groove. Richards continued on in fifth until Lap 42 where he overtook the fourth position. He remained in fourth until the ninth caution of the evening restacked the field for another restart. This time, Richards advanced to third when the green flag flew. As the field quickly spread out Richards maintained his spot until another caution period on Lap 82. Again, the 29-year-old driver gained a positon on the restart and was scored in second on Lap 83. With his sights set on the leader, Richards remained in second until the night’s final caution flag flew on Lap 88. Restarting on the inside, Richards slipped back to third at the drop of the green flag. With 11 laps to go, Richards held on to the third position for the remainder of the race to bring home a podium-finish in the caution-filled event.
With one Series race remaining this season, Richards sits in second in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point standings, just 40 points out of first.
The Best Performance Motorsports team is scheduled to return to action Oct. 20-21 at Portsmouth Raceway Park for the Dirt Track World Championship.
Friday Race Results
Qualifying – 2nd Heat Race – 1st
Saturday Race Results
Feature Start - 4th Feature Finish –3rd
JOSH RICHARDS QUOTES: “We had a good car at Pittsburgh. There was quite a race among the top- five after Don [O’Neal]. It was a good points finish for us. We’ll definitely take it. Now, we’ve got a weekend off to regroup and then we’ll head to Portsmouth with at least a decent shot at the title.”
For media inquires please contact Andrea Richards at 704-575-2296 or via e-mail at andrea@bestperformancemotorsports.com.
The No. 1 Rocket XR1 carries support from: Valvoline, Keyser Manufacturing, Integra, Alexander Lawn & Landscape, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Corey Frazier-State Farm Insurance.
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