Best Performance Motorsports News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Richards Maintains Points Lead After Brownstown
ST MARYS, Ohio (Sept. 25, 2017) – Josh Richards continues to lead the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point standings after bringing home a fourth-place finish on Friday and an 11th-place finish on Saturday at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway.
The Best Performance Motorsports team began their weekend of racing at Brownstown Speedway on Friday with qualifying where Richards turned the fifth quickest lap in Group A. His time trial effort lined him up in third for Heat Race 1. When the green flag flew the field quickly spread out nose-to-tail and Richards held his position throughout the 10-lap event to finish third. With the top-four cars in each heat locked into the Feature, Richards was guaranteed the ninth starting spot for the 30-lap A-Main.
Lining up on the inside of Row 5, Richards quickly advanced to seventh on Lap 1. He was up to fifth on Lap 5 and had muscled his way to fourth by Lap 10. With the field beginning to spread out and the frontrunners approaching lapped traffic, Richards moved all over the track trying to find as much speed as possible. Though he was trying everything he could, Richards was unable to gain any more ground in the caution-free race, ultimately finishing fourth.
Saturday marked the final night of racing at the Indiana track and again the evening began with qualifying. This time, Richards qualified ninth quickest in Group B. His qualifying result lined him up in the fifth starting spot for Heat Race 3. The 29-year-old gained one spot in the 10-lap event to finish fourth. His heat race finish guaranteed him the 14th starting spot for the night’s 100-lap finale.
Starting on the outside of Row 7, Richards had worked his way up to 12th on Lap 3 when the night’s first caution flag flew. The West Virginia native was running in 11th at Lap 10 and remained there until another caution period on Lap 14. Forced to restart on the outside, Richards slipped back to 12th, but by Lap 19 he was back in the 11th position. Richards remained in 11th until handling issues caused him to slip back to 13th at the halfway point of the 100-lap race. Giving it all he had Richards muscled his way back to 12th just three laps later and he continued on in that position until the final caution flag of the evening flew on Lap 73. On the ensuing restart handling issues continued to plague Richards and he slipped back to 14th. He spent the remaining 26 laps fighting his way back to an 11th-place finish in a race that saw little passing.
Richards remains first in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point standings after racing at Brownstown Speedway.
The Best Performance Motorsports team is scheduled to return to action Sept. 30 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., and Oct. 1 at Rome (Ga.) Speedway.
Friday Race Results
Qualifying – 5th Heat Race – 3rd Feature Start – 9th Feature Finish – 4th
Saturday Race Results
Qualifying –9th Heat Race – 4th Feature Start -14th Feature Finish – 11th
JOSH RICHARDS QUOTES: “We had a pretty good car on Friday night, so we didn’t make many changes for Saturday. The track surface was so different on Saturday we just fought handling issues all evening. We were ok at the start of the Feature, but once the grip went away we couldn’t make up any ground.
“We’ll go back, regroup and get everything ready for this weekend at Dixie (Speedway) and Rome (Speedway) in Georgia.”
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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