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Josh Richards Still Riding High After Amazing Five–Win Visit to Florida

SHINNSTON, WV – Josh Richards is still having a hard time grasping the enormity of his performance in Florida over the past two weeks.

With three victories at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton and two at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville over a one-week span, the 20-year-old phenom from Shinnston, W.Va., pulled off one of the most spectacularly dominant dirt Late Model runs the Sunshine State has ever seen.

"It's been an awesome Speedweeks," Josh said after pocketing over $45,000 for his five triumphs alone. "I would've never dreamed we would win that many races down here. The competition at these races is just so tough, it's an accomplishment to win once, let alone five times."

"I can't say enough about everybody who helped me have so much success. I just hope we can keep it up the rest of the year and win a lot more races."

Josh quietly kicked off his annual southern excursion during the three–night O'Reilly Southern All–Stars Series meet at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga., that stretched from Jan. 29–31. Making his '09 debut with a new color scheme adorning his Mark Richards Racing-owned Seubert Calf Ranches/Ace Metal Works/TSR-Tony Stewart Racing/Petroff Towing/MCB Motorsports/Ernie D's Enterprises/Cornett Racing Engines Rocket Chassis No. 1, Josh drove to three consecutive fifth–place finishes.

The young sensation switched to the Ernie Davis–owned Ernie D's Enterprises/Tim Fraker Signs Cornett/Rocket No. 25 – the car he is campaigning in selected events for the second straight season – for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park. After starting slow with a 13th-place finish on Feb. 3, Josh provided a glimpse of things to come during his ninth-place outing on Feb. 4, which came after he pitted to change a right–rear tire that cut down on lap eight of the 30–lap feature as he was preparing to bid for the lead.

Josh got the job done the following night, capturing the 40-lap event on Feb. 5 to earn $10,000 and register his first career win at East Bay. He upped the ante on Feb. 6, pulling off an unprecedented sweep of a rare day/night dirt Late Model doubleheader – he won the postponed 30–lapper run in the afternoon for a $5,000 payday, then repeated with a dramatic $10,000 victory in the regularly–scheduled nightcap that saw his car pop a right–rear tire crossing the finish line.

Back behind the wheel of his father Mark's familiar No. 1 for the six–race Alltel DIRT car Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park (Feb. 9–14), Josh struggled to finishes of eighth (Feb. 9), seventh (Feb. 10) and 15th (Feb. 11) in the UMP DIRT car–sanctioned Super Late Model events that kicked off the week. Then he parked the new '09 car he had been driving in favor of an old–reliable machine that he found success with last season – and the result was back–to–back victories on Feb. 12 (the 50–lap World of Outlaws Late Model Series season opener) and Feb. 13 (the 40-lap UMP DIRT car finale).

Josh topped off his Volusia visit with a seventh–place finish in the WoO LMS finale on Feb. 14 after a mid–program rain delay changed the track surface, but that didn't diminish his consecutive $10,000 triumphs. He won the WoO LMS opener at the half–mile oval for the third consecutive year and became the first driver since Billy Moyer (in 2005) to win a WoO LMS A–Main and the UMP DIRT car finale during a single Alltel DIRT car Nationals by UNOH.

"I wish we would've done better in the last race, but it's still been an awesome three weeks of racing for us down here," said Josh, who headed home ranked second in the WoO LMS points standings (he's chasing his first tour title this season) and leading–the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series standings. "This is a Speedweeks I'll never forget."

Josh's standout performance at Volusia helped him move on from the controversial incidents with Terry Casey that brought him unwanted attention during the Winternationals at East Bay.

"Last week, in my book, it was just hard racing," Josh said of the run-ins with Casey. "Nothing was intentional. Everything just gets blown out of proportion."

"That's all over with now. I forgot about that the first day we were at Volusia. We came to Volusia with our heads on straight and ended up with two wins, so everything's good."

"We ended up running best with our older car (at Volusia), but I think our new car will be fine. We just had a little bit different engine in it that probably wasn't the right combination at the beginning of the week."

"Now we'll get home, get our stuff straightened out, and go on from here. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season."

Josh tentatively is scheduled to drive the Ernie D's Enterprises No. 25 this Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21) in t he Northeast season opener at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway

Courtesy of Josh Richards Racing and Farr Motorsports