Josh Richards won his first race with his new team on Saturday at Golden Isles
One of the most talked about off-season moves of this past year was that of Josh Richards leaving his father’s Rocket Chassis house car ride and the World of Outlaws Late Models tour to join Best Performance Motorsports and run for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title. And it only took two races into the 2017 season for the move to pay off as the Shinnston, WV racer steered his No. 1 machine into victory lane at Golden Isles Speedway on Saturday night to earn a $12,000 payday.
Brandon Overton, the winner of the Friday night feature race, was fastest in Group A qualifying ahead of Scott Bloomquist, Richards, Tyler Erb, Joey Coulter and Tim McCreadie.
Brian Shirley led the way in Group B qualifying as he beat out Billy Moyer, Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Kenny Pettyjohn, Jimmy Owens and Doug Drown.
Overton outran Jonathan Davenport and Tyler Erb to capture the first heat race of the night while Bloomquist beat out young Hudson O’Neal and Rick Eckert to score the win in the second heat.
Richards would take the honors in heat 3 over Tim McCreadie and Brett Hamm with Shirley winning the fourth heat ahead of Pettyjohn and Donald McIntosh.
Heat 5 was won by Moyer as he bested Earl Pearson, Jr. and Jimmy Owens while Drown won the final heat of the night by beating out Son O’Neal and Sheppard.
Austin Hubbard and Brent Larson won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
Richards talks with his wife and crew members prior to Saturday’s feature race
Overton jumped into the lead of the 60-lap feature race when the green flag waved with Richards, Bloomquist, Shirley and Davenport in his tire tracks. But Richards would waste little time in getting to the race lead as he swept by Overton on the second lap while the track still offered the ability to pass.
With the race running as a caution free affair, slower traffic would prove to be a deciding factor. Richards took advantage of his car’s ability to employ a higher line during the early going of the race as he began putting other machines between himself and his pursuers by the sixth lap.
Bloomquist took over the runner-up position on the eighth lap when he moved around Overton as the two battled in traffic. However, Richards had already built his advantage to almost a full straightaway by the time Bloomquist captured second.
By the halfway mark in the event, the track had become a one groove speedway with virtually every car hugging the bottom lane.
For the remainder of the race, Richards would maintain a comfortable lead over the field while Bloomquist led a tightly formed pack that included Overton, Shirley and Davenport. Eventually, his early lead and the cars he had put between himself and the rest of the top-5 proved to be too much to overcome as the driver scored his first win with the Best Performance team.
Feature Finish: 1. Josh Richards, 2. Scott Bloomquist, 3. Brandon Overton, 4. Brian Shirley, 5. Jonathan Davenport, 6. Doug Drown, 7. Kenny Pettyjohn, 8. Don O’Neal, 9. Tyler Erb, 10. Tim McCreadie, 11. Hudson O’Neal, 12. Rick Eckert, 13. Brandon Sheppard, 14. Donald McIntosh, 15. Brett Hamm, 16. Jimmy Owens, 17. Dennis Erb, Jr., 18. Darrell Lanigan, 19. Earl Pearson, Jr., 20. Joey Coulter, 21. Austin Hubbard, 22. Steve Francis, 23. Brent Larson, 24. Shane Tankersley, 25. Billy Moyer, Jr., 26. Colton Flinner
