Richards Edges Clanton in Thrilling Finish at Brighton Speedway's Dibbits Escavating & Vanderlaan Building Products Mud Slinger 50

Richards Edges Clanton In Thrilling Finish At Brighton Speedway’s Dibbits Excavating & Vanderlaan Building Products Mud Slinger 50

Three-Time World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champion Wins Round Two of the Great Northern Tour by 0.142 Seconds

(BRIGHTON, Ont. - June 20, 2015) - Josh Richards was fast all night at Saturday's Dibbits Excavating and Vanderlaan Building Products Mud Slinger 50 presented by Excel Tower Service at Brighton Speedway. But in the final 10 laps, the three-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion needed more patience than speed to claim his fourth series victory of the season.

After leading from the start of the 50-lap race, Richards, 27, of Shinnston, W.Va., expertly picked his way through heavy traffic during the race's closing laps and held off points leader Shane Clanton's furious late charge to win the second round of the Great Northern Tour in a side-by-side finish at the third-mile oval.

"It was all about patience tonight," said Richards, who earned the 53rd WoO LMS victory of his career in just the second series race ever held at the Ontario track. "I just stayed really patient because there was really nowhere to go.

"I knew Shane (Clanton) was coming and we kept getting boxed in. I saw Shane at the white flag, but I knew if I could just keep my speed up and not have (a lapped car) push up into me I could win it."

"I feel like we've had a really fast car most of the year, but we've just had a lot of bad breaks like what happened at Fonda," said Richards, who thanked the crew on his Valvoline-sponsored Rocket Chassis house car team for their hard work repairing the issues from Thursday to get ready for Saturday's race. "Shane's been really fast and consistent. We've just got to focus on winning races and finishing up front. It felt really good to get a win tonight and pick up some points, even if it was only a few."

Clanton settled for the runner-up spot in notching his 15th top-five finish in 18 races this season. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., crossed the finish line third, well behind the lead battle. Morgan Bagley of Longview, Texas, was just behind McCreadie in fourth with Rick Eckert of York, Pa., rounding out the top five.

The race was slowed by four cautions. The first appeared with two laps complete for a tangle back in the pack involving Jim Bernheisel of Lebanon, Pa., and Steve Baldwin of Trenton, Ont. Another yellow flag waved just after the restart for the slowing machine of Charlie Sandercock of Belleville, Ont. A lap-8 caution was for Union, Ky., driver Darrell Lanigan's brief adventure off the banking in turn four, and a flat tire for Bernheisel brought out the final caution with nine laps complete.