Richards Returns to Lucas Oil Victory Lane with Win at Portsmouth

(PORTSMOUTH, OH - July 1, 2017) - Josh Richards returned to Lucas Oil Victory Lane on Saturday night by winning the Independence 60 at Portsmouth Raceway Park. It was Richards' fourth series win of the season and his first at Portsmouth Raceway Park since July of 2008 when he drove a car owned by Ernie Davis.

Richards helmed the Eric and Kelly Brock, Best Performance Motorsports, Rocket at the event - leading all 60 laps for the win. Tim McCreadie; in the Sweeteners Plus, Pro Power Racing Engines, Longhorn; made a late-race charge on Richards and closed to within two car lengths, but fell just short in the end.

Gregg Satterlee finished third in the Satterlee Petroleum, Durham Racing Engines, Rocket Chassis. Clint Bowyer Racing teammates, Darrell Lanigan and Don O'Neal completed the top five finishers.

Richards made a clean sweep of the racing activities as he set the overall Miller Welders fast time, and won his heat to earn the PFC Brakes Pole Award for the feature race.

"We haven't done a whole lot of racing lately. We only had one Lucas Oil race in June, but we have a busy schedule for July so it's a good way to kick off the month. We have been working extremely hard on this car over the last month. I can't thank everyone enough at Best Performance Motorsports for this opportunity. It's been awesome and a lot of fun," said the 29-year-old Richards.

"I want to thank Randall and Tyler and everyone back at the shop. I want to thank my wife for her support and I think we have hit on somethings that is going to help us moving forward." said the driver of the Sunoco, Integra, Hoosier Tires, Riggs Motorsports, Valvoline, Corey Frazier-State Farm, and Alexander Lawn and Landscaping sponsored car.

"I thought the track would become bottom dominant, but hats off to the track crew for making it racy, it was a really good night. Now we're off to Mansfield tomorrow night."

cCreadie withstood a battle with Satterlee over the last 15 laps of the race to garner a second-place finish and close the gap on Scott Bloomquist in the Championship standings. Bloomquist failed to finish the event and was credited with an 18th place finish.

"I didn't need to those three guys running in front of Josh near the end," said McCreadie. "We were gaining on him, but we just couldn't get close enough to make a strong run for the lead. Josh deserved the win and we're happy with second. We gained a bunch of points tonight, and we had a good car tonight. The top was good early on, then some crumbs started to develop up there and the traction started going away. Gregg [Satterlee] and I had a good battle for second for a long time as well."

Satterlee continued his season-long improvement by coming home in third. "We got off to a good start in the feature. We went up in that loose dirt and the car felt good and we gained some spots quickly. Timmy [McCreadie] and I went at for second. We raced each other clean and that's the way it should be. Congrats to Josh on the win."

Completing the top ten were Jimmy Owens, R.J. Conley, Steve Francis, Eddie Carrier Jr., and Brandon Fouts.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary  - Saturday, July 1st, 2017 - Independence 60 - Portsmouth Raceway Park - Portsmouth, OH

Feature Finish (60 Laps):

FINISH START CAR # DRIVER NAME HOMETOWN  EARNINGS

1             1             1R          Josh Richards      Shinnston, WV    $12,900

2             6             39           Tim McCreadie   Watertown, NY  $6,200

3             7             22    Gregg Satterlee  Rochester Mills, PA $4,300

4             8             14           Darrell Lanigan   Union, KY            $3,450

5             3             5             Don O'Neal         Martinsville, IN  $3,050

6             5             20           Jimmy Owens     Newport, TN      $2,600

7             15           71c         RJ Conley  Wheelersburg, OH       $1,500

8             4             15           Steve Francis Bowling Green, KY  $2,000

9             11           10C        Eddie Carrier, Jr.  Salt Rock, WV   $1,200

10           2             81F         Brandon Fouts    Kite, KY                `$1,100

11           16           71R        Rod Conley  Wheelersburg, OH    $1,075

12           12           71           Hudson O'Neal   Martinsville, IN  $1,750

13           22           99B        Boom Briggs       Bear Lake, PA     $1,725

14           9             28E   Dennis Erb, Jr. Carpentersville, IL      $1,700

15           18           21m       J. Montgomery Jackson, OH         $1,000

16           13           1             Earl Pearson, Jr. Jacksonville, FL  $1,800

17           24           10           Audie Swartz       Minford, OH       $1,000

18           23           0   S. Bloomquist   Mooresburg, TN            $2,000

19           10           B7    Ben Adkins  West Portsmouth, OH     $1,000

20           20           17T        S. Thornsberry    Martin, KY           $1,000

21           17           9s           Chris Shannon    Bethel, OH          $1,000

22           14           4B          Jackie Boggs       Grayson, KY        $1,000

23           21           CJ1         Charlie Jude        Inez, KY                $1,000

24           19           36    Craig Wolford    St. Louisville, OH      $1,000

Race Statistics:   Entrants: 24  - Time of Race: 33 minutes 04 seconds

Edited from press release from Lucas Oil Late Model Series