(Bill W) May 10, 2010 – Although some tough luck followed Josh Fisher last week, he managed a top ten finish at the Jacksonville Speedway with the Sprint Invaders on Friday, and a top five at Lake Ozark Speedway on Saturday. The weekend of racing followed a few weeks of rainy weather, and though it was cold, it was great to be back in action. This weekend, the Smithton, Missouri driver will follow a similar schedule, though Friday’s race at Jacksonville will be in the 410 owned by Brad Northrop.
Josh drew the toughest heat of the night on a cold, windy night in Jacksonville, Illinois with the Sprint Invaders. He would start sixth, with Jim Moughan and Kaley Gharst in row one, Bobby Mincer and Joe Beaver in row two, and Jordan Goldesberry beside him. Throw in Manny Rockhold behind him for good measure. A lap one crash took out Mincer, and Moughan had to go to the tail after a caution. When the dust settled (on the track, at least), Josh had finished third and transferred to the 25-lap feature. “I was right behind Joe Beaver there, and I was going to pull a slidejob on him going into three,” he says of his first competitive laps on the banked ¼ mie oval. “I had to let off the gas on the backstretch, and that sucked me into the wall. I rode the wall all the way down into three. Luckily, we got through there.”
Starting inside row four in the main event, Josh would work his way into the top five early on. Unfortunately, the third lap saw him clip an infield tire. “It seems like anything that can happen at that track will,” says the 2007 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame 360 Rookie of the Year. “I was fourth or fifth there in the feature, and I just got a few inches too low and hit that tractor tire in turns three and four.”
Fortunately, no serious damage resulted, and Josh climbed from the tail of the field to finish eighth. “Their stuff is really good,” he says of the Northrop #83 powered by Ford Racing. “The motor ran great and everything. I really felt if I hadn’t have spun out, we were top five, no doubt.”
It was back into the family Ozark Barge & Dock Services #86 for Saturday’s action at the Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon, Missouri. Josh would climb from seventh to fourth in the heat. “There wasn’t much passing going on,” he says of his run. “We managed to move up a few spots, but you needed to be in the top three to make the dash, and we didn’t quite get there. I drew the back row like 13 times out of 18 races at the Lake last year. That seems to be continuing!”
The heat finish would line Josh up seventh for the main event. He quickly charged into the top five. “The groove was right up there against the wall, and that was about it,” he says of the track conditions. “If you wanted to pass anyone, you had to do a big slidejob. That was harder with all the lap traffic running the bottom of the track. You had to do it through the middle.”
It seemed to Josh like he was running in place in fifth. “I tried for several laps to get by Mike Trent,” he says. “Everywhere, I wanted to go, he was there. I tried to make a move a couple of times, and I almost took him out.”
Josh caught a break on the last lap, and ended up fourth at the checkers. “On the last lap, Mark Shirshekan was running third and got high on the cushion, letting Trent and I by,” he says. “It about wadded up all three of us coming out of four!”
Josh will be in 410 action Friday in the Northrop #83 at Jacksonville, and back at Lake Ozark Speedway in the #86 on Saturday.
Follow Josh on his Website and on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter!
Follow Josh at his website located at www.JoshFisherRacing.com! Also keep up with him on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter (which also can be accessed at the website) at the following links…
MySpace link = http://www.myspace.com/joshfisherracing
Facebook link = http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=100000662545016
Twitter link = http://twitter.com/JEFRacing
Josh would like to thank the following sponsors for all their help: Ozark Barge & Dock Services Inc., ASAP Properties, Impact Wraps, Impact Sign & Lighting, Fischer's Concrete, Champion Brands, Bill Ferguson Livestock Trucking, K&N Filters, Butler Built Seats, Maxim Racing Chassis, Winters Performance, Bell Helmets, Hoosier Tires, Ramey Dirtworks, TCI Tire Centers, Brian's Gym
- Bill Wright on May 10, 2010
- Article Date: 5/10/2010