By Bill W
May 24, 2010 – Rain cancelled the Shawn Marquard Memorial at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois on Friday night, but Josh Fisher found some racing at the State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri. He finished third there, and also Saturday, at the Lake Ozark Speedway near Eldon. This weekend will find him in Saturday competition back at LOS, and with the Winged Outlaw Warriors at Double X Speedway near California on Sunday.
Nineteen cars made their way to Sedalia on Friday and Josh was able to win his heat race. He would draw the sixth starting spot for the main event. “The car was running well,” he says of the family Ozark Barge & Dock Services #86. “By lap two of the feature, we were running second. I started running down (leader Kyle) Hirst in lapped traffic at that point. The track was heavy around the bottom, and ended up getting rough too.”
The car put a scare into the young driver from Smithton, Missouri at that point. “I was on his bumper, and the car belched out a ball of smoke,” he explains. “I looked down at the gauge and wondered what was going on. It was running about 250 degrees on the track, so I was a little worried.”
With Jesse Hockett behind him in third, Josh was worried about the motor. “I backed off a bit, and didn’t run it quite as hard,” he says. “Hockett was able to get back by me, and that was tough to take. I felt we would have won if they hadn’t have happened. If I would have known to stay on it, I would have.”
After talking to engine builder John Singer afterwards, Josh found out hindsight is 20/20. “It ticked me off, because we won’t get to run Sedalia too many times this year,” he says. “To have a chance at a win…it was frustrating.”
It was on to LOS on Saturday, and Josh gave the fans a thrill when he charged from eighth to second in his heat race in half a lap. “On the first lap, I was running second by the backstretch,” he shares. “I had started high, and then crossed back to the bottom coming off the corner. I was glad there wasn’t a yellow to call it back, because I don’t know that I could have done that again.”
The 1/3 mile oval has been different each time Josh has raced on it this season. “The track was weird,” he says. “It was tacky and rough getting into the corners, and black slick getting off. That’s the way it was all night.”
After running sixth in the dash, Josh would line up outside row three for the main event. After moving into the top three, and eventually as high as second, he would settle for third at the checkers. “We tried some stuff in the dash, and it didn’t work,” he says. “We had it ready for the feature, and we were up to third. At the halfway point, we got by (Mark) Shirshekan for second. We had a red after that, and the tires leaked a bit. We about turned it over on the restart, and he got back by me. Considering that…third wasn’t too bad.”
This weekend, Josh will look for his first win at LOS since last year’s 360 Nationals there. He will try to continue his success at Double X Speedway on Sunday as well. In 2009, Josh had one win and two seconds in WOW competition at the bullring.
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