Submitted photo

Bomber cars race around Portsmouth Raceway Park Saturday, July 28th.

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PRP Release

With five different divisions of racecars and 116 total race teams in Portsmouth Saturday night, there was no shortage of entertainment for fans at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

Four different drivers won their first PRP feature of the season including Salt Rock, W.Va.’s Eddie Carrier, Jr. in the Late Models, Oak Hill’s Rick Hensley in the Modifieds, Ironton’s Greg Thompson in the Limited Lates, and Dylan Riggs from New Matamoras in the Mod Lites. The only repeat winner was Jeremie Bretz of Maysville, Ky. in the Bomber Division.

Saturday night’s racing witnessed 33 Late Model drivers, but one was in a league of his own. Carrier was dominant in the Late Model A-Main. He started on the outside of row one, jumped out to the early lead and never looked back. Carrier led all 25 laps en route to his first PRP win of the year.

Josh McGuire placed second. Pole-sitter R.J. Conley finished third. Greg Oliver came home fourth. Shannon Thornsberry moved up five positions to round out the top five.

Wheelersburg veteran Delmas Conley was the Wesbanco Fast Qualifier. The 70-year-old Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer tripped the clock with a time of 14.955 and wound up placing sixth in the feature. Fellow Wheelersburg driver Ron Hinds was the Hard Charger. He moved up nine positions to finish 11th.

Rick Hensley took over the lead on lap two in the Modified A-Main and held on to take the checkers. Doug Adkins posted yet another top-five finish as he charged from sixth to finish second. The four-time PRP track champion has placed in the top five in seven of the 10 Modified races this year. The West Portsmouth racer continues to lead the points.

For the second straight week, Doug’s son, Ben, finished right behind him. The younger Adkins put on quite the show. He was the last car in line on a lap-two restart, but he still managed to battle his way up to third.

Former champions Tim Tribby and Eddie Harmon rounded out the top five.

Greg Thompson was one of three leaders in the 15-lap Limited Late Model A-Main. He led for the first time on Lap 9, fell back to second on Lap 10, and retook the lead for good on Lap 11. Points leader Robbie Lewis placed second. Cameron Logan finished third. Mike Steele and Rick Robinson made up the rest of the top five.

Brett Kennard led a total of five laps but got caught up in an accident on lap 13 and pulled off the track shortly thereafter with mechanical issues.

Jeremie Bretz kept on winning in the Bomber Division. He’s now 8-0 on the year. Finishing behind Bretz were Conard Newman, Brett Carey, Shane Pendleton, and Rick Butler.

As an added bonus, PRP also ran Mod Lites Saturday which are scaled-down Modifieds powered by motorcycle engines. The win went to 16-year-old Tyler Riggs, who said in victory lane that it was his biggest Mod-Lite win to date. The teenager pocketed $1,000 for his efforts.

Mikey Hay from Somerset, Pennsylvania placed second. He came from dead last on a lap-five restart to finish as the race’s runner-up. Jeff Teeters, Matt Hay, and Toby Boetcher made up the remainder of the top five.

PRP will be back in action this Saturday night featuring the annual Weaver’s Gas and Oil Bomber Shootout along with Late Models, Modifieds, and Limited Lates.