PRP Press Release By: Chuck Greenslate Portsmouth Raceway Park featured two exciting nights of racing over the holiday weekend with Veteran s Recognition Night on Saturday and The Second Annual Boone Coleman Memorial Gator 50 on Sunday. Good fields and great crowds were on hand each night, and both evenings had healthy helpings of excitement. Over 80 cars were in attendance Saturday, and over 100 filled the pit area on Sunday. In the Giovanni s Pizza Late Model Division, Saturday brought West Portsmouth s Ben Adkins his very first PRP Late Model win. On Sunday, Jackie Boggs of Grayson, KY scored a huge pay day. He led all 50 laps of The Boone Coleman Memorial Gator 50. For his efforts he claimed the $5,000 paycheck for winning the race, earned a provisional starting position for this fall s Dirt Track World Championship, and picked up an additional $250 from Lemley Motorsports for setting fast time. Columbus, IN s Devin Gilpin won both R & W Rental Modified A-Mains over the weekend. He has won 51 of 101 races in his current car. Gilpin has already captured 14 victories in 2013. Matt Melvin of Coal Grove was dominant all weekend in the O Reilly Auto Parts Limited Late Model Division. The newlywed, who exchanged vows earlier this month, led every lap both Saturday and Sunday in picking up his first two wins of the year. Saturday night in the M & M Inflatables Bombers, West Portsmouth s Jason Spillman scored his first-ever PRP victory. On Sunday, three-time PRP champ Shane Pendleton of Stout took the checkers. Each evening had a fair share of drama. Saturday night s Late Model A-Main brought a backand-forth battle between Adkins and Rod Conley. Both took turns in the lead before Adkins passed Conley for the final time on lap 15. Adkins rode the high line to the finish and was visually emotional in winner s circle. While he had won at PRP numerous times in the past in the Modified Division, he finally claimed a Late Model victory in Portsmouth that had eluded him for years. Sunday brought a little redemption for former PRP track champion Jackie Boggs. On the night before he suffered mechanical problems which sidelined him just after hot laps. After the crew worked all night to repair the car, Boggs came back on Sunday and was dominant. He set fast time, climbed from sixth to second in the dash, started on the outside pole of the feature, and went on to lead every single lap of the A-Main. All of his accomplishments added together provided Boggs with an evening full of earnings valued at $7,250.
The 44-year-old Boggs has won each of the first two Boone Coleman Memorial Gator 50 races. He also won last year s Lucas Oil-sanction River Days Rumble at PRP held over Labor Day Weekend. The most dramatic element of Sunday s Late Model A-Main occurred with nine laps to go as Boggs and the other front-runners encountered lap traffic. The lap car of Paul Davis went spinning in front of Boggs which forced other lap cars to check up. Boggs had to quickly jerk his steering wheel to the left to avoid rear-ending drivers at the tail of the lead lap. Boggs managed to get his car straightened up just before entering turn 3 and got through the accident unscathed. Behind Boggs however, the second and third-place running cars got together as Jason Montgomery and Steve Lucas both spun around and stopped in the middle of the third and fourth turns. The mishap took both of them out of contention. One of the bigger accidents of the weekend occurred on Saturday in a Limited Late Model heat race when Vanceburg, KY s Kenny McCann got upside down on the frontstretch. Fortunately he walked away from the crash under his own power. Arguably the most exciting finish of the weekend took place Saturday night in the Modified A- Main. Five-time PRP track champ Doug Adkins led the first 19 laps of the 20-lap feature, but with the white flag flying, Devin Gilpin got under Adkins off of turn 2 and managed to make the winning pass through turns 3 and 4. PRP s season continues this coming Saturday with Driver Appreciation Night featuring Late Models, Modifieds, Limited Lates, and Bombers. Gates open at 4 p.m. Racing begins at 7:30. Feature Results from Saturday 5-25-13 Giovanni s Pizza Late Models 1. Ben Adkins 2. Rod Conley 3. Kenny Christy 4. Doug Drown 5. Mark Frazier 6. Nick Bocook 7. Paul Davis 8. Delmas Conley 9. Kenneth Howell 10. Josh Bocook 11. Mick Sansom 12. Billy Gullion 13. Coby Bartram 14. Joe Ramey 15. Josh McGuire 16. Daniel Williams 17. Brandon Mather 18. Carl Dillow II 19. Tommy Riggs 20. Keith Sansom R & W Rental Supply Modifieds 1. Devin Gilpin 2. Doug Adkins
3. Adam Jordan 4. Allen Turner 5. Keith Smith 6. T.J. Harper 7. Rick Hensley 8. Luke Jordan 9. Jimmy Lennex, Jr. 10. Tony DeHart 11. Kevin Hall 12. Jody Puckett 13. Danny Ferguson 14. Bryant Dickison 15. Todd Robinson 16. Dave Fireball Pinkerton 17. Greg Anderson 18. Larry Holbrook 19. Davey Warnock 20. Jeremie Bretz 21. Gary Hall III O Reilly Auto Parts Limited Lates 1. Matt Melvin 2. Mike Meyers 3. John Melvin 4. Robbie Lewis 5. Evyian Terry 6. Jamey Adams 7. Matt Cook 8. Mike Steele 9. Cameron Logan 10. Jessey Lyons, Jr. 11. Kenny Atkins 12. Matt Ginn 13. Tommy Twinam 14. Joe Whitt 15. Rex Frohnapfel 16. Braden Roof M & M Inflatables Bombers 1. Jason Spillman 2. Corey Lewis 3. Justin Jaynes 4. Conard Newman 5. Shannon Stephens 6. Brett Carey 7. Rick Butler 8. Kenny Taylor 9. Cole Cooper 10. David Potts 11. Justin Miller 12. Mike Drake 13. Phillip Artressia 14. Rick Bush 15. Derek Spencer 16. Zack Pendleton 17. Dustin Pressley 18. Shane Pendleton 19. Kasey Black 20. Craig Naylor 21. Jeremy Brady Feature Results from Sunday 5-26-13 Giovanni s Pizza Late Models 1. Jackie Boggs 2. Rod Conley 3. Ben Adkins 4. R.J. Conley 5. Josh McGuire 6. Delmas Conley 7. Josh Bocook
8. Doug Drown 9. Colten Burdette 10. Mick Sansom 11. Shannon Thornsberry 12. J.T. Conley 13. Coby Bartram 14. Kevin Howell 15. Steve Lucas 16. Mark Frazier 17. Jason Montgomery 18. Paul Davis 19. Lee Logan 20. Josh Bocook R & W Rental Supply Modifieds 1. Devin Gilpin 2. Todd Robinson 3. Scott Lemaster 4. Andrew Corbin 5. Jeremy Hayes 6. Jeremy Rayburn 7. Jimmy Lennex, Jr. 8. Larry Picklesimer 9. Rick Hensley 10. Doug Adkins 11. Luke Jordan 12. Adam Jordan 13. Jason Hall 14. Allen Turner 15. Danny Ferguson 16. Kevin Mayabb 17. Brian Whiteman 18. Dave Fireball Pinkerton 19. Ervin Vance 20. Steve Clemmons O Reilly Auto Parts Limited Lates 1. Matt Melvin 2. Matt Cook 3. Jamey Adams 4. Mike Steele 5. Joe Whitt 6. Bartley Grant 7. Joew Whitt 8. Mike Meyers 9. Cameron Logan 10. Robbie Lewis 11. Adam Colley 12. Evyian Terry 13. Kevin Terry M & M Inflatables Bombers 1. Shane Pendleton 2. Jason Spillman 3. Conard Newman 4. Shannon Stephens 5. Cole Cooper 6. Corey Lewis 7. Brett Carey 8. Zach Pendleton 9. Jeremy Brady 10. Jeremy Cassidy 11. David Potts 12. Mike Drake 13. Justin Miller 14. Joseph McClain 15. Dustin Pressley 16. Kenny Taylor 17. Rick Butler
A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE TO BOONIE Rather than a trophy, every feature winner at PRP Saturday night received a gorgeous mirror engraved with Boone Coleman Memorial Gator 50 Winner. While the milk was enjoyed at Indy, PRP had the cookies. All four of Sunday s A-Main victors were awarded a beautiful glass jar full of chocolate chip cookies. The Coleman Family was down on the track prior to the start of the Late Model Feature for a group photo. Joyce Coleman addressed the crowd. Boone and Joyce s grandchildren gave the command to start engines. Tim Coleman dropped the green flag to begin the Late Model feature. Sunday s crowd was PRP s largest of the season thus far. NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST TIME Ben Adkins car owner Gary Pummill is a 68-year-old truck driver who still works five and a half days a week, and while Saturday delivered Adkins his first PRP win as a Late Model driver, it also brought Pummill his first PRP Late Model win as a car owner. Pummill left PRP after Saturday s event to make an overnight run to Hamilton, OH. He got back to the race track Sunday afternoon to watch his driver post another top 5 finish. ALL IN THE FAMILY Conleys have been racing area dirt tracks for decades. Rod Conley had a great weekend at PRP finishing second both nights. R.J. Conley missed Saturday s race to attend his daughter s high school graduation. He came back on Sunday to finish in the top five. Delmas Conley also attended this graduation on Saturday to watch his granddaughter receive her diploma. Delmas hustled back to PRP after the ceremonies, tagged the tail of the feature and climbed to eighth. Delmas Conley backed that effort up on Sunday with a sixth-place performance. On Sunday, all four Conley drivers, including J.T., raced their way into the feature by transferring out of their heats. RACE HARD AND LOOK SHARP
Jamie Christy at Impact Race Gear has a great Late Model promotion going throughout the season. Points will be awarded to Late Model drivers during weekly shows for their performances in dashes and heat races. The winner at the end of the season receives over $1,700 worth of custom-made t-shirts. SPONSORS CONTINUE TO GIVE Markwest Hydrocarbon has supplied the Modified Hard Charger with $50 every race this season, and Pendleton Truck Sales & Implement Company gives the Bomber heat race winners $25 apiece each night. Wesbanco gave Doug Drown $100 Saturday night for being the Late Model fast qualifier. Jackie Boggs earned $250 from Lemley Motorsports Sunday for setting fast time. Also on Sunday, Late Model Dash winner Steve Lucas earned some Degreaser from Joe Gibbs Racing Driven to Win Racing Oil. FANS WIN TOO Area race fans Kevin and Carol Martz of Sciotoville gave away a pair of tickets to the June NASCAR Truck race at Kentucky Speedway as well as a pair of tickets to the June Nationwide Race in Kentucky. All of those tickets were valued at $60 apiece. Jim and Sandy Bradley of Bradley s Racing Apparel gave away a Mini Gator to lucky 6-yearold on Sunday. Big Sandy Superstores and Bocook s Garage are again teaming up in 2013 to supply a couple of lucky race fans with the right to use The Best Seats in The House on the second floor of the press box. This weekend s split-the-pot winners received huge earnings each night. Saturday s winner took home over $700. Sunday s winner pocketed nearly $1,700.