By CHUCK GREENSLATE

Portsmouth Raceway Park

  PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth Raceway Park kicked off its 2023 season Saturday with Salute The Troops and First Responders Night presented by Jamie Stith at Pro Paint and The Huntington Drum Company.

Over 70 drivers were on hand to race in front of a big opening-night crowd, which contained several veterans, active duty military, and first responders who were all provided free general admission over Memorial Day Weekend.

   The evening saw some familiar and not so familiar faces find winner’s circle.  Four-time PRP track champion RJ Conley took the checkers in the Late Models.  Former champ Ervin Vance grabbed the win in the Modifieds.  Nicky Pennington prevailed in the Limited Lates, and Stevie D. Thornsberry became just the fourth female to ever win a PRP feature, as she claimed the victory in the Sport Mods.

   Conley qualified fifth out of the 20 drivers in The Giovanni’s Wholesale Late Model Division.  He started third in Heat 1.  Conley would take the lead from Shannon Thornsberry on lap 4 and would lead the rest of the race to earn the pole for the A-Main.

   Conley would set the pace the entire 25-lap feature en route to the checkers, but he did have company at the front.  He and Ashland, KY’s Kirk Phillips pulled away from the rest of the field, and Phillips got within a few car lengths late in the race as the top two maneuvered their way through traffic.  In the end though, it was Wheelersburg’s RJ Conley once again parking the 71C in victory lane.

   Sunshine, KY’s Avery Taylor moved up three spots to place third.  Wheelersburg’s Nick Bocook climbed six positions to finish fourth.  Wheelersburg-native Kevin Wagner also moved up six spots, as he finished fifth.  Rounding out the top 10 were defending track champion Brandon Fouts, Justin Cooper, Josh Bocook, Kenny Christy, and Joe Brewer.

   Shannon Thornsberry posted the quickest lap during time trials with a time of 14.778 seconds.  He wound up 12th in the feature.

   There were 21 Gampp’s Power Equipment Modifieds on the scene.  Ervin Vance was dominant driving Jody Pucket’s #J3 Stealth Chassis.  Vance set fast time, led every lap of the first heat, and set the pace all 20 laps of the feature.  Defending track champion Anthony Slusher climbed from eighth to second.  Aaron Branham placed third.  Brian Sammons, Jr. moved up nine spots driving from 13th to fourth.  Brandon Smith completed the top 5.  Making up the rest of the top 10 were Adam Colley, Josh Thomas, Derek Richmond, Caiden Yates, and Craig Christian.

   The track was very racy Saturday, and that was never any more apparent than in the Mods where some cars were rim riding, while others were married to the bottom.  Seth Daniels was making the high side work early on in the race but crashed on lap 9 while riding second.

   Nicky Pennington from Morehead, KY picked up the victory in The O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Late Model Division winning from the pole.  Mike Meyers, Jacob Curnutte, Robbie Lewis, Joe Brewer, Evyian Terry, Kevin Terry, Casey Rhodes, Kent Keyser, and Xzavier McClaskey rounded out the top 10.

   One of the best Limited Late Model races Saturday was the second heat that saw Poca, WV retired marine Casey Rhodes hold off former track champ Robbie Lewis to pick up a checkered flag on Memorial Day Weekend.

   Twenty drivers were on hand in The BluePrint Event Tent & Inflatables Rentals Sport Mod Division.  Stout’s Stevie D. Thornsberry joined “Rockin” Rita Sammons, Brandy Hensley, and Emily Jordan as the only females to ever win an A-Main at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

   Thornsberry was strong all evening and proved that early on in her heat race when she started 10th and drove up to second.  She started the feature fourth, took the lead away from Dallas Pickelheimer on lap 2, and never looked back.

   Many fans stuck around well after the checkered flag had fallen on the Sport Mod Feature, which was the final race of the night.  They waited patiently as Thornsberry went through tech and they were standing along the fence to cheer her as she climbed out of her car.

   Mikey Howard charged up a dozen spots to finish as the runner-up.  Darrell Dockery, Danny Hamilton, Jr., Scott LeMaster, Ben McCann, Chris Howison, RJ Perkins, Branden Colley, and Blake Butcher made up the remainder of the top 10.

   Portsmouth Raceway Park will be back in action this coming Saturday, June 3rd featuring Late Models, Modifieds, Limited Lates, and Sport Mods.  The highlighted event of the evening will be the Modified Feature, which will be The 9th Annual Cletus Classic Presented by Whitley, Gahm, & Rayburn CPAs, Crabtree’s Carpet, and Grooms Trucking.  Gates will open at 4 p.m. with racing at approximately 7:30.

Results for 5/27/2023 at Portsmouth Raceway Park – Portsmouth, OH

Late Models 20 Entries

A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:26:53.565

1. 71C-RJ Conley[1]; 2. 21K-Kirk Phillips[8]; 3. 159-Avery Taylor[6]; 4. 1B-Nick Bocook[10]; 5. 33-Kevin Wagner[11]; 6. 81-Brandon Fouts[4]; 7. 00-Justin Cooper[7]; 8. B1-Josh Bocook[13]; 9. C7-Kenny Christy[9]; 10. 33B-Joe Brewer[12]; 11. 73-Charlie Mullett[15]; 12. 17-Shannon Thornsberry[3]; 13. 21H-Kenneth Howell[14]; 14. S21-Seth Daniels[2]; 15. CJ1-Charlie Jude[18]; 16. K73-Kevin Mullett[16]; 17. 73T-Russel Throckmorton[17]; 18. 1-Corey Lewis[5]; 19. 27-Shawn Martin[19]; 20. (DNS) 39-Mike Hildebrand

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:03:26.700

1. 71C-RJ Conley[3]; 2. 17-Shannon Thornsberry[1]; 3. 1-Corey Lewis[4]; 4. 00-Justin Cooper[2]; 5. C7-Kenny Christy[5]; 6. 33-Kevin Wagner[6]; 7. B1-Josh Bocook[7]; 8. 73-Charlie Mullett[8]; 9. 73T-Russel Throckmorton[10]; 10. 27-Shawn Martin[9]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:09:44.615

1. S21-Seth Daniels[1]; 2. 81-Brandon Fouts[3]; 3. 159-Avery Taylor[6]; 4. 21K-Kirk Phillips[5]; 5. 1B-Nick Bocook[7]; 6. 33B-Joe Brewer[8]; 7. 21H-Kenneth Howell[2]; 8. K73-Kevin Mullett[9]; 9. CJ1-Charlie Jude[10]; 10. 39-Mike Hildebrand[4]

Qualifying 1 | 00:05:39.832

1. 17-Shannon Thornsberry, 00:14.778[2]; 2. S21-Seth Daniels, 00:14.930[16]; 3. 00-Justin Cooper, 00:15.031[3]; 4. 21H-Kenneth Howell, 00:15.058[13]; 5. 71C-RJ Conley, 00:15.090[10]; 6. 81-Brandon Fouts, 00:15.196[8]; 7. 1-Corey Lewis, 00:15.211[6]; 8. 39-Mike Hildebrand, 00:15.258[1]; 9. C7-Kenny Christy, 00:15.273[4]; 10. 21K-Kirk Phillips, 00:15.346[12]; 11. 33-Kevin Wagner, 00:15.462[19]; 12. 159-Avery Taylor, 00:15.561[9]; 13. B1-Josh Bocook, 00:15.609[18]; 14. 1B-Nick Bocook, 00:15.780[11]; 15. 73-Charlie Mullett, 00:15.874[15]; 16. 33B-Joe Brewer, 00:15.945[7]; 17. 27-Shawn Martin, 00:15.997[5]; 18. K73-Kevin Mullett, 00:16.132[17]; 19. 73T-Russel Throckmorton, 00:17.831[20]; 20. CJ1-Charlie Jude[14]

Modifieds 21 Entries

A Feature 1 20 Laps | 00:39:16.230

1. J3-Ervin Vance[1]; 2. 2-Anthony Slusher[8]; 3. 38-Aaron Branham[2]; 4. 9F-Brian Sammons Jr[13]; 5. 244-Brandon Smith[7]; 6. 11-Adam Colley[9]; 7. 96-Josh Thomas[11]; 8. 34-Derek Richmond[6]; 9. C21-Caiden Yates[17]; 10. 35C-Craig Christian[14]; 11. 7T-Tommy McClain[15]; 12. 17M-Wesley Menshouse[18]; 13. 8J-Jimmy Lennex[3]; 14. 20S-Brian Skaggs[5]; 15. S21-Seth Daniels[4]; 16. 21X-Jason Montgomery[12]; 17. 37-Harold Branham[16]; 18. 51-Cole Cooper[10]; 19. 82A-Brian Akers[19]; 20. 1-Byron Mays[20]; 21. (DNS) 83-Briana Robinson

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:05:37.986

1. J3-Ervin Vance[1]; 2. 8J-Jimmy Lennex[6]; 3. 20S-Brian Skaggs[2]; 4. 244-Brandon Smith[3]; 5. 11-Adam Colley[5]; 6. 96-Josh Thomas[8]; 7. 9F-Brian Sammons Jr[11]; 8. 7T-Tommy McClain[7]; 9. C21-Caiden Yates[9]; 10. 82A-Brian Akers[10]; 11. 83-Briana Robinson[4]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:57.311

1. 38-Aaron Branham[2]; 2. S21-Seth Daniels[1]; 3. 34-Derek Richmond[3]; 4. 2-Anthony Slusher[5]; 5. 51-Cole Cooper[4]; 6. 21X-Jason Montgomery[7]; 7. 35C-Craig Christian[6]; 8. 37-Harold Branham[8]; 9. 17M-Wesley Menshouse[9]; 10. 1-Byron Mays[10]

Qualifying 1 | 00:00:59.181

1. J3-Ervin Vance, 00:16.106[12]; 2. S21-Seth Daniels, 00:16.120[3]; 3. 20S-Brian Skaggs, 00:16.373[17]; 4. 38-Aaron Branham, 00:16.374[16]; 5. 244-Brandon Smith, 00:16.614[14]; 6. 34-Derek Richmond, 00:16.641[5]; 7. 83-Briana Robinson, 00:16.687[15]; 8. 51-Cole Cooper, 00:16.691[2]; 9. 11-Adam Colley, 00:16.728[1]; 10. 2-Anthony Slusher, 00:16.791[9]; 11. 8J-Jimmy Lennex, 00:16.804[11]; 12. 35C-Craig Christian, 00:16.847[4]; 13. 7T-Tommy McClain, 00:16.976[8]; 14. 21X-Jason Montgomery, 00:17.091[21]; 15. 96-Josh Thomas, 00:17.280[20]; 16. 37-Harold Branham, 00:17.300[19]; 17. C21-Caiden Yates, 00:17.360[13]; 18. 17M-Wesley Menshouse, 00:19.347[7]; 19. 82A-Brian Akers, 00:19.533[10]; 20. 1-Byron Mays, 00:23.457[6]; 21. 9F-Brian Sammons Jr[18]

Limited Late Models 11 Entries

A Feature 1 15 Laps | 00:05:41.241

1. 95-Nicky Pennington[1]; 2. 10M-Mike Meyers[3]; 3. 5C-Jacob Curnutte[6]; 4. 48-Robbie Lewis[4]; 5. 316-Joe Brewer[7]; 6. 58-Evyian Terry[5]; 7. 97C-Kevin Terry[8]; 8. 81R-Casey Rhodes[2]; 9. 702-Kent Keyser[11]; 10. 11-Xzavier McClaskey[10]; 11. (DNS) 23-Jason Salmons

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:51.163

1. 95-Nicky Pennington[1]; 2. 10M-Mike Meyers[2]; 3. 58-Evyian Terry[5]; 4. 316-Joe Brewer[4]; 5. 11-Xzavier McClaskey[6]; 6. 23-Jason Salmons[3]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:56.714

1. 81R-Casey Rhodes[1]; 2. 48-Robbie Lewis[5]; 3. 5C-Jacob Curnutte[3]; 4. 97C-Kevin Terry[4]; 5. (DNS) 702-Kent Keyser

Sport Mods 20 Entries

A Feature 1 15 Laps | 00:21:08.256

1. 8D-Stevie Thornsberry[4]; 2. 16-Mikey Howard[14]; 3. 44-Darrell Dockery[3]; 4. 99-Danny Hamilton Jr[2]; 5. 10K-Scott LeMaster[15]; 6. 96M-Ben McCann[6]; 7. 27-Chris Howison[16]; 8. 2-RJ Perkins[9]; 9. 11B-Branden Colley[11]; 10. 25-Blake Butcher[7]; 11. 5J-Jonathon Henline[8]; 12. 71-Mark Hall[12]; 13. B9-Jeromy Brady[17]; 14. 55-Kasey Black[18]; 15. 10-Garrek Canter[10]; 16. 11-Dallas Pickelheimer[1]; 17. 28-Terry Blevins[5]; 18. 7-Jared Butcher[19]; 19. (DNS) 11C-Kyle Call; 20. (DNS) 2+2-Jace Cooper

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:08:11.114

1. 11-Dallas Pickelheimer[8]; 2. 44-Darrell Dockery[5]; 3. 28-Terry Blevins[3]; 4. 25-Blake Butcher[7]; 5. 2-RJ Perkins[1]; 6. 11B-Branden Colley[9]; 7. 11C-Kyle Call[2]; 8. 10K-Scott LeMaster[4]; 9. B9-Jeromy Brady[10]; 10. 7-Jared Butcher[6]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:07:27.112

1. 99-Danny Hamilton Jr[3]; 2. 8D-Stevie Thornsberry[10]; 3. 96M-Ben McCann[6]; 4. 5J-Jonathon Henline[5]; 5. 10-Garrek Canter[1]; 6. 71-Mark Hall[8]; 7. 16-Mikey Howard[7]; 8. 27-Chris Howison[4]; 9. 55-Kasey Black[9]; 10. 2+2-Jace Cooper[2]