Portsmouth Raceway Park

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - Patience paid off Saturday, Sept. 4, for Delmas Conley during the Labor Day Championships at Portsmouth Raceway Park.

For 19 laps, the veteran Wheelersburg driver followed Bill Bocook, also from Wheelersburg, around the PRP oval. On lap 20, Bocook looped his car in the fourth turn, and Conley inherited the lead.

Once in front, Conley turned back a challenge from Steve Casebolt Jr. to capture his third PRP late model A-Main of the season.

After spinning, Bocook roared through the traffic over the final six laps to finish ninth.Craig Leist wrapped up the driver’s championship by finishing 14th. Leist entered the night with a 200-point lead over Bocook, the defending champion.

Leist almost missed the race. He had to take his daughter to the emergency room earlier in the day and arrived at the track after his heat race had run.

Starting last in the 11-car B-Main, Leist battled through traffic to win and make the A-Main.

Keith Berner was the timber Wolf Hard Charger winner. He started 18th and finished 10th.

The modified feature resembled a demolition derby. Andy French went out of the race on lap 19 and finished fifth in the 20-car field.

The race featured eight cautions and a red flag. Nearly all of the race stoppages were the result of at least two cars getting together hard.

The biggest crash came on the third attempt to start the race. Doug Adkins got into the rear of Jim Pertuset, who hit the wall in front of the flagstand. That started a chain reaction action, which ended in the first turn with rear tires of Dave Kegley’s car resting on top of Adam Jordan’s car.

Jordan, making his first modified start of the season at PRP, was uninjured. Kegley was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

Seven cars suffered substantial damage in the accident. While several continued on, none finished the race,

Todd Robinson led the first four laps, but, like Bocook, spun in turn four.

Tony DeHart inherited the lead and was unchallenged as he won for the fifth time this season and wrapped up the modified driver’s championship.

John Wright was runner-up in both the race and the points chase. David Booker was third in the race and Todd Robinson moved into third in points by being the only other car to finish the race and taking fourth,

Bo Cox’s six-race winning streak was broken in the bombers.

After climbing out of his damaged modified, Jordan got in his familiar bomber and held off Cox to claim his fourth feature.

Cox however, locked up the driving title. He has 10 wins on the season, one less than the track record held by modified driver Jeff Cunningham.

Phillip Kouns ran third and locked up third in the points. Although still looking for his first win of the season, Kouns is the most improved drover in the division over his performance last season.

Late Model

A Main: Delmas Conley, Steve Casebolt Jr., Aaron Bapst, Jack Boggs, Kenny Christy, Rod Conley, Jackie Boggs, Jim Leeth, Bill Bocook, Keith Berner, Barry Bragdon.

Dash: Delmas Conley, Bill Bocook, Jack Boggs, Barry Bragdon, Aaron Bapst, Jeff Boyd