RJ Conley Captures PRP Fred Dillow Memorial

PRP Press Release – Monday, August 21, 2017
By Chuck Greenslate

Over $33,000 of bonus money and prizes sprinkled throughout the field, the highest car count of the season, one of the best Late Model races of the year, and a jam packed house all added together to make up the 23rd annual Fred Dillow Memorial Race at Portsmouth Raceway Park this past Saturday.
On an evening where so many won in so many ways, R.J. Conley out dueled Jackie Boggs to capture the Glockner.com Late Model A-Main, while Shannon Thornsberry set quick time to earn $1,077 in The 10th annual Bozo Bradgon “Bozo’s Just Give Me One Lap” Late Model Time Trials. Ervin Vance took the checkers in The Dale “Buddha” Lyons Modified Feature. Billy “The Rosemount Rocket” Staker prevailed in The Giovanni’s Wholesale Limited Late Model A-Main, and 14-year-old Eric Berry picked up his second career PRP win prevailing in The B & B Recycling Sport Mod Feature.
In total, 122 race teams were on hand for the 23rd annual Fred Dillow Memorial race, and commissioners from neighboring Lawrence County, where Fred Dillow resided, proclaimed Saturday, August 19th Fred Dillow Memorial Day.
For R.J. Conley, Saturday’s victory marked his sixth Fred Dillow Memorial win. The race certainly didn’t lack for excitement. The 40-lap, $5,000 to win Glockner.com Late Model A-Main which also provided the winner with a provisional starting spot in the annual Hillbilly 100 at Tyler County Speedway on September 3rd, turned out to be an epic duel between two of PRP’s most successful drivers as Conley, a four-time track champ, and Boggs, a two-time track champ and three-time Boone Coleman Memorial Gator 50 winner, brought the fans to their feet as they went side by side and back and forth.
Scott James, who started on the outside of row one, would lead early on after getting the jump on polesitter Brandon Fouts, but on lap six, Conley would get by and take command.
Conley, who began third, would jump out to a rather sizeable lead but Boggs would march up from his fifth-place start, catch Conley, and the race was then on.
With Conley running the high line, Boggs would dive low and show Conley his nose on multiple occasions. Boggs would actually edge in front through the turns, but Conley’s momentum up high off the turns would enable him to motor past down the straight-aways. However, on lap 34 Conley would drift a little too high off of turn four enabling Boggs to pull up alongside and lead the 35th circuit.
Boggs’ Swartz Car would clear Conley going into one. Boggs would slide high off of two, and Conley then cut down with a crossover move and would out-drag Boggs into turn three and throw a slider off of the fourth corner to retake the lead.
The maneuver put Conley’s #71C Conley Trucking, Conley River Terminal, Valvoline, Rocket Chassis out front to stay and earned him The Ryan McGraw “Move of the Race.”
Finishing behind Conley and Boggs were Steve Casebolt, Shannon Thornsberry, and Brandon Fouts. Placing sixth through 10th were Rod Conley, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Stephen Breeding, Delmas Conley, and Josh Bocook.
Besides picking up $5,000 for the win and a provisional in The Hillbilly 100, Conley earned The Ryan Pfunk Potter Halfway Leader Award, as well as a bonus for leading lap seven courtesy of Impact RaceGear in memory of Rick Christy.
Scott James earned a bonus from Jason Perry Racing for leading lap one. Eddie Carrier, Jr. was the Shain Custom Decals, Mortorsports Graphics and Designs Hard Charger, as The Salt Rock Express moved up eight spots. Brandon Fouts won The Sgt. Tim Moore Late Model Dash. Robbie Lewis, Colton Burdette, and Steve Casebolt all won DirtonDirt.com Late Model Heat races. Jason Montgomery received a bonus from Bocook’s Garage for being the seventh fastest qualifier, and Colten Burdette picked up the Impact RaceGear Tough Break Award for being the first driver out of the race.
Colton Flinner and Christopher Combs were the two transferees out of the B-Main. Kenny Howell earned $100 from Dowdy Trucking, as he was the highest finishing driver in the B-Main who didn’t qualify for the feature.
“Swervin” Ervin Vance was the class of the field in the Modifieds. He led every lap of The Dale “Buddha” Lyons Feature and en route to the victory captured The Ryan Pfunk Potter Halfway Leader Award. Rick Aukland, Jeremy Rayburn, Adam Jordan, and Jesse Wisecarver rounded out the top five with Shon Flanary, Ben Adkins, Nathon Loney, Adam Stricker, and James Grigsby making up the rest of the top 10.
Flanary was The Dickess Christmas Tree Farms Modified Quick Qualifier. Vance, Auckland, Rayburn, and Loney all recorded heat race victories which were ran in memory of Pappy Harshbarger. Jordan climbed up through the field 10 spots and was the Walker Construction Hard Charger awarded in the memory of Linda Walker.
Jim Barnett and Tony DeHart earned bonus money from Dynamic Shock Service for winning the two Modified B-Mains.
Billy Staker took the checkers in The Giovanni’s Wholesale Limited Late Model A-Main. It was his third PRP feature win of the season. Ronnie Whitt, Mike Meyers, Cameron Logan, Jacob Curnutte, Joe Whitt, Vincent Bender, Johnny Vandale, Randy Ross, and Charlie Mullett made up the rest of the top 10.
Staker earned The Staker Machine & Fabrication Halfway Leader Award. Charlie Mullett was The Bradley’s Racing Apparel Hard Charger, as he advanced six positions. Staker and Meyers won the two Ideal Wheels Limited Late Model Heats.
Young Eric Berry raced well beyond his years Saturday, as the teenager from West Portsmouth cruised to the win in the B & B Recycling Sport Mod A-Main. Berry led every lap, and besides the victory, he picked up a bonus from Timmy Hunt for being in front at the halfway mark.
Derek Richmond, B.J. Branham, Brian Sammons, Mitchel Fields, Luke Jordan, Brianna Robinson, Christopher Shelton, Jr., Eric Dennison, and Rick Neace rounded out the top 10.
Jeremy Cassidy moved up eight spots to be The Jordan Heating & Air Hard Charger. Berry, Sammons, and Richmond were all triumphant in the B & B Recycling Sport Mod Heats.
Chris Arnold from Chesterfield, Virginia, who drove over seven hours to attend the race, earned the Long Haul Award and received $183 from CB Auto Detailing and a $50 gas card from Pro Star Designs.
Colton Flinner was awarded The Jim Morgan Best Appearing Late Model Award. Justin Jacobs was awarded The Jim Morgan Best Appearing Modified. Randy Ross was The Best Appearing Limited Late Model, and Mitchel Fields was the Best Appearing Sport Mod. Flinner and Jacobs both received cash bonuses, while Ross and Fields recevied grills from Valvoline. The voting was conducted by the grandchildren and great-grandson of Fred Dillow.
Many compact refrigerators donated from Valvoline were awarded randomly to drivers and fans. Members of The Dillow family tossed door prizes into the grandstands throughout much of the night.
In total, the Dillow family worked with over 80 additional sponsors to help make the evening a success.
This coming Saturday, another highly anticipated PRP race will take place… Fan Appreciation Night presented by Master Works Jewelry Studio. General Admission tickets are only $5. Giovanni’s Pizza Late Models, R.W. Rental & Supply Modifieds, O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Lates, and M & M Inflatables Sport Mods will all be on the card. Gates will open at 4 p.m with racing at 7:30. For more details, log on to www.portsraceway.com.
Late Model A-Main
1. 71C-RJ Conley [3]; 2. 4B-Jackie Boggs [5]; 3. C9-Steve Casebolt [9]; 4. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [6]; 5. 81-Brandon Fouts [1]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley [11]; 7. 10C-Eddie Carrier Jr [15]; 8. 5-Stephen Breeding [12]; 9. 71-Delmas Conley [18]; 10. B1-Josh Bocook [4]; 11. 75-Colton Flinner [19]; 12. 57-Ron Hinds II [16]; 13. 48L-Robbie Lewis [7]; 14. 83-Scott James [2]; 15. 12-Jason Jameson [14]; 16. 47C-Christopher Combs [20]; 17. B7-Ben Adkins [17]; 18. 31AUS-Paul Stubber [13]; 19. 21M-Jason [10]; 20. 44CB-Colten Burdette [8]
Modified A-Main
1. P20-Ervin Vance [1]; 2. 12A-Rick Aukland [2]; 3. 12R-Jeremy Rayburn [3]; 4. 13-Adam Jordan [14]; 5. 101-Jesse Wisecarver [8]; 6. 98-Shon Flanary [5]; 7. 53-Ben Adkins [10]; 8. 10L-Nathon Loney [4]; 9. 68-Adam Stricker [11]; 10. 42-James Grigsby [13]; 11. 1Y-Aaron Pendleton [7]; 12. 35-Tony DeHart [18]; 13. 21-Jim Barnett [17]; 14. 11S-Tyler Smith [19]; 15. 75-Eric Berry [20]; 16. 99W-Chris Arnold [6]; 17. 11-Austin Francis [12]; 18. 17-Chris Wilson [15]; 19. 87-Eddie Harmon [16]; 20. 1PJ-Shawn Holliday [9]
Limited Late Model A-Main
1. 7S-Billy Staker [1]; 2. 11-Ronnie Whitt [3]; 3. 10M-Mike Meyers [2]; 4. 68-Cameron Logan [7]; 5. 5C-Jacob Curnutte [8]; 6. W1-Joe Whitt [4]; 7. 29B-Vincent Bender [9]; 8. 23-Johnny Vandale [10]; 9. 94-Randy Ross [12]; 10. 73-Charlie Mullett [16]; 11. 81M-Matt Melvin [5]; 12. 5M-Anthony Knell [13]; 13. 58-Evyian Terry [14]; 14. K73-Kevin Mullett [11]; 15. 45-Russ Frohnapfel [15]; (DNS) 73B-Austin Mullett
Sport Mod A-Main
1. 75B-Brayden Berry [2]; 2. 34-Derek Richmond [3]; 3. 77T-BJ Branham [4]; 4. B5-Brian Sammons [1]; 5. 01JR-Mitchel Fields [9]; 6. 13J-Luke Jordan [6]; 7. 83-Brianna Robinson [8]; 8. 4-Christopher Shelton Jr [7]; 9. 47-Eric Dennison [15]; 10. 12N-Rick Neace [12]; 11. 1-Jeremy Cassidy [19]; 12. 24B-Brennan Bobst [13]; 13. 25S-Derek Spencer [14]; 14. 51-Jason Spillman [11]; 15. 51*-Jimmie Spillman [16]; 16. B5JR-Brian Sammons Jr [5]; 17. 11B-Brandon Colley [17]; 18. 45L-Greg Litteral [18]; 19. 71-Mark Hall [10]; 20. 7J-Casey Jones [20]