Hot night in Portsmouth

It was hot Saturday night short trackin’ at Portsmouth Raceway Park – the temperatures were hot, the racing was hot and the tempers were, well, just as hot from where I sat.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt series rolled in to Portsmouth, Ohio, with a quick turnaround to race the Hillbilly 100 at I-77 speedway in Ripley, W.Va.

In the pack were some drivers we follow as hometown heroes – Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., and Eddie Carrier Jr. of Salt Rock, W.Va.

Three heat races before the A-Main were fast and furious and the first of them forced four restarts to get the show going.

By night’s end, Billy Mowyer took the checkers, followed by Jimmy Owens and Dennis Erb Jr., before loading up and heading to Ripley.

Local favorite Steve Francis finished 6^th in the #15 Georgia Boot Toyota for car owner Clint Bowyer. Eddie Carrier Jr. finished 11^th.

Being fairly new to this series, I obviously need to brush up on the rules. Or at least find out where the restart line is on the trac - is it the backstretch? Is it between turns 3 and 4 or coming out of turn 4? I certainly couldn't decide. But then again, there were a lot of restarts - at the beginning of the races and coming out of cautions.

Then there is the whole Scott Bloomquist issue.

I don't believe anyone in Portsmouth likes him. Except I'm sure he likes himself.

Bloomquist finished 4th for the night, overtaken by a late surge from Erb.