GIBSONTON, Fla. (Feb. 9) — Tyler Reddick has repeatedly said how excited he is to be driving his new Bloomquist Race Car. It showed Wednesday night at East Bay Raceway Park.

The 15-year-old driver from Corning, Calif., who dove into the Dirt Late Model scene two years ago at Florida Speedweeks, raced to victory lane in just his second race in the chassis built by Scott Bloomquist. As Reddick took the checkered flag — ahead of Bloomquist — fans rose to their feet and raised their arms in triumph for undoubtedly the youngest Super Late Model winner in Speedweeks history. | Complete Speedweeks coverage

Reddick overtook race-long leader and polesitter Dan Schlieper on the 22nd lap of the Dart Winternationals by Magnaflow 30-lap feature and survived two late restarts to claim his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.

“I was so excited there the last five laps,” an elated Reddick said in victory lane after a flag-waving celebration atop his car's roof. “We were fast enough and I knew we had something for Dan. I was just waiting for the right chance and he gave it to us. I can’t believe we got our first win here this early in the week."

Schlieper took the lead on the start of the race with Jimmy Owens in second. The third-starting Reddick moved by Owens on lap three and quickly erased Schlieper’s lead. The young driver glued his race car to the bottom of the racetrack and followed the fellow Team Zero driver through the first half of the race.

The two drivers reached heavy lapped traffic just passed the halfway point and Reddick began to challenge for the point. After looking under Schlieper a number of times, Reddick pulled alongside the leader exiting turn two on lap 22 and rubbed past Schlieper's No. 9 at the other end of the racetrack.

But Schlieper didn’t let Reddick get away easily. The veteran driver squeezed Reddick to the bottom of the track enter turn three and the two made slight contact in the middle of the corner.

“He definitely didn’t wanna give it up,” Reddick said of the battle with Schlieper. “We’ve both been wanting to win for a while and needed to win. He gave me a little rub there, but it was fun racing with him.”

Schlieper twice looked to retake the lead in the outside groove, but his attempts were denied by cautions. He was alongside Reddick with head of steam when Brad Neat slowed and brought out a caution on lap 24. He had another run on Reddick two laps later when a three-car wreck in turn four slowed the pace.

Reddick pulled away on the race’s final restart and cruised to the victory. Schlieper faded in the race’s waning laps, falling back to fourth at the finish. Bloomquist was second with ninth-starting Steve Francis picking up two spots late to finish third. Schlieper and Don O'Neal, who ran as high as third, rounded out the top five.

“We had a good race going on there," Schlieper said, "but those late yellows kind of killed me, one right after another. The tire I had on, it played into his favor and not mine. I had him passed after that, but the yellows kept coming out, and it is what it is."

Notes: Reddick's Bloomquist Race Car has a Gaerte Engine and sponsorship from Broken Bow Records, America's Incredible Pizza and VP Racing Fuels. ... It was the first Late Model victory for the driver who has two full years in the division. ... Nineteen of 26 starters were running at the finish. ... Eddie Carrier Jr. and Terry Casey were among drivers eliminated in a second-lap scramble in turn one. ... Brad Neat got into the turn-four berm and forced a complete restart on the first attempted lap, but he got his spot back for the restart. He slowed to draw the lap-24 yellow. ... The lap-26 caution appeared when David Breazeale spun in turn four trying to avoid contact with a slowing car.

Finish: (1) Tyler Reddick, (2) Scott Bloomquist, (3) Steve Francis, (4) Dan Schlieper, (5) Don O’Neal, (6) Jimmy Owens, (7) Eric Jacobsen, (8) Mike Marlar, (9) Dale McDowell, (10) Rick Eckert, (11) Jared Landers, (12) Josh Richards, (13) Dennis Erb Jr., (14) Austin Hubbard, (15) Jason Feger, (16) Donnie Moran, (17) Justin Rattliff, (18) David Breazeale, (19) Ray Cook, (20) Wayne Chinn, (21) Brad Neat, (22) Wendell Wallace, (23) Chris Wall, (24) Tim Dohm, (25) Terry Casey, (26) Eddie Carrier Jr. Fast qualifier (among 62 cars): Schlieper, 14.296. Heat race winners: Schlieper, Reddick, Neat, Owens, Bloomquist, O’Neal. Consolation winners: Carrier, Dohm. Strawberry Dash winner: Wallace. Provisional starter: Feger.

Blog-style reports of Wednesday's preliminaries:

Fifth heat

Scott Bloomquist, winner of Tuesday night’s Winternationals opener, put himself in position to win another feature by winning the fifth heat. Bloomquist powered by polesitter Mike Marlar on the start of the race and led every lap of the caution-free race. Marlar trailed Bloomquist the entire distance to finish second, with Jared Landers finishing in the third and final transfer position. Earl Pearson Jr. finished fourth with Terry Casey fifth.

Finish: Scott Bloomquist, Mike Marlar, Jared Landers, Earl Pearson Jr., Terry Casey, Billy Moyer Jr., Tim Isenberg, Greg Fore, Doug Blashe, Vic Coffey.

Fourth heat

Outside front-row starter Jimmy Owens outdueled polesitter Chris Wall early in the race, then held off a charge by sixth-starting Josh Richards on a one-lap dash to the checkers for the victory. Owens will start on the front row of the feature for the second straight night. Richards ran outside the three transfer spots most of the way, but he took to the high groove on a lap-nine restart and swept around Tim Dohm and Wall. In the first half of the race, Wall nosed in on Owens repeatedly, nearly pulling alongside a few times before slipping in turn four on the sixth lap. Dohm, who started third but slipped back to fifth early, looked like he had the final transfer spot sewn up until Richards came alive. The lone caution appeared just after the white flag fell when Justin Rattliff and Skylar Marlar tangled in turn three, leaving Marlar's car spun; he suffered damaged to the left-front nosepiece.

Finish: Jimmy Owens, Josh Richards, Chris Wall, Tim Dohm, Jared Hawkins, Justin Rattliff, Dan Stone, Jason McBride, Mark Andersen, Skylar Marlar, Bob Geigler.

First heat

Polesitter Dan Schlieper jumped to the lead on the start of the first heat race and held off challenges from both Wayne Chinn and David Breazeale for the win. Breazeale passed Chinn for second on lap four, but never found a way around Schlieper. Chinn held off Eddie Carrier Jr. for the third and final transfer position. Bub McCool finished fifth. Keith Nosbisch brought out the race's only caution when he had a flat tire on lap nine.

Finish: Dan Schlieper, David Breazeale, Wayne Chinn, Eddie Carrier Jr., Bub McCool, Tim McCreadie, John Blankenship, Travis Varnadore, Chuck Julien, Keith Nosbisch.

Qualifying

Dan Schlieper of Oak Creek, Wis., topped a field of 62 drivers Wednesday in time trails for the second event of East Bay Raceway Park's 35th annual Dart Winternationals by Magnaflow.

“This is an awesome way to start the night out. We had an oil line that came loose (in hot laps), but we got that taken care of,” said Schlieper, a former track record holder at East Bay. “I don’t think the track was ready for a track record tonight, but I was giving it all I had that’s for sure.”

Schlieper will start on the pole of the first of six heat races for the $5,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event. Unofficially the other heat race polesitters are: Tyler Reddick, of Corning, Ca.; series rookie Frank Heckenast Jr. of Frankfort, Ill.; Chris Wall of Springfield, La.; Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn.; and Don O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind.

The top three finishers from each of six heat races will transfer to the 30-lap main event. Two drivers from each of three consolation races also transfer to the main event. Rounding out the 26-car field is the fastest qualifier who failed to transfer through prelims and winner of the Strawberry Dash for non-qualifiers.

Pre-race notes