RR Tyler Reddick Invades Central Pennsylvania

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Central Pennsylvania Racing

Up and Comer Tyler Reddick Invades Central Pennsylvania

Fans of rubberracer.com are no strangers to the name Tyler Reddick. Being the youngest of all of the up and comers whose progress we watch regularly, we were more than excited to learn that Tyler was coming to our neck of the woods. Central PA is well known for it’s caliber of talented dirt track drivers and the prospect of a PA Speed week full of 600 Micro Sprint action drove the Reddick family to the area. The PA 600 Speed week consists of a 7-day grueling schedule covering all types of track sizes with purses totaling $80,000.00.

First, we travel to the 1/3-mile Trailway Speedway. The action began Saturday night with over 80 Micro Sprints in the field. Tyler’s pill draw led him to a start on the outside of row 4. On the start Tyler powered to the outside to move past the 6th and 7th place cars. Tyler slid high to the outside of turn 2 to power past the 5th place car and slid into the middle of a 3-wide battle in turn 3. With some distance on the 5th place car Tyler went to work on local driver Ben Murphy in the #36 machine. Ben managed to hold Tyler off for several laps as the “California kid” worked hard on the rear of the 36. Tyler dove low into turn three to make the pass on Murphy just as the caution flag flew. On the restart Tyler lined up in the 4th spot and again went to work on Murphy, who was racing hard against the youngster. Tyler finally powered past Murphy with only 2 laps remaining and no more time to advance. Tyler finished in 3rd in his heat but rain shortened the event. He should start on the outside pole of the B Main when the action continues on Tuesday night.

Next on the schedule was the infamous 3/8 mile Lincoln Speedway. Tyler’s pill draw once again found himself near the rear of his heat. Tyler battled hard to race to the front of his heat but came up one short for the A-Main. He found himself in the inside of the 5th row. On the start one of the cars in front of Tyler failed to get going and Tyler quickly moved to the outside to avoid slamming into the back of the 2 cars in front of him. The caution flew and Tyler lined up in the 7th position. Tyler only had to make one pass to advance to the A-Main, which he did in a relatively quick fashion. Once again Tyler found himself in a battle with the #36 of Ben Murphy who was charging hard. Tyler began moving around the track trying to find more speed. He had turns 1 and 2 hooked up but was losing a little time in 3 and 4. After a couple of laps Tyler found the speed in 3 and 4 and was able to hold off the charge from Murphy for the transfer spot. Some bad luck fell on the Reddick’s after the B-Main as Tyler’s car was found to be less than 3lbs underweight. Tyler was disqualified from the event.

The Monday night show at the ¼ mile Path Valley Speedway started off with a several hour rain delay. Once the racing started Tyler had luck on his side as his pill draw gave his the outside pole for his heat. On the start Tyler powered to the outside of the pole sitter where he remained for the entire race. Another lucky draw put Tyler on the outside pole again for the A-main. On the start of the race Tyler made quick work of the pole sitter and powered to a 10 car lead. The 18 of local driver Jake Murphy was coming fast as Tyler’s lead began to shrink. Jake caught up to Tyler and made the pass for the lead. One lap later the caution flew. On the restart Tyler made and awesome dash to the outside to take the lead back but lost the position as the yellow flew again. During the race Tyler began to notice his engine was beginning to overheat and made the decision to run a little more conservative in order to save the engine for the rest of the week. Over the final 15 laps Tyler succumbed to the #36 of Ben Murphy and the #44 of Mike Dicely to come home in the 4th spot.

Going into the make-up race at Trail-way Tyler was 15th in points, only 23 points out of the lead. Tyler's intuition about the engine at Path Valley turned out to be correct when his engine gave up during hot laps at Trail-Way. During the feature the night before the oil fill cap had come off and the engine began to lose oil. Unfortunately the Reddick's were faced with the decision whether to get a new engine or head home and prepare for Tyler's debut in his new car. After considering all the options the Reddick family decided to head back home. Even though the week was cut short Tyler managed to make quite an impression on the drivers and race fans in his short visit.

On a personal note the Rubber Racer team was quite impressed with Tyler's driving abilities. When we ran accross the youngster a couple of years ago we were stunned by the videos of his driving. After seeing him drive in person we were immediately impressed. Tyler definately has a bright future ahead of him. Keep checking the up and comers section for updates on Tyler's progress. Also please check out Tyler's website for videos and information on his racing career.

For more info on the Pennsylvania 600 Speed Week click here

For more info on Tyler Reddick click here