WINCHESTER, Va. (April 13) – Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., completed an almost perfect night at Winchester Speedway with a victory in Sunday’s National Dirt Racing League-sanctioned Gunter’s Honey 50 — and afterward, he mentioned that there might have been a secret to his success.

“This place is nothing like it was the times we were here before,” said Bloomquist, whose last visit to the 3/8-mile oval, on Sept. 16, 2011, for a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event, also resulted in a win. “The dirt on it isn’t like it was before and the whole facility is so different now you don’t even recognize it as the same place. It was like visiting a new racetrack.”

Bloomquist paused, and then added with a sly wink of his eye, “Maybe that’s why we won.”

The 50-year-old Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer was alluding, of course, to his renowned knack for winning races in his first appearance at a track. Being in that frame of mind at Winchester paid off handsomely for Bloomquist because he swept the program, setting fast time, capturing a heat race and overtaking Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., late in the A-Main to register his first NDRL triumph of 2014 and the second of his career.

“We won here a few years ago when the track was completely different, so to come back and win again, it’s big,” said Bloomquist, who earned $10,000. “We didn’t start off this (NDRL) swing real well at Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania’s Motor Speedway on Thursday night) because we got turned into the (backstretch) wall, but we fixed the (self-designed) car and obviously it’s running just fine. I think last night (at Virginia Motor Speedway) we could’ve drove off if we didn’t have to come through from eighth (he finished second).”

The only blemish on Bloomquist’s evening at Winchester was his inability to lead the feature from flag-to-flag despite starting from the pole position. Robinson outgunned him for the top spot off the outside pole at the initial start and stayed there until the 26-year-old’s bid for a career-first national-tour win was dashed by Bloomquist’s inside pass on lap 39.

Robinson settled for a second-place finish in his Club 29 car, giving him a career-best performance in a national event. Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., who won the previous night at VMS, finished a solid third in the K&L Rumley Longhorn machine to take over the NDRL points lead, while Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was fourth in his Moyer Xtreme by Longhorn chassis and John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va., steered his Rocket car to a fifth-place finish that was his best of the 2014 NDRL points season.

“What you saw in the consies was the outside was better on the start,” Bloomquist said of his early slip to second place. “(Robinson) got out there in front of us, but I was just really happy that we were hanging tough and close with him. I was just thinking, Well, we get in some traffic or get some laps under our car, and we’ll be O.K. Our cars usually get better, and most of the other cars usually get worse, so I knew the longer the green was, the better chance I had.”

With only two early caution flags slowing the race — on lap four for a turn-two tangle involving Jamie Lathroum of Mechanicsville, Md., and Kenny Moreland of Waldorf, Md., and lap 12 when Davey Johnson of Latrobe, Pa., slowed in turn four — Bloomquist got the extended green-flag run he wanted. He challenged Robinson repeatedly before finally surging to the inside off turn four to assume command as lap 39 was scored.

“You just had to keep on working and working,” said Bloomquist. “His stuff started getting a little loose in the middle of the corner and that’s all it took.”

Bloomquist pulled away over the remaining distance, beating Robinson to the finish line by 2.909 seconds — nearly a full straightaway — at a track that in the final analysis seemed surprisingly familiar to him.

“I’ll tell you what, it really turned into a slick Tennessee racetrack,” said Bloomquist. “It’s got enough bank, and it really reminded me of some places in Tennessee. That red clay gets slippery quick, but once it blacks up it starts chewing on some tires and that’s actually what it did tonight.”

Bloomquist was ready for the surface’s abrasive turn.

“We might have run a little different tire,” Bloomquist said with a smile. “Everybody said there was a specific tire you had to run here — don’t run nothing else — and you know, I don’t like to listen very well.”

Robinson acknowledged that Bloomquist’s decision to bolt slightly harder-compound rubber on his car’s right-rear corner.

“The car was flawless,” Robinson said of his family-owned machine. “I think we just kind of got out-tired. Scott put on a harder tire than everyone. Most people had a tire in mind for here and we kind of went with that, so the credit goes to him for making that call. But that’s what you get for racing for longer than I’ve been alive. The credit goes to him for making that call.

“Lapped cars didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t think I slowed down. I think he just got faster. I was getting signs from my crew chief so I knew the gap was closing, but there wasn’t much I could do. I was running as hard as I could and he passed us.”

Robinson’s outing continued his strong start to the 2014 NDRL season. He left Winchester ranked fourth in the points standings.

“It’s disappointing, sure, to come close,” said Robinson. “But it happens, and we’re definitely happy with our run. It is nice to get out there and lead laps like that. It’s good experience for me as a driver — and we know that if we keep running like this, wins will come.”

Notes: Several drivers were angry after the heats about original-start calls/non-calls by officials. Polesitters Gregg Satterlee of Indiana, Pa. (first heat) and Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. (fourth) were penalized one row for starting early, while second-heat polesitter Rick Eckert of York, Pa., felt he was outgunned at the green flag by Robinson but no early-start was called by officials and Eckert fell to third (where he finished). The three drivers and members of their teams protested to officials after their races. ... Eckert was bidding to win his fourth race in as many starts this season driving the Paul Crowl-owned Rocket No. 7 that he runs in selected non-World of Outlaws events. Forced to start 11th after missing the redraw in his heat, he could only climb forward to finish sixth. … Chris Ferguson of Mt. Holly, N.C., pulled the Warrior Chassis house car out of his hauler to run the feature, which he started from the 23rd starting spot using a provisional. … The start of the first heat was delayed when Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., stopped on the track with apparent rearend problems. He loaded up and left the track after the heat races were completed. ... The event was originally set for Friday, but wet weather shuffled it until Sunday evening. The new date brought gorgeous weather: sunny skies and temperatures soaring into the 80s. … Both Eckert and Sheppard (with the Rocket Chassis house car team) made overnight hauls from Saturday’s WoO event at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway to enter the NDRL race.