EASLEY, S.C. - (February 18, 2017) -  "Coachy, we won!"

That was 14-year-old Ty Gibbs' excited first words in victory lane to his Grandfather, "Coach" Joe Gibbs, when The Coach used Face Time to congratulate him on his first ever late model victory on Saturday in the Southeast Limited Late Model Series Pro division 100-lap feature at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina.

The race was the last of three Southeast Limited Late Model Series features that evening.  Anthony Miller overcame motor and clutch problems to score his second career win in the 30-lap Challenger feature, and 11-year-old Gage Painter became the series' first ever Junior Elite division feature winner.  

Gibbs win in the Pro race was not without a scare.  On the opening lap, a multi-car accident in turn one eliminated the machines of Devin Dodson, Andrew Cordell, Roy Hayes and Omar Jurado.  

Mack Little also received damage in the crash, but he was able to return to action at the rear of the field.  

Polesitter Mitchell Mote in the No. 74 took off with the early lead on the restart.  Jeremy Pelfrey, Brandon Fox, Ryan Glenski and Matt Leicht ran in the top five as the race settled into a green flag run.

As lap 15 went up on the scoreboard the No. 18 of Ty Gibbs started to make his presence felt, moving into the top five. Four laps later, Kevin Leicht brought out the second yellow flag of the race with an incident in turn three.  

Mack Little had made his way back to sixth place just prior to that caution after being caught up in the first lap melee', and appeared to have the speed to move further toward the front.

Mote continued to lead when green flag action resumed, but he was now being chased by Gibbs, who had Fox in the Hawk-McCall Motorsports No. 41 behind him along with Glenski in fourth.

The race went green the rest of the way, with Mote showing some strength to start 2017 and Gibbs driving like a ten-year veteran behind him, just waiting for a mistake to take advantage of.

He got it on lap 83.  Mote slipped just a little in turn four and the youngster pounced, passing him for a lead he would never relinquish.  

When the checkered flag flew, Ty Gibbs had his first ever "big car" win, with Mote, Tasha Kummer, Glenski and Matt Leicht rounding out the top five.

Earlier in the evening, following a long rain delay, the Challenger division took to the track for their feature.  Bob Root led the first 15 laps before Anthony Miller chased him down and passed him en-route to his second career series win in his No. 56.  

The only caution of this event took place when the No. 15 of Roy Hayes got turned around going into the third corner. He was able to restart at the rear of the field.  

Miller won by a comfortable margin over Root, Midwest racer Brandon Lemke,  Sawyer Frady and Davey Smart.

"The car just ran great in the feature," Miller said after the event. "Once I got the lead, my spotter was keeping me updated where the other cars were, and then when the late race yellow happened I wasn't sure if anyone was saving tires or might have a chance at us, but I got a good restart and we were able to run it out and get the win. I'm really happy for everyone on this team, because after all the problems we had on Friday they never gave up.  They gave me a winning car. I'm just glad I was able to get it for them." 

The series' newest division is the Junior Elite class, designed as an affordable on-ramp for drivers aged 10 to 15 to break into full-size late model racing.

Gage Painter took home top honors with his No. 12, leading every lap en-route to the win.  Jacob Borst finished second, Seth Henry third and Dallas Thornton fourth.  

Race two of the Southeast Limited Late Model Series will take place on Saturday, March 18th, right back at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway. 

The series will then move to Dillon Motor Speedway for a two-day show, with Qualifying on Saturday, April 8th and the racing taking place on Sunday, April 9th.