SARVER, Pa. — It was never a matter of if, but when Tanner Thorson would win his first Kubota High Limit Racing feature. He answered that question in a resounding fashion on Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.
In his 84th attempt — after five runner-up results — the Minden, Nevada, native finally enjoyed his first taste of Whiskey Meyers Victory Lane, and he did it with an outstanding drive from 12th-to-first, capped with a late-race pass over six-time and defending champion Brad Sweet.
Coming from the outside of row six, Thorson quickly worked his Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88 into the top-five by the time the one and only caution of the race flew on Lap 8 of 30. He soon jumped into third by Lap 3, passed for second on Lap 20, and then ran down “The Big Cat” for the win.
Besides his split-field preliminary score at the Gold Cup Race of Champions last August, it was Thorson’s first official victory on the national stage of winged sprint car racing – coming in his 107th A-Main between World of Outlaws and High Limit competition.
His score from 12th marks the second-farthest a winner has ever started in Kubota High Limit Racing – only topped by Corey Day’s 15th-to-1st drive at Lake Ozark Speedway in June 2024.
It was a wildly popular win both in-person and online as Thorson became the 16th different team win this season.
Tanner Thorson (88) races under Brad Sweet at Lernerville Speedway. (Paul Arch photo)
Hoping to end a two-month winless drought, but falling three laps shy, was Sweet with a runner-up result after he led the opening 27 laps at Lernerville.
Although the agony of defeat weighed on the NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 crew, it was still a profitable night for the Kasey Kahne Racing bunch as they closed to 33-points out of the all-important Kubota High Limit Racing Owner Championship lead.
Rounding out the podium with a last-lap pass was Daison Pursley in the Buch Motorsports No. 13. The leading contender for the Rayce Rudeen Foundation Rookie of the Year snookered Justin Peck on the final circuit to nail down his second podium over the last two weeks.
Thorson, Sweet and Pursley are now locked-in for heat races in Saturday’s $30,000-to-win, $2,000-to-start finale of the Commonwealth Clash.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[12]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 13-Daison Pursley[2]; 4. 26-Justin Peck[3]; 5. 42-Sye Lynch[19]; 6. 69K-Ryan Smith[6]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu[8]; 8. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 9. 19-Brent Marks[9]; 10. 14-Justin Sanders[10]; 11. 39M-Anthony Macri[13]; 12. 55-Logan Wagner[7]; 13. 9-Chase Randall[21]; 14. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[18]; 15. 71-Parker Price Miller[15]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III[22]; 17. 87-Aaron Reutzel[20]; 18. 5J-Jeremy Weaver[11]; 19. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 20. 11-Carl Bowser[14]; 21. 5-Brenham Crouch[16]; 22. 2-AJ Flick[24]; 23. 46-Michael Bauer[23]; 24. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr[17]
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