Thorson Snookers Sweet For High Limit Breakthrough

Tanner Thorson celebrates in victory lane Friday night at Lernerville Speedway. (High Limit Racing photo)

SARVER, Pa. – It was never a matter of “if” but rather “when” Tanner Thorson would break through for his first Kubota High Limit Racing win, and he answered that question in resounding fashion Friday night at Lernerville Speedway.

In his 84th attempt – after five oh-so-close runner-up results – the Minden, Nev., native finally enjoyed his first taste of Whiskey Myers Victory Lane at the four-tenths-mile dirt oval.

He did it with an outstanding drive from 12th to first as well, capped with a late-race pass of six-time national sprint car champion and defending High Limit title-holder 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 lone caution of the race flew on lap eight of 30. He later passed for second on lap 20, and then ran down ‘The Big Cat’ for the win in lap traffic.

“Man, holy crap this is awesome!” said a breathless Thorson. “We’ve been working so hard to get to this moment. It comes down to hours and hours of preparation … and they’re probably sick of me after I sat for about 12 hours at the [engine] dyno the other day. We’re just trying to figure out everything that we possibly can on our program, and it’s been working, as this one shows.

“We did it. We have a four-coil car, which is probably the one percentile of sprint car racing right now … and to be able to pick up a win when I’ve had thousands of people tell me I’m doing this wrong, hopefully it shuts them up. Being a lion and not a sheep, that’s my philosophy, plain and simple.”

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-furthest back a winner has ever started in Kubota High Limit Racing – only topped by Corey Day’s 15th-to-first drive at Lake Ozark Speedway in June 2024.

It was a wildly popular win both in-person and online, as Thorson’s RGM squad became the 16th different team to earn a High Limit trophy this year. His first victory also allowed him to send $1,000 from the High Limit Angel Donor to Dustin Poirier’s The Good Fight Foundation.

Hoping to end a two-month winless drought, but falling three laps shy, was Sweet after his runner-up result. He led the opening 27 laps at Lernerville Friday night.

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 behind the all-important Kubota High Limit Racing owner’s 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 Award snookered Justin Peck on the final circuit to nail down his second podium in the last two weeks.

Those three – Thorson, Sweet & Pursley – are locked in for heat races in Saturday's $30,000-to-win, $2,000-to-start finale of the Commonwealth Clash. Their preliminary performances allow them to bypass qualifying and start fourth in heat races as the fastest transfer car in each.

Behind Peck, hard-charger Sye Lynch came from 19th to finish fifth, with Ryan Smith, Rico Abreu, Giovanni Scelzi, Brent Marks, and Justin Sanders closing the top 10.

The finish:

Kubota A-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-A.J. Flick [24]; 23. 46-Michael Bauer [23]; 24. 21-Carmen Perigo Jr. [17].

Lap Leader(s): Brad Sweet 1-27; Tanner Thorson 28-30.

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: 42-Sye Lynch (+14)