SARVER, PA (September 13, 2025):  Daison Pursley became the seventeenth different driver, and the first rookie, to win on the High Limit tour in 2025. It was the second night in a row that the victory went to a first-timer with any national touring series for the winged Sprint Cars. This twenty-year-old from Locust Grove, OK thus added to his impressive list of accomplishments, having previously conquered all three divisions of the United States Auto Club.

“One of my goals was to win one of these races in my first year, and here we are,” Pursley proudly said. “It’s been a struggle transitioning to this winged stuff but this group behind me never gave up.” He was referring to his car owner, Tom Buch, and his primary sponsor, Jerry Petty of Avanti and Pella windows and doors.

Pursley was concerned that he may have squandered his opportunity for a win. “I thought I gave it away in the first handful of laps. I fell back to about fourth or fifth and just didn’t feel the best early on. Once the track really moved to the bottom, I felt like I was finding my own down there, especially in (turns) three and four, just being a little bit lower than they were. It just paid off. This thing just was getting faster and faster as the race went on and the more I moved my wing back.”

Pursley noted that the track conditions on both nights favored the inside line. “It was very similar to last night. I honestly kept thinking ‘here comes Tanner (Thorson)’ and he passes us all. But as the race went on, we kept getting better and better. And, while Thorson did improve as the race drew to a close, he was far enough behind that he could never threaten to overtake Pursley.

Sweet again was disappointed with his second place finish, but he was pleased what the future may hold for the series that he co-owns. “Maybe it’s the changing of the guards. These young guys are really tough to beat. It’s cool to watch them develop and get better.”

Sweet added, “we certainly want to win. I thought we had a really good car. We had it a little bit better tonight. That bottom line is there. It just takes a lot of patience to stay there and get down the backstretch. It’s just so different than it used to be and I’m still running the old Lernerville and I gotta get used to running the new Lernerville, I guess, and try to be more patient and get down the backstretch better.”

Once he was passed, Sweet felt that he needed Pursley to make a mistake in order to regain the lead. “Once he got that bottom groove going, he didn’t make any mistakes.”

Third place finisher Ryan Smith thought that he was close to picking up the win, but he explained that the early caution changed the complexion of the race for him. “It was pretty interesting. This place is so tricky, it changes every lap. I was really good on that first start, and just had to get going and that yellow came out, and reset. I just didn’t get the second start to go right and it was an uphill battle after that. Just to move around and making some mistakes.”

The thirty-five lap finale of the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway went to the post with Pursley and Smith on the front row. Logan Wagner and Rico Abreu made up row two, with Justin Peck and Sweet in the third. Then came Thorson and Anthony Macri. Parker Price-Miller and Justin Sanders made up row five, followed by Jeremy Weaver and Giovanni Scelzi.

Pursely grabbed the initial lead, with Smith, Wagner, Abreu, and Peck following. The only caution of the race came after the first lap was completed. It was called for Carl Bowser, a former track champion, who spun in turn four.

Pursley’s time out front ended on the first lap after the race resumed. Abreu surged from fourth to the lead before the next lap was completed. In the process, Abreu drove under both Smith and Pursley in turn four. Soon thereafter, Smith moved into second. Sweet was also advancing, and in just a couple of laps, Pursley found himself in fourth, where he stayed through the middle stage of the race.

Abreu led up to lap nineteen. Smith ran second for a good bit of that time, and Wagner was close behind. However, Sweet climbed into second and he began to close the gap on his fellow Californian. On lap twenty, Sweet rolled past Abreu, and it appeared as though Sweet might rebound from the disappointment of finishing second to Thorson the night before.

However, Pursley had other plans. His car came to life on the inside line and he passed Abreu and Smith with relative ease. Upon reaching second, Pursley quickly eliminated Sweet’s advantage. On lap twenty-five, Pursley went under Sweet and a lapped car to obtain the lead coming through turn one.

Pursley maintained his composure dealing with the lapped traffic and he stretched his lead in the final laps of the race. Sweet fought desperately to regain the lead, but he lost precious ground when he slid out over the outer lip of the track coming off turn two.

Pursley took the checkers a bit more than two seconds ahead of Sweet. Smith turned in a creditable performance to get third ahead of Abreu and Peck.

In the last five laps, Price-Miller and Thorson moved ahead of a fading Wagner to nail down sixth and seventh. Wagner was eighth. Macri and Scelzi completed the top ten.

There were four heat races for the thirty-two cars, with the victories going to Abreu, Macri, Wagner, and Smith. The B Main winner was Brenham Crouch. Pursley prevailed in the Dash. The fastest qualifying time went to Abreu in Group A, with a lap of 13.215. Wagner was the fastest member of Group B, turning in a time of 13.441.

SARVER, PA (September 12, 2025): Tanner Thorson, of Broken Arrow, OK, earned his first full point win with the High Limit Racing Series. His only previous win came during the 2024 West Coast swing in a split field event. Both wins, of course, came in the Rod and Nancy Gross machine. Only a week before the start of the 2024 season, they tapped Thorson to create a new race team, from scratch to tackle the High Limit series.

This was Thorson’s second career triumph at Lernerville Speedway, the first coming in a weekly show in 2015 while piloting the Rudzik 49x. At that time, Thorson was a relatively unknown driver who hailed from Minden, NV, and he was making his first appearance at the Action Track. In between these wins, Thorson had his share of ups and downs in his career. Highs included a Chili Bowl championship and some success driving the famed 3C of Clyde Lamar in California. The lowest of the lows were the devastating injuries he sustained in a highway accident coming from a race during his stint with Lamar.

Thorson has the distinction of being the only racer on either national tour running a car equipped with coil-over shocks on all four corners. It does put him at a bit of a disadvantage on race nights, for he cannot compare notes or spy on his competitors for any set-up tips. Instead, Thorson maintains cell phone contact with his father-in-law, Stevie Smith, who also ran that unique combination during his days as an independent on the World of Outlaws tour.

“We have a four-coil car, which is in the one percentile of Sprint Cars. I’ve had thousands of people telling me that we need to go to a four-bar (torsion bars) and, hopefully, this just shuts them up. It’s about being a lion and not a sheep.”

Another example of Thorson’s fierce independence is his allegiance to Rob Cappetta powerplants. Thorson noted that he’s had some motor issues lately, but “Rob Cappetta and Mario have been busting their ass(es) on this motor.” Thorson explained that his team spent several hours at Lincoln Speedway earlier in the week testing and tuning their car.

Thorson and his team are also hard workers. “This is awesome. We’ve just been working so hard, (it) comes down to spending hours and hours. My guys are probably sick of me sitting at the dyno for twelve hours the other day, just trying to figure out everything we can about our program and it’s been working.”

Brad Sweet, who lost the lead to Thorson late in the race, was pleased nonetheless for adding a new winner to the High Limit fold. Sweet, of course, is a co-founder of the series and he wants to see others have some success. “It wasn’t surprising to me,” he opened. “I couldn’t get by those lapped cars, they were just putting the bottom. I just couldn’t quite get off the corners and make any speed. Tanner’s been really fast, you know, hat’s off to him and his team. They’ve been busting their butts. He’s been close to winning a few of these.” Sweet also commented, “he’s able to hook that berm a little better than me and stay in that grip.” “We certainly had a shot to win, but couldn’t get the job done,” Sweet concluded.

Diason Pursely matched a career best finish on tour, a third, but he, too, gave props to Thorson. “It was really technical. Tanner’s really good at it and they’ve been working really hard on this race car. And they’ve been really fast lately. Congrats to them, they’ve been making good strides.” Pursely thought that his team, owned by Tom Buch, has also been making progress of late and he thought that this run would give them a needed confidence boost as the season draws to a close.

Sweet and Pursley paced the field for the start of the thirty lap opener for the Commonwealth Clash. Justin Peck and Giovanni Scelzi were in row two, followed by Ashton Torgerson and Ryan Smith. Then came Logan Wagner and Rico Abreu. Brent Marks and Justin Sanders occupied row five, with Jeremy Weaver and Tanner Thorson sitting in row six.

Sweet jumped out to the early lead, with Peck, Pursley, Scelzi, and Smith trailing him. Torgerson, Wagner, Marks, Thorson and Abreu ran among the top ten. Smith picked up a position before the only caution of the race came out, on lap eight, for a three-car tangle involving Danny Sams, III, Michael Bauer, and Weaver.

When the race resumed, Sweet was again racing alone out front, while Peck and Pursley battled for second. Just two laps following the restart, Thorson was into the fourth position. Smith was still holding onto fifth.

At the halfway mark, Sweet led Peck, but Thorson was third and coming forward once again. Within the next five laps, he was second.

Sweet continued to lead as the race progressed into the final stage. However, he was starting to have difficulty dealing with the lapped cars. Meanwhile, Thorson kept chugging along in the bottom groove and Sweet’s lead was shrinking with each successive lap.

Thorson made his move on lap twenty-eight. He drove inside of Sweet entering turn three. They were even coming through the corners, but Thorson powered ahead of Sweet coming off turn four to lead that lap.

“He wasn’t running my line, that was the key,” Thorson explained.

Thorson pulled away in the final two laps. He took the checkers 1.131 seconds ahead of Sweet. Pursley was over two seconds behind, in third. Peck and Sye Lynch rounded out the top five. Smith, Abreu, Scelzi, Marks, and Sanders completed the top ten.

Lynch was the hard charger of the contest, at plus fourteen.

There were three heat races for the twenty-nine car field. The winners were Pursley, Scelzi, and Sweet. Lynch was the B Main victor. Sweet copped the Dash. Ryan Smith set the fastest time in qualifications, 13.174 seconds.

Lynch, Lernerville’s favorite son, dug himself a hole in his heat race. He had contact with Aaron Reutzel, and he spun in turn four. After pushing off again, Lynch drove up to Reutzel and hit his left front wheel. Reutzel pitted to have it checked and was caught in the work area when the race resumed. Lynch, meanwhile, was disqualified from the race, eliminating his from a certain start in the Dash. They started next to one another at the front of the B, and were well behaved, and they also started next to each other in the A Main, also without incident.

In the twenty-lap nightcap for the Allegheny Sprint Tour 305s, Kasey Weaver, from Everett, PA, took the win. Although he started on the pole, and led most of the race, he had to deal with a mid-race challenge from Roman Jones. Jones managed to get his nose ahead to lead one lap, but Kasey Weaver rallied to regain the lead.

“I saw him get inside of me into (turn) three. I was leaving myself too open on entry,” Weaver said. He added that he moved down on the track and that he began to drive a little more defensively. While he said that he hated to block Jones like that, Weaver felt that it was something that he “had to do” to get the win.

Jeremy Kornbau came on strong in the closing laps to take second away from Roman Jones. Jones crossed in third, ahead of Steve Kenawell, Jr. and Jeff Weaver, Jr. Jacob Gomola, Hunter Hite, Jim Pattock, Greg Dobrosky, and George Loux were the next five finishers.

Loux and Weaver, Jr. won the heats for the twenty racers of the Allegheny Sprint Tour. Racers from five states were in the field.

PORT ROYAL, PA (September 5, 2025):  Aaron Reutzel, of Clute, TX, raced to the win on the Night Before the 50 at Port Royal Speedway. In just the second race since returning from a broken right foot suffered at the Eldora Speedway in August, he was nearly unstoppable. His sixth win of the season put his team just eight markers out of first place in the owners’ championship standings. Of course, there were some successes by his substitute, Justin Sanders, who chalked up a pair of wins on the West Coast swing while Reutzel was on the mend.

Reutzel was driving with a special boot fashioned out of carbon fiber. It was molded around a Simpson driving shoe, size 13. Interestingly, the mate belongs to USAC star Justin Grant, who is recovering from a fractured left foot.

Reutzel was hoping that his foot would heal a little faster than it did. He came to Pennsylvania not knowing for sure if he would be able to drive because of the tight confines of the Sprint Car. “It was a matter of figuring out how I coud do it without hurting myself any more.” Reutzel said that he was unable to feel the pedal with his toes and that his leg got stiffer as the race progressed. It will be interesting to see how he handles the Saturday finale, which is scheduled to go fifty laps, twice the distance of this preliminary night race.

Second place belonged to Anthony Macri, winner of the opening round held at Port Royal Speedway. “We weren’t exactly good, we struggled,” he said. “I finally got the wing trunked and started to Make some ground, but Aaron moved down and that kind of negated that,” he observed.

Brent Marks was third. He did challenge briefly for second in the middle stage of the race. However, as he explained, after Parker Price Miller “threw a death slide” at him, he lost some momentum, and Macri was able to drive back around him. Nonetheless, Marks was pleased with his performance and he is looking forward to the big event on Saturday.

Reutzel earned the pole by virtue of his Dash victory. Next to him was Ryan Smith.Macri and Price Miller lined up in row two, followed by Giovanni Scelzi and Marks. Brad Sweet and Sye Lynch were the final dash participants, and they thus occupied row four. Brenham Crouch and Daison Pursley came next. The sixth row paired Ashton Torgerson and Ryan “Fig” Newton.

Price Miller had a terrific start, blasting from fourth into the lead in turn one. Reutzel fought back on the opening lap, and, on several laps thereafter, the lead duo traded sliders. By lap five, Price Miller established himself as the leader, but Reutzel remained within striking distance.

Behind them, Smith and Macri were trading the third position. Marks settled into fifth. Lynch and Sweet were battling for positions inside the top ten as well.

After Price Miller entered lapped traffic, Reutzel began to close in. On lap nine, Reutzel used an aggressive slider in turn three to take th elead awy from Price Miller. By then, Marks worked hios way past Macri and Smith to take over third.

Reutzel continued to lead as he worked his way through the slower cars. Marks was challenging Price Miller for second when Macri began to come forward. By lap fifteen, Macri was second, followed by Marks and Price MIller. Smith held fifth, but he was not in contention.

In the final ten laps, Macri did cut into Reutzel’s advantage. However, he was unable to get close enough to make any kind of move to unseat the leader.

Reutzel completed the twenty-five trips around the Speed Palace in eight minutes and twenty-five seconds. He took the checkers a bit more than a second ahead of Macri. Marks was third, followed by Smith and Price Miller. Scelzi, Rico Abreu, Crouch, Troy Wagaman, Jr., and Sweet completed the top ten.

Wagaman was plus thirteen to earn the hard charger award.

Justin Whittall used a provisional to start the race, as did his closest competitor in the season’s standings, Logan Wagner, Whittall was seventeenth atthe finish, and Wagner twenty-seventh. Som Whittall added to his point lead.

There were four heat races conducted for the fifty-two cars on hand. Scelzi, Macri, Sweet, and Price Miller were the winners. Austin Bishop won the C Main, and Chase Dietz topped the B Main. Reutzel was the fastest qualifier overall. His lap of 15.342 seconds was the best of Group A. Dietz logged the best lap in Group B, 15.743 seconds.

Lane Snook put an exclamation mark on his championship season in the Limited Late Model division. He chased down the early leader, Spike Moore, and drove by coming off turn two on lap fourteen, It was Snooks’s fourth win of the season at the track.

The win was an emotional one for Snook, as it came two years after his brother Mason passed.

Jaxton Garman followed Snook and Moore across the finish line. Brad McGinnis and Andrew Yoder rounded out the top five. Eric Irvin, Jarod Fulkroad, Devin Frey, Maddox Smith, and Keith Walls were the next five finishers.

Moore and Garman claimed the preliminaries.