It wasn't until late December that Rod Gross Motorsports was suddenly formed and Tanner Thorson suddenly found himself joining Kubota High Limit Racing full-time.
On Friday night, the racing world saw years and years of hard work pay off for the Minden, NV native when he stole the lead from Rico Abreu in the closing laps and held on to win night two of the 70th Gold Cup Race of Champions - the biggest win of his career in Winged Sprint Car Racing.
As an ace of Midget and Non-Wing Sprint Cars, Thorson is no stranger to the grand stages of motorsports, winning a Chili Bowl Nationals and being a USAC National champion. However, his transition into winged racing has been something he has put years and years of hard work and blood, sweet, and tears into.
It all came to a head on Friday as the Rod Gross Motorsports #88 sat in the spotlight with Kubota High Limit Racing.
In a non-stop 30-lapper, Thorson quickly moved to second and hounded Abreu their entire drive through lap traffic. On Lap 27, Thorson finally pounced on his former Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate and powered the #88 underneath the #24 to take the lead.
Surviving the final four laps, Thorson held on for the Gold Cup preliminary win and locked himself into Saturday's $100,070-to-win finale along with Abreu who finished 2nd.
Rounding out the top-10 on Friday at Silver Dollar was James McFadden, DJ Netto, Cory Eliason, Justin Sanders, Chase Randall, Tyler Thompson, Kasey Kahne, and Tyler Courtney.
THE ALL-IN NOTEBOOK (8/23/24)
Silver Dollar Speedway (Chico, CA)
Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime - Jock Goodyer (11.986)
TJ Forged Heat One Winner - Michael Faccinto
DMI Heat Two Winner - Kasey Kahne
BR Motorsports Heat Three Winner - Kalib Henry
Winters Performance Heat Four Winner - Rico Abreu
B-Main Winner - Jock Goodyer
Jake's Golf Carts Fastest Lap Award - Tyler Courtney (13.230)
Hard Charger - Tim Kaeding +5, 16th-to-11th
Lap Leaders - Rico Abreu 1-26; Tanner Thorson 27-30.
Kubota A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 3. 83-James McFadden[4]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto[1]; 5. 8-Cory Eliason[7]; 6. 2X-Justin Sanders[8]; 7. 94-Chase Randall[9]; 8. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[5]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]; 10. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 11. 0-Tim Kaeding[16]; 12. 17-Kalib Henry[10]; 13. 17AU-Jamie Veal[12]; 14. 1C-Chance Grasty[15]; 15. 19-Brent Marks[14]; 16. 5V-Colby Copeland[20]; 17. X1-Michael Faccinto[11]; 18. 21S-Jesse Schlotfeldt[23]; 19. 57W-Jock Goodyer[21]; 20. 10-Dominic Gorden[19]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch[17]; 22. 9F-Dustin Freitas[24]; 23. 41-Dominic Scelzi[22]; 24. 76-Jennifer Osborne[18]
UP NEXT: Kubota High Limit Racing caps off the 70th Gold Cup Race of Champions tomorrow, Saturday, August 24, with a $100,070-to-win finale at Chico, California's Silver Dollar Speedway.
- administrator on Aug 24, 2024
- Article Date: 8/24/2024 by Brian Walker