BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. — It was going to be tough to beat the race from Sunday’s Bob Weikert Memorial at Port Royal Speedway, but Tuesday’s Midweek Money Series event at Grandview Speedway may have done it.
Three of the best sprint car drivers in the country — Brent Marks, Brad Sweet and Tyler Courtney traded the lead back and forth with three lead changes during the final five laps.
Marks made a winning pass on the final lap sending a packed house at the third-mile track into a frenzy.
“It’s about damn time we won a race here,” Marks, a veteran at the Grandview oval, stated during victory lane ceremonies. “What an amazing night, this has been a long time coming and this win means a lot to me.”
Marks, who earned the pole with a dauntingly dominant 5.7-second margin of victory in the dash, cruised through the opening 24 laps with control of the lead, but it became an all-out war over the closing 10 laps.
Marks and Sweet raced side-by-side for more than five laps as they fought each other and lap traffic to try and secure the top spot. Sweet officially led laps 25-29 aboard his Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49 but a big bobble against the cushion in turn three let Marks slip back underneath to regain control on lap 30.
That didn’t last long, however, as Courtney came into play and swooped past both Sweet and Marks to put the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 7bc to the point on lap 31.
He appeared to have his fourth win of the year waiting on the other side, but a dart to the top of turn one on the final lap proved costly as Marks was able to scoot underneath him again.
The Murray-Marks Motorsports No. 19 held on through two final corners.
Also collecting a Pioneer Pole Buildings bonus for winning as a native son of Pennsylvania, pushed his earnings to $22,000 with his second win with Kubota High Limit Racing. It was also his first Grandview Speedway triumph.
For the second-straight race, it was a heartbreaking runner-up result for Courtney, who leads the High Limit standings.
Rico Abreu rounded out the podium, collecting his third-straight top-three run following a win at Utica-Rome and third at Port Royal.
Sweet and Corey Day closed out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 5. 14-Corey Day[8]; 6. 9P-Parker Price Miller[13]; 7. 5R-Tyler Ross[2]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson[14]; 9. 5-Spencer Bayston[11]; 10. 26-Zeb Wise[12]; 11. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 12. 39M-Anthony Macri[10]; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich[15]; 14. 83-James McFadden[17]; 15. 16T-Cole Macedo[19]; 16. 2MD-Cap Henry[18]; 17. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[20]; 18. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[7]; 19. 9-Kasey Kahne[22]; 20. 42-Sye Lynch[16]; 21. 1A-Jacob Allen[25]; 22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[23]; 23. 11-TJ Stutts[21]; 24. 1-Brenham Crouch[26]; 25. 39-Briggs Danner[24]; 26. 8-Cory Eliason[9]