June 29, 2025 | By Lyndal Scranton

Tyler Courtney celebrates $25,000 Diamond Classic victory at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, MO.—Tyler Courtney grabbed the lead on lap 18 and turned a close battle into a runaway Saturday night, earning the 2nd annual Kubota High Limit Racing Diamond Classic finale at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Courtney, of Indianapolis, pocketed $25,000 for his first tour victory of the season. "Sunshine" outdistanced second-place Aaron Reutzel by more than six seconds, sprinting away from the competition after a restart on lap 19 - one circuit after the fourth-starting Courtney seized the lead.

"We've been really good all weekend," Courtney said. "We had a part failure on Thursday and were probably a second-place car last night and tonight, I could put this car about wherever I wanted to.

"We had won a few races up to this point last year. It sucks this is (only) our first one this year, but this is a great on to get. This is one of my favorite race tracks."

Reutzel started third and wasted no time getting to the front, grabbing the lead away from Tanner Thorson on lap one. The Night One winner pulled away to a 2.2-second advantage by lap seven with Brad Sweet pressuring Thorson for second.

Thorson then started to slice into the gap and drew within a half-second as the leaders encountered lapped traffic by lap 11. Reutzel fought him off until lap 15, when Thorson took over the top spot going by on the inside off turn two.

Meanwhile, Courtney was lurking and by lap 18 and the 2024 Diamond Classic opening-night winner took the lead when Thorson spun in turn four. Thorson kept his machine moving, avoiding a caution, but fell back to seventh place. Courtney soon had a 1.3-second lead over Reutzel when the race’s first caution flew a lap later as Xavier Doney came to a stop in turn four.

After the restart, Courtney drew away to a 2.3-second lead by lap 25, putting him a commanding position over Reutzel with 10 to go. As he entered slower traffic, instead of finding trouble Courtney kept increasing his cushion to turn it into a runaway.

"It's tough," Courtney said of getting to victory lane. "The whole roster we have at High Limit is incredibly talented. For us to get a win and get to drive by those guys to do it makes me feel good. You know you're beating the best guys to do it. Just a great weekend for us, besides the first night."

Courtney’s final margin was 6.1 seconds over Reutzel, but the runner-up took over the series points lead with another strong run. Reutzel had a win and a fifth to go with his runner-up finish and he exits with a nine-point series lead over Brad Sweet, who wound up fifth. The duo were tied at the start of the night.

"Our car is good and our team is jelling," Reutzel said. "I think there are only good things to come.

"It was some great racing," Reutzel added. "Just a lot of passing. The track was really, really good. I'm pumped to come back later in the year. This place truly is the Diamond of the Dirt Tracks. Hopefully they can make this event bigger and bigger and bigger."

The Kubota High Limit Series is scheduled to return on Wednesday, Oct. 15 for the Roto-Rooter Midweek Series finale.

Night Two winner Rico Abreu finished third with Thorson rallying back to fourth and Sweet settling for fifth.

Daison Pursley set the fast qualifying time with a lap of 13.077 seconds, denying Reutzel a third straight fast time. Reutzel was No. 2 this time at 13.117.


LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (June 28, 2025)
2nd annual Kubota High Limit Racing Diamond Classic

A Feature - 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 4. 88-Tanner Thorson[1]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[7]; 7. 42-Sye Lynch[12]; 8. 13-Daison Pursley[6]; 9. 26-Justin Peck[11]; 10. 9-Kasey Kahne[13]; 11. 45X-Landon Crawley[10]; 12. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[8]; 13. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[14]; 14. 14-Spencer Bayston[18]; 15. 5-Brenham Crouch[19]; 16. 9R-Chase Randall[16]; 17. 98P-Miles Paulus[9]; 18. 19H-Hank Davis[21]; 19. 40-Howard Moore[20]; 20. 24D-Danny Sams III[17]; 21. 22M-Rees Moran[24]; 22. 20G-Noah Gass[15]; 23. 74-Xavier Doney[23]; 24. 79-Gage Montgomery[22]

B Main - 1. 5-Brenham Crouch[8]; 2. 40-Howard Moore[3]; 3. 19H-Hank Davis[4]; 4. 79-Gage Montgomery[2]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[1]; 6. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 7. 5B-Kory Bales[11]; 8. 12X-Kameron Key[5]; 9. 93-Taylor Walton[9]; 10. 75-Tyler Blank[6]; 11. 15-Jack Potter[10]

Dash - 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 6. 13-Daison Pursley[6]

Heat 1 - 1. 13-Daison Pursley[1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 3. 45X-Landon Crawley[3]; 4. 42-Sye Lynch[5]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 6. 9R-Chase Randall[6]; 7. 40-Howard Moore[8]; 8. 12X-Kameron Key[9]; 9. 79-Gage Montgomery[7]; 10. 15-Jack Potter[10]

Heat 2 - 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[3]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 4. 9-Kasey Kahne[2]; 5. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 6. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 7. 19H-Hank Davis[8]; 8. 75-Tyler Blank[9]; 9. 5-Brenham Crouch[7]; 10. 5B-Kory Bales[10]

Heat 3 - 1. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 2. 98P-Miles Paulus[2]; 3. 26-Justin Peck[5]; 4. 88-Tanner Thorson[4]; 5. 20G-Noah Gass[3]; 6. 14-Spencer Bayston[7]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney[6]; 8. 22M-Rees Moran[8]; 9. 93-Taylor Walton[9]

Qualifying A - 1. 13-Daison Pursley, 00:13.077[25]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:13.117[20]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:13.170[15]; 4. 19-Brent Marks, 00:13.332[19]; 5. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:13.353[7]; 6. 98P-Miles Paulus, 00:13.360[11]; 7. 45X-Landon Crawley, 00:13.389[21]; 8. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.398[5]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:13.403[16]; 10. 42-Sye Lynch, 00:13.450[8]; 11. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, 00:13.488[12]; 12. 26-Justin Peck, 00:13.497[14]; 13. 9R-Chase Randall, 00:13.515[10]; 14. 24D-Danny Sams III, 00:13.518[3]; 15. 74-Xavier Doney, 00:13.561[6]; 16. 79-Gage Montgomery, 00:13.571[23]; 17. 5-Brenham Crouch, 00:13.580[22]; 18. 14-Spencer Bayston, 00:13.601[9]; 19. 40-Howard Moore, 00:13.611[1]; 20. 19H-Hank Davis, 00:13.627[13]; 21. 22M-Rees Moran, 00:13.650[18]; 22. 12X-Kameron Key, 00:13.653[24]; 23. 75-Tyler Blank, 00:13.758[17]; 24. 93-Taylor Walton, 00:13.839[2]; 25. 15-Jack Potter, 00:14.204[26]; 26. 5B-Kory Bales, 00:14.302[4]


Thursday Night Thunder next: The annual Casey's Thursday Night Thunder is next at Lucas Oil Speedway with 4th of July Weekend kicks off with a special July 3rd evening of action. In addition to the Pitts Homes and Realty action headlined by a special 25-lap, $2,000-to-win main event featuring the Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds presented by the Heartland Modified Series, the Hermitage Lumber Late Models, O'Reilly Auto Parts Stock Cars and Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will be in action.

The area's biggest fireworks show will follow the final race courtesy of AM Pyrotechnics. It's also Kids' Night at the Races with the annual bicycle giveaway during intermission. Visit participating area Casey's locations for $2 discount coupons.

Gates open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 and opening ceremonies at approximately 7.


Spectator Admission:

Adults (13 and up) - $20
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $17
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and under) - FREE
Family Pass - $50
Pit Pass - $40

For information on admission or camping for any Lucas Oil Speedway event in 2025, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-6119 or (417) 295-6043 or email her at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.


NEW 2025 Kubota High Limit Racing Championship Standings (After 22/52 Races):

1  Ridge & Sons Racing #87 - Aaron Reutzel (1,350 PTS...+9)
2  Kasey Kahne Racing #49 - Brad Sweet (1,341 PTS... -9)
3  Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC - Tyler Courtney (1,331 PTS... -19)
4  Rico Abreu Racing #24 - Rico Abreu (1,319 PTS... -31)
5  Murray-Marks Motorsports #19 - Brent Marks (1,303 PTS... -47)
6  Rudeen Racing #26 - Justin Peck (1,174 PTS... -176)
7  Rod Gross Motorsports #88 - Tanner Thorson (1,129 PTS... -221)
8  Chase Randall Racing #9R - Chase Randall (1,001 PTS... -349)
9  Kasey Kahne Racing #9 - Kasey Kahne (996 PTS... -354)
10  Jason Meyers Racing #14 - Spencer Bayston (984 PTS... -366)
11  Buch Motorsports #13 - Daison Pursley (964 PTS... -386)
12 CJB Motorsports #5 - Brenham Crouch (901 PTS... -449)
13 Randerson Racing #24D - Danny Sams III (808 PTS... -542)
14  Mosites Lynch Racing #42 - Sye Lynch (804 PTS... -546)


UP NEXT: Kubota High Limit Racing will sit idle next weekend as we celebrate Fourth of July with our families. The series will be back in action on Friday and Saturday, July 11-12 with the Kentucky Sprint Nationals at Florence Speedway in Union, KY. Fans can buy tickets at HighLimitRacing.com.