From Bill Wright
Harlan, IA (June 11,2026)- The Shelby County Speedway 1/3-mile oval played host to the High Limit Series. A good crowd was assembled and the track was well prepared. It was the first time in two years that 410 sprint cars had run on the western Iowa oval.
Cars were divided in two qualifying groups. Group 1 made up heats one and two, and Group 2 made up heats three and four. Brent Marks (15th car out to time) set quick time at 11.504 seconds in the first group. He was followed by Gio Scelzi (12th), Kerry Madsen (8th), Aaron Reutzel (3rd) and Sye Lynch (13th). Rico Abreu (1st car out) led the second group and overall at 11.502 seconds. Garet Williamson still holds the track record at 11.183 seconds. Tanner Holmes (4th car out) was second quick, followed by JJ Hickle (9th), Justin Peck (10th) and Brenham Crouch (2nd).
Heat one (started): 1. 55-Kerry Madsen (1); 2. 19-Brent Marks (4); 3. 42-Sye Lynch (2); 4. 24D-Danny Sams III (3); 5. 25-Jy Corbet (6) / 6. 81-Cole Vanderheiden (9); 7. 15JR-Cole Mincer (8); 8. 14T-Tim Estenson (7); 9. 83V-Austin Wood (5)
8-lap heats took the top five to the feature, and the winner, and the fastest qualifier (starting fourth) who ran in the top five to the Dash. Madsen led throughout. Vanderheiden, who won in a 305 here a couple years back quickly shot from the tail to the fifth and final transfer spot, but Corbet took it from him on lap two. Lynch worked by Sams for third on lap six, while Corbet passed Sams for fourth. Sams came back to reclaim the spot coming for the white flag.
Heat two (started): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson (2); 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel (1); 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi (4); 4. 39M-Kasey Kahne (6); 5. 17GP-Hank Davis (7) / 6. 44-Chris Martin (8); 7. 83-Sam Henderson (3); 8. 80P-Jacob Peterson (5)
Thorson won a duel with Reutzel for the lead early when the latter did a wheelie coming off turn four. The rest of the way went mostly single-file, with Davis shooting up into the final transfer early.
Heat three (started): 1. 5-Brenham Crouch (2); 2. 6-JJ Hickle (1); 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney (3); 4. 24-Rico Abreu (4); 5. 9R-Chase Randall (5) / 6. 11-John Carney II (6); 7. 31-Koby Werkmeister (7); 8. 4W-Jamie Ball (8)
Crouch led the distance in a mostly single-file affair.
Heat four (started): 1. 26-Justin Peck (1); 2. 57-Kyle Larson (2); 3. 13-Tanner Holmes (4); 4. 9-Daison Pursley (3); 5. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (6) / 6. 22-Riley Goodno (7); 7. 21-Brian Brown (5); 8. 4-Cameron Martin (8)
Another mostly single-file event, with Goodno working on Pulkrabek early for the final transfer.
Dash (started): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson (1); 2. 19-Brent Marks (4); 3. 55-Kerry Madsen (3); 4. 5-Brenham Crouch (2); 5. 13-Tanner Holmes (5); 6. 26-Justin Peck (6); 7. 77-Giovanni Scelzi (8); 8. 24-Rico Abreu (7)
The 7-lapper set up the top eight starting positions in the feature. Crouch was sent back a row on the initial start, giving the outside front row starting spot to Madsen. Thorson led wire to wire, while Marks shot into the second spot on lap one.
B main (started): 1. 83-Sam Henderson (1); 2. 21-Brian Brown (2); 3. 11-John Carney II (4); 4. 31-Koby Werkmeister (8) / 5. 22-Riley Goodno (6); 6. 81-Cole Vanderheiden (3); 7. 15JR-Cole Mincer (7); 8. 83V-Austin Wood (13); 9. 4-Cameron Martin (12); 10. 44-Chris Martin (5); 11. 14T-Tim Estenson (9); 12. 80P-Jacob Peterson (11); 13. 4W-Jamie Ball (10)
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. Henderson led throughout over Brown and Carney. Vanderheiden was fourth early ahead of Ch Martin. Werkmeister moved forward from row four to grab fifth from Martin on lap seven. Two laps later, he gained the final transfer spot from Vanderheiden, who would get sideways and collect Martin, who spun to a stop. The last three laps saw no change in the top four.
A main (started): 1. 13-Tanner Holmes (5); 2. 19-Brent Marks (2); 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney (14); 4. 55-Kerry Madsen (3); 5. 57-Kyle Larson (12); 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel (9); 7. 77-Giovanni Scelzi (7); 8. 5-Brenham Crouch (4); 9. 6-JJ Hickle (10); 10. 9-Daison Pursley (16); 11. 24D-Danny Sams III (13); 12. 21-Brian Brown (22); 13. 88-Tanner Thorson (1); 14. 42-Sye Lynch (11); 15. 17GP-Hank Davis (19); 16. 11-John Carney II (23); 17. 25-Jy Corbet (17); 18. G5-Gage Pulkrabek (20); 19. 31-Koby Werkmeister (24); 20. 9R-Chase Randall (18); 21. 24-Rico Abreu (8); 22. 26-Justin Peck (6); 23. 39M-Kasey Kahne (15); 24. 83-Sam Henderson (21)
The 30-lapper started with Marks leading Thorson, Madsen, Crouch and Holmes. Holmes got by Crouch for fourth on lap two before Sams spun to bring caution. Holmes shot up to the third on the restart and was tailed by Peck in fourth. On lap five, Madsen took fourth back from Peck. Holmes was working well on the high side and shot around Thorson for second on lap ten. Marks was into traffic on lap 12. He slowed a bit and Holmes drove around him to complete the lap. Abreu was on the move now and took third from Peck at that point. Thorson’s run came to an end when he spun. Abreu made contact, giving him suspension damage. Thorson repaired his left rear tire, while Abreu was left in the work area. He would come back out four laps down on the next caution. With 17 to go, Holmes chose the outside line in the double-file restart, ahead of Marks, Peck, Madsen and Crouch. Madsen jumped by Peck into third, while Courtney moved into fourth. On lap 15, Peck was back by Courtney in a good battle. Randall spun on the frontstretch on lap 17 while running fourth. Holmes chose the outside line again on the restart and pulled away. Larson moved up into sixth on the restart and then passed two cars to move into fourth on lap 19 before Kahne flipped after making contact with Lynch. Holmes now led Marks, Madsen, Larson, Peck and Courtney back to green. Peck would slow after hitting the wall on the restart. The caution negated a great restart for Reutzel, who had advanced into the top five. The choose cone was annihilated on this restart. Courtney moved into fourth on that restart. Holmes continued to pull away, and hit lapped traffic with six to go. Courtney passed Madsen on the white flag lap to grab the last podium spot, but Birthday Boy Holmes picked up his first ever High Limit win worth $12,000. Courtney was the hard-charger.