Brent Marks completes the final lap to steal the win in the High Limit Racing event at Grandview Speedway

Brent Marks earned his first career victory at Grandview Speedway on Tuesday night. (Courtesy of SCOTT BENDER)

Leading the final lap, Tyler “Sunshine” Courtney moved up the outside lane on lap 2.

Unknown to Courtney, Brent Marks was lurking down low and capitalized on the crucial mistake.

Marks flew by Courtney on the backstretch and stayed in front through the final two turns to steal the victory in the High Limit Racing 410 Winged Sprint Car presented by Thunder on the Hill Racing Series Tuesday night at Grandview Speedway.

“I should have kept doing what I was doing,” Courtney said. “I heard something outside of me so I went to cover myself and I left my bottom wide open and threw it.”

Marks passed Courtney to capture the 35-lap victory and the $20,000 winner’s prize at the one-third-mile dirt track located outside of Bechtelsville in Washington Township.

The winner’s purse was the second largest for a sprint car race in Grandview history. With 42 entries, Tuesday night marked the first time the track has hosted more than 40 winged 410 sprint cars for an event since hosting 41 cars for a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race on May 24, 2005.

“He was afraid that somebody was going to put the tip to work again, so he was just trying not to lose the race,” Marks said of Courtney. “It just goes to show you how badly we all want to win these races and sometimes we make mistakes.”

The win is Marks’ first career win at Grandview in his 20th appearance at the track and 18th in a winged sprint car. While Marks started the feature on pole, the victory was anything but easy.

“I’m really excited about it,” Marks said. “I was very close countless times and always came up short and (it was) just very disappointing. To finally win a race here means a lot to me.”

Marks got out to a big lead early on and successfully powered through a restart with 31 laps remaining to quickly regain his large lead. He stayed well out front until lap 12, when he started bumping into maddened traffic.

“I had a really good car all night,” Marks said. “It was just about making smart decisions throughout the race.”

Marks weaved his way through traffic during the extended green flag race and was able to hold off Brad Sweet and Rico Abreu until he missed the bottom line, opening the door for Sweet.

“It was tough being on the racetrack there at times,” Marks said. “Our car was pretty good no matter where we went, it’s just once we got there the full cars, it was so hard to get past some of them.”

Sweet passed Marks at the line with 10 laps remaining to take the lead. However, the five-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion would not be able to hold it.

Sweet missed his mark in Turn 3 and nearly gave up, allowing Marks to pass and take the lead with six laps to go.

“I tried to make both lanes work,” Marks said. “The top lane was no better than the bottom lane.”

Marks made the same mistake on the next lap, losing his mark on the high side of Turn 3 before nearly spinning. While Marks was able to continue to move forward, Courtney passed him on the bottom and took over the lead with just five laps remaining.

“It was a hard fought race and I thought at one point I gave it up,” Marks said. “But thankfully I got it back.”

The trend continued on the final lap as Courtney got loose on the high side of the track and relinquished the lead and ultimately the win. Courtney finished second, while Abreu, the defending race winner, took third.

“Any mistake you make, it’s exposed,” Courtney said. “I took the lead on someone else’s mistake and then gave the win back on a mistake.”

The win was Marks’ second in High Limit competition this season. Courtney remains at the top of the points standings after 19 races.

“It’s huge,” Marks said. “We’ve worked hard to build our program where it needs to be and have consistency.”

The event served as race no. 4 of High Limit’s “Midweek Money Series” where Courtney is also the points leader. The win was Marks’ first in the mini-series this year.

“I feel like we’re on the right track there,” Marks said. “Tonight is really a step in the right direction for us.”

Results (35 laps): 1. Brent Marks 2. Tyler Courtney 3. Rico Abreu 4. Brad Sweet 5. Corey Day 6. Parker Price-Miller 7. Tyler Ross 8. Tanner Thorson 9. Spencer Bayston 10. Zeb Wise 11 . Justin Peck 12. Anthony Macri 13. Danny Dietrich 14. James McFadden 15. Cole Macedo 16. Cap Henry 17. Kyle Reinhardt 18. Reese Nowotarski 19. Kasey Kahne 20. Sye Lynch 21. Jacob TJ Allen 22. Lucas Wolfe 23. Stutts 24. Brenham Crouch 25. Briggs Danner 26. Cory Eliason