Kody Swanson Wins Open Wheel Showdown $10,000 Midget Feature At LVMS’ Bullring

Story By: OPEN WHEEL SHOWDOWN – LAS VEGAS, NV – Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. charged from tenth on the grid to win the $10,000 to win Riskon360! Open Wheel Showdown for Midgets.

He passed teammate Todd Bertrand on lap 38 for the coveted win. 2023 Little 500 winner Jake Trainor, Tanner Swanson, and Two-time USAC National Sprint Car champion Justin Grant of Ione, Calif. rounded out the top-five.

The all-time winningest USAC Silver Crown driver drew the ten inversion with assistance from Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice after setting quick-time over the field of Midgets.

“Yeah I mean it means a lot to me. You asked in terms of my career it certainly does. For me, racing is deeper than just myself. I’m so thankful for this,” Swanson said. “This is the type of drive you drive from Southwick, Mass. for. There’s a lot of people I’m so blessed to have in my life. This is a challenging race track and that’s what makes it so fun to drive. There’s a bunch of a really good cars and drivers that made it special.”

Swanson’s teammate Todd Bertrand of Danielson, CT appeared poised to win the feature. He fended off a challenge from 2023 Little 500 winner Jake Trainor of Medway, Mass. to lead lap 12 in lapped traffic.

Swanson worked his way up to second position by lap 21. Trainor drove inside of Swanson on a restart but Swanson held the position. Swanson was running second on lap 31 with an eight tenth deficit to Bertrand. He tracked down Bertrand, then knifed underneath him on the backstretch to lead lap 38.

Bertrand Motorsports wrapped up a one-two finish followed by Trainor, Kody Swanson’s younger brother Tanner, and two-time USAC National Sprint Car champion Justin Grant of Ione, Calif. rounded out the top-five finishers.

Midgets

Rick On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Midget Feature (50 Laps): 1. 47-Kody Swanson[10]; 2. 44-Todd Bertrand[3]; 3. 29-Jake Trainor[5]; 4. 1S-Tanner Swanson[8]; 5. 3-Justin Grant[6]; 6. 67-Kyle O’Gara[9]; 7. 98-Bobby Santos III[7]; 8. 51-Chuck Gurney Jr[4]; 9. 01-Chase Locke[11]; 10. 47A-Nathan Byrd[2]; 11. 5-Courtney Crone[16]; 12. 87-Michael Daniels[15]; 13. 02-Willy Ginn[17]; 14. 00-Cody Jessop[12]; 15. 4-Garrett McLees[14]; 16. 38-Michael Fanelli[1]; 17. 48-Ryan Shilkuski[20]; 18. 0C-Drew Crenshaw[18]; 19. 69-Trevor Anderson[19]; 20. 84-Tony Seidelman[13]; 21. (DNS) 24-Matt Elliott

Risk On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Midget Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 47-Kody Swanson, 00:13.811[21]; 2. 67-Kyle O’Gara, 00:13.878[17]; 3. 1S-Tanner Swanson, 00:13.894[14]; 4. 98-Bobby Santos III, 00:13.967[18]; 5. 3-Justin Grant, 00:13.981[19]; 6. 29-Jake Trainor, 00:14.006[15]; 7. 51-Chuck Gurney Jr, 00:14.063[16]; 8. 44-Todd Bertrand, 00:14.080[3]; 9. 47A-Nathan Byrd, 00:14.088[12]; 10. 38-Michael Fanelli, 00:14.113[13]; 11. 01-Chase Locke, 00:14.191[20]; 12. 00-Cody Jessop, 00:14.306[2]; 13. 84-Tony Seidelman, 00:14.486[11]; 14. 4-Garrett McLees, 00:15.171[8]; 15. 87-Michael Daniels, 00:15.207[7]; 16. 5-Courtney Crone, 00:15.281[9]; 17. 02-Willy Ginn, 00:15.451[5]; 18. 0C-Drew Crenshaw, 00:15.765[6]; 19. 69-Trevor Anderson, 00:16.484[4]; 20. 48-Ryan Shilkuski[10]; 21. (DNS) 24-Matt Elliott

Risk On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Group 1: 1. 84-Tony Seidelman, 00:14.543; 2. 5-Courtney Crone, 00:14.607[6]; 3. 4-Garrett McLees, 00:14.958; 4. 87-Michael Daniels, 00:15.175[5]; 5. 0C-Drew Crenshaw, 00:15.649[4]; 6. 69-Trevor Anderson, 00:16.223[1]

Risk On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Group 2: 1. 38-Michael Fanelli, 00:14.234[4]; 2. 47A-Nathan Byrd, 00:14.329[5]; 3. 48-Ryan Shilkuski, 00:14.586[3]; 4. 02-Willy Ginn, 00:15.835; 5. (DNS) 84-Tony Seidelman; 6. (DNS) 4-Garrett McLees

Risk On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Group 3: 1. 01-Chase Locke, 00:13.907[2]; 2. 3-Justin Grant, 00:13.952[1]; 3. 51-Chuck Gurney Jr, 00:14.071[5]; 4. 44-Todd Bertrand[3]; 5. 00-Cody Jessop[4]

Risk On 360! Open Wheel Showdown Group 4: 1. 47-Kody Swanson, 00:13.796[4]; 2. 98-Bobby Santos III, 00:14.009[1]; 3. 67-Kyle O’Gara, 00:14.010[2]; 4. 29-Jake Trainor, 00:14.126[3]; 5. 1S-Tanner Swanson, 00:14.157[5]

RC Bando B/O

A Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Keaton Harbison; 2. 50-Ryder Juarez; 3. 17-Bristol Monroe; 4. 56-James Trimmer; 5. 16-Leila Trimmer; 6. 6-Karson Orth

Heat 1 (4 Laps): 1. 9-Keaton Harbison[1]; 2. 56-James Trimmer[4]; 3. 17-Bristol Monroe[3]; 4. 16-Leila Trimmer[5]; 5. 50-Ryder Juarez[2]; 6. 6-Karson Orth[6]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 9-Keaton Harbison, 01:22.209[1]; 2. 50-Ryder Juarez, 01:27.756[2]; 3. 17-Bristol Monroe, 01:42.084[3]; 4. 56-James Trimmer, 01:45.635[5]; 5. 16-Leila Trimmer, 02:12.636[6]; 6. (DNS) 6-Karson Orth

RC Legend P/M

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Lawless Alan[3]; 2. 9-Tyler Reif[2]; 3. 23?-Jake Walker[1]; 4. 71-Jake Bollman[4]; 5. 43-Devin O’Connell[5]; 6. 13H-Sean Hingorani[10]; 7. 1-Robert Gayton[8]; 8. 4-Tanner Reif[6]; 9. 21N-Ethan Nascimento[16]; 10. 8-Aydan Saunders[7]; 11. 20-Lane Vacala[9]; 12. 31-Lonnie Hochstetler; 13. 58-Carl Cormier[12]; 14. 64-Zeke Hanger[15]; 15. 53-Bruce Silver[17]; 16. 12-Brendan Ruzbarsky[13]; 17. 34-Scott Harbison[18]; 18. 2223-AJ Zarcone[14]; 19. 13AH-Andy Hulcy[11]

Heat 1 (4 Laps): 1. 23?-Jake Walker[1]; 2. 25-Lawless Alan[3]; 3. 43-Devin O’Connell[4]; 4. 8-Aydan Saunders[7]; 5. 20-Lane Vacala[5]; 6. 13AH-Andy Hulcy[9]; 7. 12-Brendan Ruzbarsky[2]; 8. 64-Zeke Hanger[10]; 9. 31-Lonnie Hochstetler[6]; 10. 34-Scott Harbison[8]

Heat 2 (4 Laps): 1. 9-Tyler Reif[1]; 2. 71-Jake Bollman[2]; 3. 4-Tanner Reif[3]; 4. 1-Robert Gayton[5]; 5. 13H-Sean Hingorani[8]; 6. 58-Carl Cormier[6]; 7. 2223-AJ Zarcone[4]; 8. 21N-Ethan Nascimento[7]; 9. 53-Bruce Silver[9]

Hot Laps 1: 1. 23?-Jake Walker, 01:26.462[11]; 2. 43-Devin O’Connell, 01:26.638; 3. 25-Lawless Alan, 01:26.744[1]; 4. 8-Aydan Saunders, 01:27.799[9]; 5. 20-Lane Vacala, 01:27.968[10]; 6. 31-Lonnie Hochstetler, 01:28.166[7]; 7. 13AH-Andy Hulcy, 01:29.686; 8. 12-Brendan Ruzbarsky, 01:30.346; 9. 34-Scott Harbison, 01:31.220[5]; 10. 64-Zeke Hanger, 01:34.460[4]; 11. (DNS) 71-Jake Bollman; 12. (DNS) 58-Carl Cormier; 13. (DNS) 13H-Sean Hingorani; 14. (DNS) 21N-Ethan Nascimento; 15. (DNS) 2223-AJ Zarcone

RC Legend SP/YL

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 78-Bryceton Meyer[17]; 2. 71Y-Ben Morabito[2]; 3. 7L-Mia Lovell[1]; 4. 43-Trent Dillard[20]; 5. 95-Colton Ray[7]; 6. 00-Rowe Luckinbill[4]; 7. V5-Vito Cancilla[6]; 8. 17S-Sean Salazar[11]; 9. 45-Bryson Brown[8]; 10. 28-Tryston Meyer[12]; 11. 21R-Christopher Rice[15]; 12. 7-Kenna Mitchell[3]; 13. E22YL-Alfred Alvarez Del Castillo[10]; 14. 45Z-Zeke Anderson[21]; 15. 12-Skyler Rae Meisenbach[14]; 16. 98-Jack Olliges[18]; 17. 14-Roxali Kamper[5]; 18. 53-Connor Podloski[22]; 19. 21-Keaton Harbison[19]; 20. 12M-Brody Manning[13]; 21. (DNS) 21C-Robyn Cottrill; 22. (DNS) 11-Eric Sigwing; 23. (DNS) 09-Stevie Rodriguez

Heat 1 (4 Laps): 1. 7L-Mia Lovell[1]; 2. 7-Kenna Mitchell[2]; 3. 14-Roxali Kamper[6]; 4. 95-Colton Ray[5]; 5. 21C-Robyn Cottrill[10]; 6. 17S-Sean Salazar[7]; 7. 12M-Brody Manning[8]; 8. 21R-Christopher Rice[3]; 9. 78-Bryceton Meyer[4]; 10. 21-Keaton Harbison[9]; 11. (DNS) 45Z-Zeke Anderson

Heat 2 (4 Laps): 1. 71Y-Ben Morabito[1]; 2. 00-Rowe Luckinbill[2]; 3. V5-Vito Cancilla[4]; 4. 45-Bryson Brown[3]; 5. E22YL-Alfred Alvarez Del Castillo[6]; 6. 28-Tryston Meyer[8]; 7. 12-Skyler Rae Meisenbach[9]; 8. 11-Eric Sigwing[10]; 9. 98-Jack Olliges[7]; 10. 43-Trent Dillard[5]; 11. (DNS) 09-Stevie Rodriguez; 12. (DNS) 53-Connor Podloski

Hot Laps 1: 1. 7L-Mia Lovell, 01:30.024; 2. 71Y-Ben Morabito, 01:30.348[15]; 3. 7-Kenna Mitchell, 01:30.776[14]; 4. 45-Bryson Brown, 01:31.974[3]; 5. 21R-Christopher Rice, 01:32.596; 6. V5-Vito Cancilla, 01:33.021[4]; 7. 78-Bryceton Meyer, 01:33.363[12]; 8. 43-Trent Dillard, 01:33.606[6]; 9. 95-Colton Ray, 01:33.809[17]; 10. E22YL-Alfred Alvarez Del Castillo, 01:34.033[1]; 11. 14-Roxali Kamper, 01:34.116[8]; 12. 98-Jack Olliges, 01:35.085[16]; 13. 17S-Sean Salazar, 01:36.073; 14. 28-Tryston Meyer, 01:36.662[13]; 15. 12M-Brody Manning, 01:37.322[10]; 16. 12-Skyler Rae Meisenbach, 01:37.781[11]; 17. 21-Keaton Harbison, 01:48.785[7]; 18. (DNS) 45Z-Zeke Anderson; 19. (DNS) 21C-Robyn Cottrill; 20. (DNS) 00-Rowe Luckinbill; 21. (DNS) 09-Stevie Rodriguez; 22. (DNS) 11-Eric Sigwing