LAS VEGAS — The all-time winningest USAC Silver Crown driver Kody Swanson charged from 10th on the grid to win the $10,000-to-win Riskon360! Open Wheel Showdown for midgets.
Swanson drew the 10 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 appeared poised to win the feature. He fended off a challenge from this year’s Little 500 winner Jake Trainor 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 a 0.8-second 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 rounded out the top-five finishers.
Supermodified Action
In Speed Tour Supermodified action, Oswego Classic winner Dave Danzer prevailed in a wild 30-lap feature worth $5,000 to win. The Speed Tour had a 10-car inversion which saw fast-time qualifier Danzer and weekend-long contender Davey Hamilton start on the fifth-row. Hamilton advanced into the lead by lap 11. A pair of hard crashes on both ends of the track stopped the action, but the drivers involved were uninjured.
Hamilton separated himself from Danzer by a few car lengths before tangling briefly with a lapped car. The contact caused damage that stuck Hamilton’s throttle open, sending him barreling into the turn three wall and onto his side for a caution on lap 24. Danzer inherited the lead and paced the final six circuits for the coveted win followed by Canadian Jim White and Cris Muhler rounding out the podium.
Midget Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. Kody Swanson, 2. Todd Bertrand, 3. Jake Trainor, 4. Tanner Swanson, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Kyle O’Gara, 7. Bobby Santos III, 8. Chuck Gurney Jr., 9. Chase Locke, 10. Nathan Byrd, 11. Courtney Crone, 12. Michael Daniels, 13. Willy Ginn, 14. Cody Jessop, 15. Garrett McLees, 16. Michael Fanelli, 17. Ryan Shilkuski, 18. Drew Crenshaw, 19. Trevor Anderson, 20. Tony Siedelman
Supermodified Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. Dave Danzer, 2. Jim White, 3. Cris Muhler, 4. Richie Castor Jr., 5. Nathan Byrd, 6. Cody Castor, 7. Ricky Otts, 8. Randy Anderson, 9. Matt Elliott, 10. Davey Hamilton, 11. Austin Carter, 12. Ken Hamilton, 13. Art McCarthy Jr., 14. Bobby Dalton, 15. Jim Birges, 16. Kyle Vanderpool, 17. Dave Adamson, 18. Shane Vanderpool, 19. Bryan Shafer