LAS VEGAS — Bobby Santos, Sam Jacks and Otto Sitterly topped Thursday practices for the BITNILE.com Open Wheel Showdown at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Nearly 100 participants took to the .375-mile paved speedway for practices across the winged sprint car, supermodified, and Klotz Synthetics Modifieds.
Santos of Franklin, Mass., set the standard with a blistering 11.927 lap at 113.188 mph in the No. 22a sprint car. Afternoon practice leader JoJo Helberg timed second quickest, followed by multi-time Silver Crown champion Kody Swanson, event promoter Davey Hamilton Jr. and Canadian Jeff Montgomery.
Santos picked up half a second across the two practice sessions to lead the way.
“We unloaded decent. We kind of went back to what we know works in the second practice session. Car has good balance. Looking forward to the next two days. Got to thank everyone at Open Wheel Showdown and Davey for what he’s doing. Been looking forward to this weekend for the whole year,” Santos said. “(Qualifying) is wicked important. This format rewards speed, which is a good thing. There’s so many good cars here so that’s the way it should be. It’s a great format. With that being said, we have to put ourselves in a good position.”
The sprint cars will participate in time trials, heat races, the 12-car Firstline Systems Pole Shuffle, and the 15-lap C Feature on Friday night. All the preliminary events are in preparation for Saturday’s 100-lap, $50,000 to win feature.
Three-time ISMA and nine-time Oswego champion Sitterly backed up his championship résumé by leading supermodified practice. Sitterly darted to a 12.322-second lap, leading 11-time Indianapolis 500 starter Davey Hamilton, Jim Birges, Cris Muhler and 2025 Colorado Hall of Fame inductee Rich Castor.
More supermodified practices are scheduled Friday, continuing the run towards a $5,000 prize in Saturday’s 40-lap main event.
Sam Jacks led his younger brother Kyle Jacks in Klotz Synthetics Modifieds practices, timing in at 14.900 seconds. Aaron McMorran rounded out an all-Las Vegas driver podium followed by Idaho standout Shelby Stroebel and California champion Scott Winters. Thirty-two modifieds took times in preparation for Saturday’s 75-lap feature paying $5,000 to win.
Modifieds will time trial and heat race during Friday night’s action.
Tickets are on sale now at www.OpenWheelShowdown.com or fans can check out the racing live on www.SpeedSport.TV