By Steven Blakesley
LAS VEGAS, NV (November 8, 2025) – Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, California used high side magic to take his second consecutive $50,000 jackpot, winning Saturday’s 100-lap feature at the BITNILE Open Wheel Showdown presented by askROI. The victory in the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Winged Sprint Cars came at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the third annual event.
British Columbia’s Jeff Montgomery led the 26-car field to green alongside fast-time qualifier Jake Trainor of Medway, Mass. Idaho’s Mike Murgoitio used lapped traffic to dive underneath both Swanson and two-time event runner-up Bobby Santos to move into second. Santos then bounced off of Swanson in the third turn to spark a chain reaction of spins for a caution flag on lap 36.
Swanson roared around the high side of Murgoitio to retake second, then tracked down Montgomery. Montgomery led Swanson by less than a car length into the lap 50 halfway break with Murgoitio in third.
The high side continued to benefit Swanson on a restart. He raced to the outside of Montgomery and the duo staged a thrilling duel. Swanson eventually seized the lead on lap 63 and never relinquished it. Murgoitio drove to second followed by a hard-charging Santos who advanced back to third. 2023 winner Aaron Willison and Washington’s Evan Margeson rounded out the top-five.
“I knew there’s a lot of good cars here. Mike was real good and so was Bobby. I know we’re all racing hard there real early so I hate how that went (with Bobby). Appreciate racing with so many great people and the opportunity to drive this 50m for Dick Meyers and everybody on this RAM Engineering team. Man what a special group to be a part of.”
“This is a special event and I know a lot of people work hard to do it and I’m so grateful Davey (Hamilton, Jr.) got the ball rolling for us.”
Indiana’s Kevin Newton led just the final two laps to take the inaugural Larry Trigueiro Memorial for Super Modifieds, driving Warren Buddell’s famed Pink Lady No. 98 to the coveted win. Colorado’s Kyle Ray dominated all practice sessions and time trials during the Firstline Systems-sponsored event. Ray drove into the lead on lap nine of the feature, but tangled with a lapped car on lap 12. Ray was sent spinning into the turn two wall and eliminated from the event. He was uninjured.
The incident thrust Colorado’s Rich Castor into the lead with Newton in pursuit. Newton dove underneath Castor on the backstretch for the decisive pass to lead lap 29. Newton scored the $5,000 win. Castor settled for second followed by Canadian Jimmy White, Washington’s Randy Anderson, and Davey Hamilton, Sr.
Kyle Tellstrom of Ukiah, California won his inaugural appearance in the BITNILE Open Wheel Showdown, earning the $7,500 prize in the Klotz Synthetics Modifieds. The 75-lap feature saw Tellstrom maintaining a slight lead over Arizona’s Dylan Cappello. Cappello finished second while Jaron Giannini represented home turf in third. Northern California driver Cameron Austin and Colorado’s Nathan Gasser were the balance of the top-five. Defending winner Aaron McMorran recovered from an early incident to finish eighth.
INEX Legends and Bandoleros debuted at the Open Wheel Showdown with two action packed main events. 2025 INEX Legends Nationals Young Lions feature winner Ben Morabito from New York State held off a three-wide challenge to take the 30-lap feature win. The victory in the Windshield Defense Legends paid $1,500. 2025 Pro Nationals feature winner Brenden Ruzbarsky and fellow California Jeremy Doss gave Morabito all he could handle on the final restart. Mike Alcaro of Fredon, New Jersey finished fourth. NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch outperformed his son Brexton in the feature by finishing fifth.
A green-white-checkered finish led to a thrilling victory in the INEX Bandoleros main event. Idaho’s Jhett Phipps knifed underneath Las Vegas’ Caitlin Ford to take the lead in turn four and eventually the coveted victory. Utah’s Cru Bowen, Las Vegas’ Malcom Mancias, and Jaxon Muhler of Brighton, Colorado rounded out the top-five.
About the Open Wheel Showdown:
The Open Wheel Showdown is the premier pavement open wheel event in the country, attracting top drivers and teams from across the country to compete for record-breaking purses and national attention.