By Randy Pospishil
NORFOLK, Neb. (May 24, 2024) – The racing season is still early, but the competition for points and the pursuit of a track championship is already in play for drivers in all divisions at Off Road Speedway after Saturday night’s regular slate of racing.
Turning multiple wins into a lead atop the points standings are racers like Anthony Roth and Cameron Wilkinson, both with two wins in three outings in the IMCA Sunoco Late Model and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car divisions, respectively.
Roth, who has now won twice and also finished third in three tries this season at Off Road Speedway, made Saturday night’s trip to victory lane an exciting one.
The Columbus driver was on the outside of the top three, trailing race leader Chase Osborne, along with Beau Johnson and Cory Dumpert, until the final two of 25 laps when he made his move.
Coming out of turn four of the white flag lap, Roth darted past Johnson and Dumpert, then closed in on and passed Osborne for the win.
Osborne and Dumpert took second and third, respectively.
Although Wilkinson’s two victories came in the opening two weeks of racing at Off Road Speedway, his second place finish Saturday night, as he chased brother Kyle across the finish line, gives him the edge at the top of the IMCA Stock Cars points list.
Kyle Wilkinson moved quickly into the lead from the third row, breaking away from three-wide competition to get out front just three laps into the 15-lap feature, then establishing a straightaway-length advantage as three-wide racing continued behind him.
Various racers, including Derek Sehi, Cameron Wilkinson, Nate DeSive, Tejay Mielke and Jeremy Hoskinson continued the battle until Wilkinson made his way into second place with seven laps remaining.
Mielke earned third with a successful journey through lapped traffic during the final four laps to edge Hoskinson.
So far, the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock points race is wide open, with a disparity among the three feature winners and top five finishers.
Winning the third “A” feature outing on Saturday was Nate Buck, whose gamble following a caution and ensuing restart that positioned him on the inside of Jace Malasek behind race leader Gage Koch was successful.
Buck drove hard into the low side of turn three and, after some contact with Koch’s car and left turn four with the lead while Malasek and Mark Arduser also passed Koch.
The trio, despite two more cautions, went on to the finish line to take the top three spots, Buck in first, Malasek in second and Arduser in third.
The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods have completed just two “A” features so far this season, allowing Saturday winner Cameron Meyer to hold the early points lead.
Meyer started on the outside of row three, then chased down and passed pole-sitter Wes Hochstein on the inside as Hochstein’s car drifted up the track in turn two with six laps left.
Meyer won the five-lap sprint to the checkered flag with Willy Kirk moving up from the rear of the field to edge Randolph’s Hochstein by a matter of inches at the flag stand for second place.
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