By Randy Pospishil
NORFOLK, Neb. (April 28) – With a large crowd on hand, the 2018 season at Off Road Speedway began Saturday night.
“We’ve got 84 cars here tonight, which is an increase from last year, and a great crowd for the first night,” promoter Jerry Pospisil said. “The track is really good, it’s slick, and that’s what we like. We’re real excited about the year, especially if we can keep the car count up around 80–that’s the best in the business around here.”
With an increased purse this season for classes that consist of 20 cars or more, Pospisil noted that two of Saturday night’s classes, the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, already met that criteria on opening night.
Racing action began with Ramsey Meyer starting on the pole and leading all 12 laps in the IMCA Sport Compact feature to take the first checkered flag of the season at Off Road Speedway. Tanner Uehling finished second with Parker Vollbrecht in third.
Robby Thome won the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod feature in his first-ever competition at Off Road Speedway, finishing the 20-lap event ahead of Joey Haase and Colby Langenberg.
In the Hobby Stock division, Lance Mielke held off a late charge by Nate DeSive for a narrow win. Sal Hernandez took third.
Another first-time winner at Off Road Speedway, David Richards, took the lead with six laps remaining following a restart after the third caution in the Stock Car feature, then stayed ahead of Doug Adamy and Ron Pettitt, who finished second and third, respectively.