Svoboda goes from bottom to the top at Off Road Speedway

By Randy Pospishil

sports@norfolkdailynews.com

NORFOLK, Neb. (June 27) – Seven days ago, Justin Svoboda’s no. 16 Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod was pictured beneath the no. 22 car of Tim Swartz on the front straightaway at Off Road Speedway. 

Just a week later, Svoboda was celebrating his first SportMod win at the track, a big moment during what has been a difficult season. 

“We’ve had a rough go of it so far. This is my ninth night of racing and this is only the fifth race that I’ve finished,” Svoboda said. “We’ve been fighting a lot of issues and trying to get this new car headed in the right direction, and it looks like it’s starting to go that way. It went pretty good tonight, sort of a change from zero to hero. Hopefully it’ll keep going that way, and we can click off some more wins.” 

Svoboda made the most of an opportunity to start on the pole and was able to lead every one of the 20 laps while as many as five different cars battled for a chance to contest for the lead.

Ultimately, the competition behind Svoboda ended with Kyle Prauner having seven laps of opportunities to vie for the lead. But Svoboda was able to maintain the advantage and earn his first victory of the year. 

Jim Johnson won a hard-fought IMCA Sunoco Late Model feature. He got to the front by passing Kaleb Jasperson following the race’s second caution and led the final 20 laps, establishing a significant lead as the field spread out behind him en route to the win.

Two drivers who came from deep in the starting lineup, Chase Osborne and Cory Dumpert, finished in second and third place, respectively.

In the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, Chad Bruns started on the outside of row one and, despite three cautions which kept the pack close behind him, led all 18 laps for the feature win.

Travis Coover earned his first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock win of the season at Off Road Speedway while ending Jason Wilkinson’s streak at three-straight.