The competitive nature of the feature races and a number of close finishes kept fans’ attention on the finish line during Saturday night’s regular slate of racing at Off Road Speedway.
Those finishes included Cameron Meyer’s green-white-checkered victory in the IMCA SportMods “A” feature, Cameron Wilkinson’s IMCA Stock Car win and a late pass for second place by Jason Wilkinson.
Meyer, whose win was his third this season and second consecutive trip to Victory Lane at the track, started the 15-lap race five rows back, but the Pierce racer steadily moved up to force his way into a five-car battle for the lead.
James Roebuck — who led for 12 laps after passing pole-sitter Stephanie Reynolds — was challenged by Colby Langenberg, Meyer, Kyle Wilkinson and newcomer Shawn Kelley for most of those laps while five cautions contributed to the pursuers remaining in position to take advantage of any possible mistake by a car in front of them.
That opportunity arrived when Kyle Wilkinson made contact with Langenberg and was sent to the rear of the pack, leaving Langenberg and Meyer in a battle for second behind Roebuck.
Just two laps after the ensuing caution, Langenberg used momentum coming out of turn two to pass Roebuck for the lead with Meyer making his move moments later while leaving turn four to pull alongside Langenberg.
A caution voided Meyer’s chance at the lead then, but when Langenberg’s car lost traction in turn two following the restart Meyer sped into the lead with four laps remaining, holding on for the win despite the late caution setting up Meyer’s green-white-checkered dash to victory.
Norfolk’s Langenberg finished second, with Wes Hochstein of Randolph making a late pass of Roebuck to take third.
Cameron Wilkinson didn’t get to the front of the IMCA Stock Cars “A” feature until the final lap of the 15-lap race, edging Jeremy Hoskinson, who had grabbed the lead during the second lap and held it while Tejay Mielke and Cameron’s brother, Kyle, battled all race long for a chance at the lead.
Hoskinson entered turn three of the final lap low and with an advantage, but Cameron Wilkinson’s use of the high side of the track provided the momentum necessary to pull ahead as the cars reached the flag stand. He recorded his third Off Road Speedway win of the season.
Hoskinson, a Norfolkan who has finished among the top five in three of the division’s five outings, was second once again, while Kyle Wilkinson of Neigh took third.
Trevor Frisch won his first IMCA “A” feature at Off Road Speedway, taking advantage of a starting position on the outside of the front row, bolting into the lead and staying there all 15 laps, with no fewer than five cars in contention behind him.
Dakota Spann paced a group of cars driven by pole-sitter Parker Vollbrecht, Joe Rosberg, Mark Arduser and Shannon Pospisil that all had chances at taking over second place.
Ultimately, following the race’s only caution with seven laps left, Rosberg took over the second position following Spann skidding up high on the track in turn four. But he relinquished the spot three laps later to a late arrival at the front by Jason Wilkinson.
Jason Wilkinson pulled even with Rosberg in the backstretch as the cars left turn two, then came out of turn four on the bottom of the track to maintain the advantage as the two reached the finish line.
Jason Wilkinson of Neligh was second, with Norfolkan Rosberg in third.
Anthony Roth began the IMCA Late Models feature in the middle of the 15-car pack.
Within five laps the Columbus driver was a distant second behind race leader Devin Johnson, but Roth steadily closed the deficit until, with 11 laps remaining and the pair contending with lapped traffic, Roth was able to take the race lead with a pass on the outside coming out of turn four.
Roth and Johnson then battled for the lead during the final 10 laps, finishing in that order as Roth earned his third Off Road Speedway feature win.
Bloomfield’s Johnson picked up his second top five finish of the season at the track. Norfolk’s Chase Osborne took third place.
Trent Reed of Mondamin, Iowa, won his fourth Off Road Speedway Pro Stock 4 “A” feature of the season.
Reed and second-place finisher Kyle Reed of Norfolk started side-by-side in the fourth of five rows but finished in first and second place, respectively, at the end of the 10-lap race. Kiegen Werner of Pierce was third.
Off Road Speedway
(All drivers from Norfolk unless indicated)
IMCA Late Models: (16 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Anthony Roth, Columbus; 2. Devin Johnson, Bloomfield; 3. Chase Osborne; 4. Kaleb Jasperson; 5. Cory Dumpert, Newman Grove; 6. Matt Haase; 7. Dylan Schmer, Aurora; 8. Beau Johnson, Plainview; 9. Nelson Vollbrecht, Stanton; 10. Eric Vanosdall, Hoskins; 11. Joey Haase; 12. Bill Kubik, Grand Island; 13. Brock Carlson, Winside; 14. JR Coover; 15. Dan Lueken, Albion; 16. Alex Banks, Newman Grove. (Heat 1) 1. M. Haase, 2. Osborne. (Heat 2) 1. Roth, 2. D. Johnson. (Heat 3) 1. Jasperson, 2. J. Haase.
IMCA Stock Cars: (15 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Cameron Wilkinson, Neligh; 2. Jeremy Hoskinson; 3. Kyle Wilkinson, Neligh; 4. Eric Haase; 5. Ron Pettitt; 6. Derek Sehi, Neligh; 7. Tejay Mielke; 8. Fred DeSive, O’Neill; 9. Tanner Cunningham, Tilden; 10. Nate DeSive, O’Neill; 11. Bryan Harmes, Newman Grove; 12. Skip Koenig; 13. Jaimey Holdorf, Bennington; 14. Justin Bertschinger; 15. Rick Pendergast. (Heat 1) 1. K. Wilkinson, 2. Pendergast. (Heat 2) 1. C. Wilkinson, 2. Sehi. (Heat 3) 1. Mielke, 2. E. Haase.
IMCA Hobby Stocks: (16 cars) (“A” feature): 1. Trevor Frisch; 2. Jason Wilkinson, Neligh; 3. Joe Rosberg; 4. Wyatt Lehman; 5. Dakota Spann, Wayne; 6. Joe Beller; 7. Mark Arduser, Battle Creek; 8. Nic Kimmel; 9. Jordan Uehling; 10. Lance Mielke; 11. Shannon Pospisil; 12. Travis Landauer, Albion; 13. Gage Koch; 14. Nate Buck, Neligh; 15. Tanner Uehling; 16. Parker Vollbrecht, Stanton. (B Feature) 1. N. Kimmel, 2. J. Wilkinson, 3. Rosberg, 4. Lehman. (Heat 1) 1. Spann, 2. Frisch. (Heat 2) 1. Beller, 2. J. Uehling. (Heat 3) 1. P. Vollbrecht, 2. Arduser.
IMCA SPORTMODS: (14 cars) (“A” feature) 1. Cameron Meyer, Pierce; 2. Colby Langenberg; 3. Wes Hochstein, Randolph; 4. James Roebuck, Genoa; 5. Shawn Kelley, Albion; 6. Tyler Afrank; 7. Tim Swartz, Lincoln; 8. Terry Kester, Oakdale; 9. Stephanie Reynolds; 10. Aiden Gnat; 11. Aaron French; 12. Kyle Wilkinson; 13. Douglas Hilkemann, Brunswick; 14. Logan Fernau, Creighton. (Heat 1) 1. Roebuck, 2. Meyer. (Heat 2) 1. Reynolds, 2. Hochstein.
Pro Stock 4: (10 cars) (“A” feature): 1. Trent Reed, Mondamin, Iowa; 2. Kyle Reed; 3. Kiegen Werner, Pierce; 4. Bentley Freeman; 5. Zach Cordner; 6. Grayson Stobbe, Leigh; 7. Travis Flemming; 8. Christian Kruger, Pierce; 9. Brian Carr, Oakdale; 10. Dylan Curry. (Heat 1) 1. Werner, 2. K. Reed. (Heat 2) 1. T. Reed, 2. Cordner.
