Flat Tire Can't Slow Sobotka in South of the Border Finale

Saturday night's DIRTcar Sportsman Modified finale at the South of the Border Showdown was 50 laps around Lake View Motor Speedway.

Fortunately for Zach Sobotka, it was not one lap longer.

Sobotka led every lap of the $3,000-to-win feature race, but nearly saw the night's domination unravel with a flat tire as he navigated turns three and four on the final lap.

Fortunately for Sobotka, he was able to limp across the line 1.2 seconds ahead of second-place Chris Johnson.

It was a unique way to win for Sobotka, but the victory all counts the same.

"It's definitely a first for me," said Sobotka in victory lane. "I didn't really know what was going to happen. I figured something would go wrong in the last lap with all those cautions."

At twice the distance of Thursday's 25-lap main event, the Lake View racing surface took on much more rubber than before. That threw a curveball at competitors, particularly with a pair of green-flag runs to close out the race.

"I didn't know how tire wear was doing, but it was pretty rubbered-up around the bottom," said Sobotka. "I didn't expect it to look like that.

"I could have swore coming to the checkers I was going to come right into the wall. I just kept my foot in the gas and somehow made it across."

The flat tire was also a shocking development for second-place Chris Johnson, who suddenly found himself within range of the win.

"I was hoping the lapped traffic would come into play, but he made all the right move," said Johnson. One more lap, who knows what would have happened."

Joe Toth completed the podium on the final night. He believed more green flag runs throughout the race would have given him a chance to compete for the win.

"We were good. I was better on the longer run once we got into our rhythm," said Toth. "If we didn't get that last caution, I might have had something. I was on the 33's back bumper and we were both catching Zach."

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Night #2 - South of the Border Showdown

1. Zach Sobotka
2. Chris Johnson
3. Joe Toth
4. Richard Murtaugh III
5. Brian Calabrese
6. Cedric Gauvreau
7. Robert Derlormier
8. Andrew Buff
9. Mike Bruno
10. Justin Buff
11. Jim Nagle
12. Dylan Madsen
13. Jamy Begor
14. Zach Buff
15. Chris Jakubiak
16. Tanner Siemons
17. Jeff Watson
18. Marty Kelly III
19. Seth Zacharias
20. Dane Hedlund
21. Ricky Thompson
22. Steve Davis
23. Brock Pinkerous
24. Blayden Arquette
25. David Boisclair
26. Bentley Gray