Well, I can't say definitively but...I am battling a steering issue on my 2017 Spark 2 myself. The steering is a cable in a thicker cable sheath...the outer sheath is restrained at both ends (front - behind the left knee panel and rear - through the hull in the jet pump area) and the internal cable is what is attached to the steering yoke and the pump nozzle.
Your description sounds like a sticky cable perhaps or a burr on the cable maybe? Is it consistent?