Coby Lambert hadn’t been to World Short Track Championship in eight years, but made sure you knew his name every chance he got.
His efforts were highlighted by setting Quick Time on Saturday with the SEHA DIRTVision Hornets and then winning back-to-back Features, including the main Championship Feature on Sunday.
“My dad, he puts a lot of hours into this stuff, and I have a lot of great people who came with me this weekend, a lot of great sponsors,” Lambert said. “This is my first season in this stuff. I’ve had some wins over the years… this tops it all right here.”
Lambert’s first laps around The Dirt Track at Charlotte came in 2016 and 2017 behind the wheel of a Mini Stock. He finished 17th in 2016 and 12th in 2017. So, not only was the 10th World Short Track Championship his first time back in nearly a decade, but it was his first time racing a Hornet around the 4/10-mile dirt track too.
However, his first season driving a Hornet had already gotten off to a strong start before entering the event, having scored two wins with the South Eastern Hornet Association.
He carried that speed into Hot Lap/Qualifying by setting Quick Time, which put him on the pole for Showdown Feature #4. Gage McManus won Showdown Feature #1, Joey Kelly won Showdown Feature #2, Scott Cloninger won Showdown Feature #3, and then Lambert led all 15 laps in #4.
That locked him into the championship Feature, placing him fourth in the 29-car starting lineup. But when the green flag flew, he had no intentions of wasting time behind cars. He threw his car to the top lane and rocketed around the three other Showdown Feature winners ahead of him to take the lead on the first lap and never look back.
Newman Presnell maneuvered his way from sixth to second in the opening laps and stayed within a second of Lambert for the first half of the race.
The race slowed on Lap 11 after a car lost a wheel. When it resumed, Lambert went from a jog to a sprint to build a bigger gap between himself and the “hornet’s nest” behind him. Presnell got caught in a four-wide battle for second and lost, giving second to Willie Fowler. He then suffered an issue with his car that caused him to retire.
While the rest of the field battled three-wide lap after lap for various positions, Lambert and Fowler put down qualifying laps to pull away from the field and lead the pack to the checkered flag.
For Lambert, the Feature wins were his first at The Dirt Track. For Fowler, the finish was a career-best at World Short Track. And for Casey Towell, who rounded out the podium, it was his second straight World Short Track Championship podium.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 33L-Coby Lambert[4]; 2. 19-Willie Fowler[9]; 3. 11-Casey Towell[14]; 4. 3C-Scott Cloninger[3]; 5. 95-Jacob Bright[18]; 6. 58-Kason Bright[26]; 7. 78T-Steven Herring[17]; 8. 48P-Kayden Presnell[28]; 9. 20H-Bryson Harper[5]; 10. 27-Logan White[11]; 11. 511-Bentley Caudle[23]; 12. F1-Travis Lankford[12]; 13. T3-Tony Hill[13]; 14. X-Shannon Barnhill[21]; 15. 44W-Jordan Webb[19]; 16. A53-Austin Haskin[20]; 17. 135-Travis Jamieson[8]; 18. 113-Tristen Woody[7]; 19. 12-Trevor Russell[15]; 20. 3B-Brad McManus[24]; 21. 77-Blaze Coggins[16]; 22. 48N-Newman Presnell[6]; 23. 3G-Gage McManus[1]; 24. 00H-Corey Harper[22]; 25. 88R-Bradley Williams[10]; 26. HW-Clayton Selig[25]; 27. 1H-Justin Harris[27]; 28. 88K-Joey Kelly[2]
Showdown Feature #1 (15 Laps): 1. 3G-Gage McManus[2]; 2. 20H-Bryson Harper[4]; 3. 19-Willie Fowler[3]; 4. T3-Tony Hill[1]; 5. 78T-Steven Herring[9]; 6. T3JR-Adam Asbill[18]; 7. 96-Kevin Brazell[10]; 8. 41W-Matthew Worrell[5]; 9. 4X-Bryson Lankford[14]; 10. 3NC-JJ Huskey[19]; 11. 41-Gage McFadden[12]; 12. 214-Eric McGahee[16]; 13. DIXIE-Tony Slack[11]; 14. 6-Jamie Massey[8]; 15. HW-Clayton Selig[13]; 16. 2J-Dylan Douglas[6]; 17. 08-Dallas Griggs[17]; 18. 22-Blake Greene[21]; 19. 22G-Michael Grogan[7]; 20. 359-Michael Lambert[15]; 21. 48-Cole Hooper[20]
Showdown Feature #2 (15 Laps): 1. 88K-Joey Kelly[2]; 2. 48N-Newman Presnell[1]; 3. 88R-Bradley Williams[6]; 4. 11-Casey Towell[17]; 5. 95-Jacob Bright[5]; 6. 4B-Trent Blackwell[4]; 7. X-Shannon Barnhill[10]; 8. 511-Bentley Caudle[3]; 9. 41JR-Kolten Saam[15]; 10. 87X-Josh Cody[12]; 11. 4-Daniel Wright[13]; 12. 27M-Keitha Martin[19]; 13. N2-Bradley Whitesides[14]; 14. 2B-Addison Bragg[9]; 15. 26H-Tyler Hoffman[8]; 16. 1H-Justin Harris[16]; 17. 14-Darrell Moffatt[7]; 18. 91Z-Chris Gardner[21]; 19. 21-Brandon Greene[18]; 20. ?-Tyler Langley[11]; 21. 88M-Chris Martin[20]
Showdown Feature #3 (15 Laps): 1. 3C-Scott Cloninger[2]; 2. 113-Tristen Woody[1]; 3. 27-Logan White[7]; 4. 12-Trevor Russell[4]; 5. 44W-Jordan Webb[11]; 6. 00H-Corey Harper[12]; 7. 313-Rick Dunmire[9]; 8. 122-Ashley Parker[15]; 9. 5-Ethan Atwell[13]; 10. 24-Dylan Johnson[19]; 11. 2-Kylee Laws[20]; 12. 15-Kenneth Colf[5]; 13. 58-Kason Bright[6]; 14. 2C-Tyler Capps[10]; 15. NC3-Nelson Cunningham[16]; 16. 19F-Glen Fowler[17]; 17. 78F-Nathan Fowler[18]; 18. 48P-Kayden Presnell[3]; 19. 00S-Jonathan Sarratt[8]; 20. D2-Danny Tate[14]; 21. 21D-Dillon Vaughn[21]
Showdown Feature #4 (15 Laps): 1. 33L-Coby Lambert[1]; 2. 135-Travis Jamieson[4]; 3. F1-Travis Lankford[3]; 4. 77-Blaze Coggins[8]; 5. A53-Austin Haskin[9]; 6. 73-Braydon Lancaster[13]; 7. 78-Ethan Fowler[14]; 8. 80-Justin Watts[11]; 9. 21G-Michael Gelhausen[17]; 10. 33-Scott Isbell[16]; 11. 3B-Brad McManus[10]; 12. 88-Alyssa Kelly[7]; 13. 26-Nate Worthy[6]; 14. 81A-Avery White[5]; 15. 328-Zack Slone[18]; 16. 18-Phillip Taylor[12]; 17. 4M-Isaiah McClure[19]; 18. 115-Keylon Tate[20]; 19. 11P-Blake Pringle[2]; 20. 00-Andrew Rich[15]
