Steven Thompkins had only made a handful of starts this season prior to the World Short Track Championship, but he looked far from rusty.
The Grays Creek, NC native worked his way forward from sixth to the lead of the MSD 602 Late Model Feature and stayed there to win one of his home state’s biggest events for the first time in his career.
At the start, 13-year-old Wyatt Coffey shot from third to the lead on the bottom of Turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap as he challenged for his maiden victory at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. The young Virginia driver looked to have the best car on the track, but his night came to an unscheduled end with seven laps complete when his engine expired while leading.
Coffey’s misfortune handed the lead to Olivia Gentry Williams, another driver chasing Charlotte glory for the first time. Williams had her work cut out for her with both John Ruggiero Jr. – a five-time World Short Track Championship winner across multiple divisions – as well as Thompkins directly behind her on the restart, but the Newnan, GA native held the lead when the green flag flew.
Another yellow came soon after when Thompkins was running second, putting him on the outside of the front row when the race restarted with 11 laps to go. The top lane turned out to be the perfect place for the No. 22T car, as Thompkins ripped around the outside of Williams and took command. It was all Thompkins in the second half of the 20-lap main event, as the gap back to Williams was nearly a second when Thompkins took the checkers for his first win since March 29, 2025 at his former home track of Fayetteville Motor Speedway.
“We’ve had a monkey on our back every time we come here,” Thompkins said. “We’ve qualified good, Heat raced good. Gotta draw a pill, man, it’s just tough luck. We were here last year, not on the stage. Every time we’ve come down here, we’ve unloaded, we’ve been pretty good. I’ll tell you what man, it just feels good to finally get it.”
Williams finished second in her second World Short Track Championship appearance ahead of Dalton Jacobs in third, who earned his second podium finish in the event. Joey Baughman and Shun Oreo Thomas rounded out the top five.
Steven Thompkins, Olivia Gentry Williams and Dalton Jacobs eanred spots on the podium at The Dirt Track at Charlotte (James McMahen Photo)
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22T-Steven Thompkins[6]; 2. 03-Olivia Gentry Williams[5]; 3. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[13]; 4. 45J-Joey Baughman[8]; 5. 99T-Shun Oreo Thomas[12]; 6. 20S-Trey Stamper[26]; 7. 14-Jeff Robinson[14]; 8. 25T-Dylan Thompson[9]; 9. 00-Preston Blalock[10]; 10. 00T-Kendal Tucker[11]; 11. J12-Jason Dickerson[15]; 12. 02-Danny Hurley[20]; 13. 82-Canaan Clobes[17]; 14. 17-Case Daniels[21]; 15. 99-Dale Durham[25]; 16. 28-Matthew Nance[24]; 17. 5-Robbie Gibson[22]; 18. 2-Dylan Warden[18]; 19. 27-Mike Davidson[16]; 20. 20-Isaiah Parker[23]; 21. 300-Bill Tesh[28]; 22. 25A-Jaedyn Altiers[27]; 23. 44-John Ruggiero Jr[7]; 24. 1J-Morghan Johnson[19]; 25. 2C-Wyatt Coffey[3]; 26. 17B-Biscuit Williams[2]; 27. 22-Nathan Walker[1]; 28. 51-Luke Clements[4]
