Gavin Cowan earned a significant milestone Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte before he’s old enough to drive a car on the road.
The 15-year-old Rincon, GA driver, passed Daniel Parker on Lap 12 after battling for several laps to earn the Chevrolet Performance 602 Late Model Victory at the seventh annual World Short Track Championship.
Parker grabbed the early lead in a caution-plagued event but held off several challenges on restarts from Jordan Koehler.
Cowan joined the battle on one of the restarts, quickly dispatching Koehler before setting his sights on the lead.
The Peach State competitor rolled the bottom, throwing everything he had at Parker. However, Parker’s momentum was too strong, as he continued to inch ahead at the start-finish line.
Cowan finally got the break he needed on Lap 12, as he thundered under Parker in Turn 2, getting a monstrous run down the backstretch to take the lead.
That’s all Cowan needed as he led the rest of the way to score his first World Short Track Championship triumph.
Despite the booming pass for the win, Cowan said he wasn’t sure if he could pull it off.
“I don’t know, it was really crazy,” Cowan said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. But I was glad I had fun, and I want to thank all my sponsors and everything.
“It’s amazing. I never thought it’d come true.”
Parker, from Raeford, NC, settled for second, grabbing the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year.
“Yeah, it’s all good,” Parker said. “Second two years in a row. It is what it is.”
AJ Belanger rounded out the podium after starting seventh. The Vander, NC driver, stated he was happy with his team and their work before the event.
“I just want to give a big shoutout to my guys,” Belanger said. “They worked hard all week. We’ve had a lot of tough runs this year and a bunch of tough races.”
Koehler finished fourth, and Chris Joyce rounded out the top five.
Feature (25 Laps)-1. 19-Gavin Cowan[3]; 2. 10-Daniel Parker[4]; 3. 24-AJ Belanger[7]; 4. 114K-Jordan Koehler[5]; 5. 17-Chris Joyce[6]; 6. 2-Brady Cornett[15]; 7. 18M-Austin Mintz[13]; 8. 18-Preston Blalock[17]; 9. JR1-Jake Jackson[23]; 10. 57-Luke Cooper[18]; 11. 5-Robbie Gibson[26]; 12. T2-Travis Sharpe[22]; 13. 10P-Tyler Payne[10]; 14. 114-Evan Koehler[8]; 15. 9-Cole Hedrick[11]; 16. C10-Carl Currin[2]; 17. *1-Brad Rachels[25]; 18. 149-Seth Speed[1]; 19. 03W-Jason Welborn[21]; 20. 14M-Baron McDowell[12]; 21. 18D-Chuckie Duncan[9]; 22. 12-Justin Taylor[14]; 23. 27-Mike Davidson[24]; 24. P4-John Price[19]; 25. 67-Bryan Mullis[20]; 26. 66-Preston Dimsdale[16]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps)-1. 18-Preston Blalock[2]; 2. P4-John Price[5]; 3. 03W-Jason Welborn[4]; 4. *1-Brad Rachels[11]; 5. 27-Mike Davidson[8]; 6. JR1-Jake Jackson[1]; 7. 22-Caleb Simmons[10]; 8. 5S-Robbie Stevens[9]; 9. 1-Morghan Johnson[7]; 10. U2-William Sullivan[14]; 11. 6C-Brian Carter[3]; 12. 300-Bill Tesh[16]; 13. 41-Mike Lemley[13]; 14. 22T-Steven Thompkins II[12]; 15. 7-Ronnie Long[15]; 16. (DNS) 92-Tanner Fortune
Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps)-1. 15-Daniel Durham[2]; 2. 57-Luke Cooper[8]; 3. 67-Bryan Mullis[1]; 4. T2-Travis Sharpe[3]; 5. 32W-Tony Whittier[7]; 6. 5-Robbie Gibson[14]; 7. 33-Jeremy Fowler[13]; 8. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[5]; 9. LIL17-Jeremiah Johnson[12]; 10. 0-Olivia Gentry[10]; 11. 81-Keith Hart[9]; 12. 32K-Tyler Kussman[6]; 13. 22W-Nathan Walker[4]; 14. (DNS) 28-Keith Hawkins
Heat Race 1 (8 Laps)-1. 149-Seth Speed[1]; 2. 114K-Jordan Koehler[6]; 3. 18D-Chuckie Duncan[4]; 4. 18M-Austin Mintz[10]; 5. JR1-Jake Jackson[5]; 6. 6C-Brian Carter[2]; 7. P4-John Price[12]; 8. 1-Morghan Johnson[7]; 9. 5S-Robbie Stevens[11]; 10. *1-Brad Rachels[8]; 11. 41-Mike Lemley[9]; 12. 7-Ronnie Long[3]
Heat Race 2 (8 Laps)-1. C10-Carl Currin[2]; 2. 17-Chris Joyce[3]; 3. 10P-Tyler Payne[5]; 4. 12-Justin Taylor[7]; 5. 18-Preston Blalock[12]; 6. 03W-Jason Welborn[4]; 7. 92-Tanner Fortune[6]; 8. 27-Mike Davidson[9]; 9. 22-Caleb Simmons[8]; 10. 22T-Steven Thompkins II[10]; 11. (DNS) U2-William Sullivan; 12. (DQ) 300-Bill Tesh[1]
Heat Race 3 (8 Laps)-1. 19-Gavin Cowan[8]; 2. 24-AJ Belanger[2]; 3. 9-Cole Hedrick[3]; 4. 2-Brady Cornett[5]; 5. 67-Bryan Mullis[7]; 6. T2-Travis Sharpe[9]; 7. 7J-Dalton Jacobs[10]; 8. 32W-Tony Whittier[6]; 9. 81-Keith Hart[1]; 10. 28-Keith Hawkins[4]; 11. 33-Jeremy Fowler[11]
Heat Race 4 (8 Laps)-1. 10-Daniel Parker[4]; 2. 114-Evan Koehler[1]; 3. 14M-Baron McDowell[9]; 4. 66-Preston Dimsdale[6]; 5. 15-Daniel Durham[2]; 6. 22W-Nathan Walker[3]; 7. 32K-Tyler Kussman[10]; 8. 57-Luke Cooper[11]; 9. 0-Olivia Gentry[7]; 10. LIL17-Jeremiah Johnson[5]; 11. 5-Robbie Gibson[8]; 12. U2-William Sullivan
