By Alex Nieten
Garett Killman showed just how much a win at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on the big stage during the World Short Track Championship means.
He climbed all the way atop his Mid-East/Hoosier Tire Crate Modified in Victory Lane with tears of joy running down his cheeks as he waved the checkered flag and family and friends roared. After multiple close calls, he added his name to the list of World Short Track Championship winners.
The Gastonia, NC native put on a show to get the job done. He lined up third for the 15-lap Feature and was the only one among the top few competitors bold enough to try the top. Killman moved his No. 32 to the high line in Turns 3 and 4 and began to get his momentum built up. He moved into second on Lap 3, and three circuits later he took the lead from Tyler Love.
That was all she wrote. Once Killman grabbed the lead he went unchallenged on the path to his first World Short Track Championship victory. After starting on the pole two years ago before a disappointing 19th place finish and finishing fifth a year ago, the victory was all the more rewarding.
“It wasn’t easy,” Killman admitted. “It was not easy. I did it. I fell to the bottom in (Turns) 1 and 2 because it was 10 times harder to run the top in (Turns) 1 and 2 than it was in (Turns) 3 and 4. I knew if I could just hold my own in (Turns) 1 and 2 and keep my line in (Turns) 3 and 4 as smooth as I could, I knew I’d have a good fighting chance to get the win in this thing.”
Killman is the seventh different winner with the Crate Modifieds through 11 Features in the event.
After leading the opening five laps, Tyler Love finished second.
Jeff Parsons charged from ninth to third to round out the podium.
Austin Holcombe was trying for a fourth win in the last five tries with the Crate Modifieds but fell short with a fourth place result.
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 32-Garrett Killman[3]; 2. 92-Tyler Love[2]; 3. 44P-Jeff Parsons[9]; 4. 8-Austin Holcombe[5]; 5. 11-Eric Bentley[4]; 6. 15-Morgan Widener[14]; 7. 99-Brendan Warner[23]; 8. Y44-Bailey Loftin[11]; 9. 03-Oliver Gentry[6]; 10. 83-Jensen Ford[13]; 11. 00B-JP Blalock[8]; 12. T7-Parker Thompson[16]; 13. 93-Kenny Martin[15]; 14. 61-Cody DeMarmels[19]; 15. 1-Grayson Keaton[12]; 16. 71K-Dennis Kirk[7]; 17. 23-Buck Stevens[18]; 18. 3-Blake Hedrick[20]; 19. 42X-Michael Selig[27]; 20. 21A-Adam Favors[28]; 21. 42-Joseph Galloway[17]; 22. 04-Cole Wagoner[10]; 23. 25-Robert Poole[21]; 24. 5O-Joey Johnson[22]; 25. 05-Travis Covey[26]; 26. 45-Cambridge Gann[25]; 27. 6-Ryan Ayers[1]; 28. 50B-Justin Blevins[24]
