Canadian Cole Powell Nearly Brings Speedweeks Title Back Across the Border From New Smyrna

Powell In the Pro Late Model Mix Until the Very End of Speedweeks, Ends Up Second in Points

It does not always take a victory to shake a string of bad luck in short track racing.  Shaking the proverbial monkey off a driver’s back is accomplished by overcoming the rough patches with some solid results, even if there isn’t a trip to victory lane in the cards.

Canadian Pro Late Model driver Cole Powell was able to get past some recent bad luck during the 46th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.  After what has been an anything but pleasant stretch in the last few months of racing the short tracks around Canada and the United States, Powell racked up six top 10 finishes during the World Series at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway.  He contended for the week-long Pro Late Model championship, which was not decided until the checkered flag flew.  Powell ended up third on the final in the race results and second in the points after several misfortunes on the track.

"I can't be disappointed about the final night or the whole week," said Powell after the final night.  "I hit the wall about three times tonight, a couple times not of my own making, and bounced off a few cars to get this far tonight so it satisfying to get a strong finish.  I learned I drive better when I am a little mad and that made those back-to-the-front runs easier."

Powell twice had altercations where he found himself going for a wild ride.  One came at-speed and another came when he was spun out of second on a late restart.  Each time Powell managed to stay focused and return to race with the leaders.

"I have to thank my crew for all their work," added Powell.  "My dad, Rusty, Ryan, Rob, Fred, they all worked hard to make it easy for me.  Without my dad working on the car everyday though it would not have gone this smoothly."

The goals of the week were met by the team's Pro Late Model efforts as they did everything but go to victory lane. Powell equaled or finished better than his starting spot during every Pro Late Model race during the New Smyrna Speedweeks.   

"We started off the week just wanting to be consistent and get top five's and top 10's," recapped Powell  “We have to work on the car in qualifying as it's not the best in two laps, but it does come to me in the longer runs."

Confidence will be high once again after shaking off the rust and bad-luck bug that left them out of the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 in December at Five Flags Speedway (FL) and again a spectator at SpeedFest at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA) after mechanical problems.

"We had some bad luck in 2011 and we have put that behind us now with these last few races.  This has been a lot of fun and the whole crew is joking and having fun this week and that just makes the outcome better when we are all having fun when we work on the cars."