Every athlete – professional or amateur – will tell you. Having a great rookie season makes living-up to your first year’s performance extremely difficult. During the 2009 Kawartha Speedway season 16 year-old Cole Powell of Mount Brydges, Ontario proved he’s the exception to the rule. The 12th grader at Strathroy District Collegiate showed that he had put all his bad luck in the past and drove his #25 Chevrolet Impala SS to a 6th place finish in the track’s final NAPA Auto Parts Late Model standings. He’ll collect the fruits of his labours Saturday, January 16th at the track’s annual awards banquet.
When the checkered flag waved to wrap-up their 2008 campaign, the Powell Motorsports team heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Their inaugural showing in Kawartha Speedway’s late model division was to be a break-out year for the team and their then 15 year-old driver. Instead, the season was an endless string of bad luck and frustrating performances. The team tried a number of things – including changing car numbers mid-way through the year – but nothing they did helped shake the monkey from their backs. During a show in Florida early in 2009, their red and white machine ended-up on its roof following an on-track incident. Crew chief and father Todd Powell worked tirelessly with the crew to fix and adjust the car during the day so they’d be prepared to run competitively each of the 7 nights. It was at that moment the team decided things had to change.
“While I was happy he wasn’t hurt, we started talking about getting a new car before we even left for home,” said mother and head cheerleader Tracy Powell. “Cole learned a lot running the first car and that was part of the plan. We never thought there’d be so many obstacles along the way, but that’s part of what the sport is all about.”
Armed with a fresh, 2009 McColl chassis as their weapon of choice to begin the next campaign the quiet, likeable youngster and his family started the new season at Kawartha with a few rough outings but the driver soon proved to be a quick study, finding-out that before you can finish first, you first have to finish. His top 15 runs were replaced by top 10 efforts. The basic black #25 Chevy first earned a few heat race wins and by the time the season’s final night of action was in the books, Cole Powell, his family and crew were celebrating in victory lane following a win in the 100 lap finale.
“It was something we’d been working toward all season,” said the driver. “I never gave up and hoped it was just a matter of time. The crew gave me a great car all season long. It was winning on the last night of the year – especially in the 100 lapper against top veteran and invader Pete Vanderwyst that made it worth all the hard work. I hope we’ll be able to carry that momentum into 2010 and if I do, a lot of it will have to do with where I came from at Kawartha. I feel I owe some of my success and improvement in 2009 to racing with Dan McHattie, Dave Morgan, Ryan Kimball and the rest of the late model drivers every week. If I keep working on my driving as hard as my dad and the crew work on the car, things should nicely fall into place. The encouragement I get from established car owner and scout Ron O’Brien has also pushed me forward. He says he likes fast cars and people who can get to the front. Most of all, he likes seeing his name on winning racecars.”
Powell says he thinks tracks will be seeing more of the same from up and coming young runners like Brandon Watson and himself in 2010 and for many seasons to come.
Kawartha Speedway’s 10th Anniversary 2010 schedule is available now at www.kawarthaspeedway.com. The track will also be part of the 4th annual Canadian Motorsports Expo January 22nd to 24th at the International Centre in Toronto.
Photo attachments: #1). 16 year-old Cole Powell found his way into victory lane with several heat race wins – and a 100 lap NAPA Auto Parts Late Model feature triumph during Kawartha Speedway’s 2009 season. Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications // #2), Cole Powell and his father Todd (L) celebrate the young driver’s first NAPA Auto Parts Late Model feature on the final night of Kawartha Speedway’s 2009 season. Team supplied photo
Prepared by: Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
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