Owen Sullivan poses in Victory Lane after winning this year’s Grand National Cross Country 250cc 13-15-year-old class.
Submitted photo
After a couple of national runner-up finishes in four-wheeling, Owen Sullivan was able to break through for a title this year.
The 13-year-old eighth-grader at Central Middle School captured the Grand National Cross Country 250cc 13-15-year-old class.
“I’m glad I finally got to the point where I could win it,” Sullivan said. “I’m happy to be up there.”
Of the 13 GNCC events in which he entered this year, Sullivan won two and had several second- and third-place finishes. His wins came in the Burr Oak event Sept. 24 in Millfield, Ohio, and the Buckwheat 100 Oct. 8 in Newburg, West Virginia.
Needing at least a fifth-place finish in the Oct. 22 season finale at Crawfordsville, Sullivan finished fifth and won by three points.
Sullivan was in second place in the point standings for most of the season. He credits his trip to the Action Off-Road Camp in South Carolina this summer for his two late-season victories and his move into the top spot in the point standings.
“I went to an Action Off-Road camp to learn how to be smarter and grow my skill,” Sullivan said. “I learned how to be smarter and how to be faster in the woods. I just kind of finally pulled myself together. I was being smarter and making less mistakes. I had been following slower riders too close and riding faster than I should have been. It was pretty hard to get over that. It took a few races.”
Also this year, Sullivan won overall youth Mid-South Cross Cross Country races in Kentucky and Tennessee and Indiana Cross Country Series races at Lee Farms in Martinsville and in Popcorn. He finished fourth in the IXCR standings.
“I’ve made a bunch of mistakes, and I’m not doing very good (in the IXCR series),” Sullivan said. “Everything breaks there, and I can kind of fix it before national races.”
Sullivan plans to move up to to the Schoolboy Senior (14-17 age group) division for the 2023 GNCC series. His goals for next year are to win the IXCR D Class championship and finish in the top 10 in the Schoolboy Senior Class of the GNCC.
“I’m excited for it because I’ll be going against the best people, and I can learn more,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been thinking about it, but if I didn’t win, we would have ran the same class. I just hope to finish somewhat good because those people are the fast people, and they’re two years older than me.”
A Straight-A student, Sullivan also plays golf at Central. He is set to attend Columbus North next year and plans to try out for the golf team there.
This year, Sullivan’s four-wheeling schedule has taken him to races in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.
“We’re excited for him,” said his father Justin Sullivan. “All the traveling we do is worth it, not just for family time, but for him to succeed at what we’re tying to do.”
