Puyallup, Wash.—February 29, 2012 — Arizona draws in a lot of people for a lot of different reasons in the late winter and early spring. Baseball teams head to the Grand Canyon State for spring training to gear up for the grueling season ahead, while “Snowbirds” head to the southwest to escape the harsh realities of winter. For sprint car racers, a trip to the desert usually means the start of a new season. That’s exactly what’s in store for Trey Starks this week, as he’ll climb back into the seat for the first since last November, when he wrapped up a successful 2011 campaign in Arizona.
Starks will compete twice this weekend in his Shaver-powered Maxim in the Copper Classic with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series Presented by K&N Filters (ASCS) at Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. on Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3.
“I’m ready to head to Arizona and get the season started,” said Starks. “We ran well at Tucson (USA Raceway) last year, so we should be able to use some of what worked there at Peoria this weekend. I just can’t wait to get on the track and go fast.”
While Starks will be making his debut at Canyon Speedway Park, he raced on two separates occasions in Arizona last season, with both of those events at USA Raceway in Tucson, which is a semi-banked three-eighths-mile, similar to Canyon Speedway Park. He finished 11th last February with ASCS at Tucson, while racing his way into the main event twice at the track in 2011.
“You don’t want to over think it when you go to a place for the first time,” explained the 15-year old. “I watched some old videos of the track to get an idea of what it looks like, the banking on it and the overall shape. The best approach is to just show up and race like you normally do.”
While he and his team mainly focus on their own program and what they are doing, Starks will ask some of his fellow drivers for advice on occasion. He also diligently watches the veterans when they are on the track to see what lines they run and to learn from what they are doing.
“There are a few guys out there that I can go up and ask things to,” said the native of Puyallup, Wash. “You kind of learn who to ask and who not to ask and what to ask as well.”
Starks competed in 10 events with the Lucas Oil ASCS last season, earning a spot in the A-Feature in six of those contests. He scored his best-career finish with the series in the 2011 season-opener at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., coming home eighth.
“The biggest key is to run hard and race your own car,” he shared, when asked about running with ASCS. “You don’t want to get too intimidated with all the names out there. I’ve raced with them, so it’s nothing new. We just try to focus on our car and our program and not worry about what everyone else is doing.”
After a strong start last season, in which he had an average finish of 11th in his first three races, the high school freshmen looks to come out of the box strong again in 2012. Starks has 10 races scheduled in the month of March beginning with the doubleheader this weekend at Canyon Speedway Park, followed by an event in Las Vegas and eight shows in California.
“Hopefully we can do as well as we did last year in perspective,” Starks stated. “I’d be very happy if we started off the way we started last year. If we finish in the Top-10, that would make me happy.”
Trey Starks and Starks Racing would like to thank their values partners: BR Motorsports, FX Signs, King Racing Products, Masco Petroleum, Northwest Powerdercoating & Sandblasting, Starks Timber Processing and T &C Concepts.
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For the latest news and information on Trey Starks and Starks Racing, visit http://www.Treystarks.com. Also keep up with Trey on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing, and follow Trey on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TreyStarks55.
- Admin Account on Mar 02, 2012
- Article Date: 2/29/2012 by Starks Racing PR