(Photo by Donna Peter)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (May 31, 2022) – Trey Starks continued his electric start to the 2022 season last weekend by earning his first career King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series feature victory.
The win on Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway marked his third triumph in four starts this year.
“We’ve run the 360 car a bunch around here, but we don’t have a ton of laps in a 410 at Grays Harbor or at Skagit,” he said. “That reassured us that we do have speed. It felt really, really good to win against a decent field of 410s at a track we don’t get to run a ton at. It’s a really good feeling to be that competitive.”
Starks had planned on racing at the track on Saturday as well. However, rain canceled the action that night so Starks headed to Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., for the John Carroll Classic. Rain plagued the facility throughout the night and ultimately the teams lined up for a feature based on a pill draw, which started Starks on the outside of the second row.
“It was sprinkling the whole time from pretty much when we got there until we pushed out for the feature,” he said. “It just rained enough to keep the track a little slimy. We tried to work it in with several hot laps. It wasn’t raining enough to stop the program, but enough to keep the track from getting worked in. It got to a point where they stopped everything, tilled the track up and rolled it back in. We had a second drivers meeting and they said the only chance at getting it in was just to run the feature. It was a non-points race so there wasn’t pressure on anybody. We went off our pill draw and that lined us up starting fourth. The track was pretty narrow, but it was as good as it could have been given the circumstances. We moved into third on the start and into second about the halfway point. I think we needed traffic to make a move for the lead. We were really close at the checkered, but given the circumstances we were happy with a solid second-place run.”
The second-place result marked the first time this season that Starks didn’t win the feature during a race he tackled. He more than made up for that on Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway during the Timber Cup.
Starks qualified second quickest before advancing from fourth to second place in a heat race and from third to second in the dash. He then won a Race of the States dash before lining up on the outside of the front row for the main event.
“Every chance to get on the track is another chance to make your car better,” he said. “They did rework the track before the feature, but that’s something they typically do. We kind of knew which way it was going to head.
“I knew they worked the top and there was going to be something there. I knew I had to get a good start and not let (Justin) Sanders take the line away on the top. I just set my focus on hitting my marks on the top and then changing my line if I had to when we got to traffic. Sometimes when you’re leading it’s hard to pull off the line you’re running. I felt confident to use a second or third lane to get through traffic. We had a caution and that made a double-file restart with Dominic (Scelzi) to my outside. That’s something a little bit different so I just made sure I picked the right line, which is what I thought would get off turn four the best. We had a challenge from Dominic and Sanders the first couple of laps after the restart, but I was able to clear them on the top and maintain my speed. The last five laps I started to pick through lapped cars again. I could go anywhere on the track and we used the bottom and the middle to get by those cars.”
Starks led the distance to garner his first career 410ci winged sprint car triumph at Grays Harbor Raceway.
He plans on racing this Saturday at Skagit Speedway.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 28 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Feature: 2 (4).
May 29 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 2 (4); Dash: 2 (3); Race of the States: 1 (1); Feature: 1 (2).
SEASON STATS –
4 races, 3 wins, 4 top fives, 4 top 10s, 4 top 15s, 4 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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- Shawn Miller on May 31, 2022
- Article Date: 5/31/2022 by Inside Line Promotions