(Photo by Race Car Creative)
Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 29, 2024) – Trey Starks powered to his fourth triumph of the season on Saturday at Skagit Speedway.
His winning performance during the John Carroll Classic increased his lead in the 410ci winged sprint car championship standings at the high-banked oval in Alger, Wash., to 38 points. Additionally, Starks posted a fifth-place finish during the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic on Sunday at Cottage Grove Speedway to extend his top-five streak to 10 races in a row.
“It was a really good weekend, but we left a little on the table at Cottage Grove,” he said. “After the circumstances in the feature I’m glad we were able to roll it into the trailer without anything more than a couple of dings and dents.”
Starks was efficient throughout the program at Skagit Speedway, where he qualified second quickest and advanced from fourth to second place in a heat race. He redrew the No. 4 for the feature lineup and worked his way into the lead on Lap 13 en route to the victory.
“We settled into fourth for the first few laps,” he said. “We got into second around Lap 10 and we had a restart around Lap 12. We took the lead right after the restart. We had a couple of restarts between then and the finish of the race. I felt really solid behind cars and once we got to the lead felt even better. We were wanting to improve from the couple of weeks before and I think it helped a lot. All in all, it was a good night.”
The team headed south to Cottage Grove Speedway to catch the final night of the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic on Sunday. Starks set quick time during his group’s qualifying session and he hustled from fourth to second place in a heat race to earn a spot into the dash. A seventh-place result in the dash lined him up on the inside of the fourth row in the main event.
“The car had really good speed as we went quick time in qualifying and went fourth to second in the heat,” he said. “We could tell the track was developing into a top-dominant track. We pulled the No. 7, which was the worst number we could have pulled for the dash. By this time the preferred lane was the top. I wasn’t sure how much I could utilize the bottom and it turned out not at all. We were up to third or fourth. There were a couple of decisions in the race where I tried to get more out of the track than it had. I moved around and tried to use the bottom to get by guys when I should have stayed in line. Then we had a lapped car turn into us on the backstretch and I don’t know how we didn’t go for a ride. Our car bounced just right and pointed in the right direction. It damaged the car and at that point I was in survival mode to hang on for fifth.”
Starks will return to Skagit Speedway this Saturday for the final 410ci winged sprint car race before the famed Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup next month.
“I hate to say it, but with that in mind I hope we have to start in the second or third row because I feel that’d be the best practice for us,” he said. “We changed some things pretty dramatically to race behind cars and it seemed to work last weekend, but I want to work on it more. It’s a valuable tune-up for sure.”
QUICK RESULTS –
May 25 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 1 (4).
May 26 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 2 (4); Dash: 7 (7); Feature: 5 (7).
SEASON STATS –
7 races, 4 wins, 7 top fives, 7 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 7 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.StarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on May 29, 2024
- Article Date: 5/29/2024 by Inside Line Promotions