Inside Line Promotions - ALGER, Wash. (Aug. 25, 2013) - A day later and Trey Starks is still beaming after a thrilling, last-lap pass for the victory at Skagit Speedway.
"It's one of the most rewarding wins I've ever had if not the most," he said. "Everything happened perfectly and it all worked out."
Starks came out on top of a three-wide battle during the final lap of Saturday's event at the 3/10-mile oval, where Starks earned his third feature victory of the season. In fact, the only lap he led was the final one during the action-packed main event.
"At times it was mellow and at times it was wild," he said.
Starks qualified second quickest and finished fourth in his heat race. The feature inversion was four, starting Starks on the inside of the second row. After trying to work the bottom the first couple of laps, Starks moved to the high side while running fourth. He regained third place several laps later and moved into the runner-up position by the midpoint of the feature.
"We had a caution at the midway point and we were running second," he said. "I ran right there until the end of the race or what I thought was the end of the race. I was really having to fend Colton Heath off the whole time."
As the top cars were heading down the backstretch on the final lap the caution flag waved for a stalled car. That allowed Starks one last opportunity and he took advantage of the green-white-checkered finish.
"We didn't really have anything for him," Starks said of leader Josh DeWitt. "We wouldn't have had a chance to get him if we didn't have that last caution. I got a good restart and threw a big slider on him going into (turn) one. He cut underneath us going down the backstretch. He threw a slider on me and I had to cut under him. Coming to the white flag Josh was up top on the cushion and Colton was on the bottom and somehow I found some grip in the middle. I still don't know how I hooked up in the middle like that. It was really tight racing."
Starks, DeWitt and Heath raced three wide off turn four to take the white flag with Starks finding enough grip to move to the outside groove in turn one. He then created enough momentum to propel him to the win.
"It was an awesome show," Starks said. "Any three of us could have won. We were three-wide, dead even coming out of four. You had to hit everything perfect to make sure to keep everyone behind you."
It capped a weekend that began on Friday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., with the ASCS Northwest Region. For the second straight race, the series used a qualifying format and Starks timed in sixth quickest.
"I didn't get the qualifying run that we wanted," he said. "We want to be up there in the top three. We were about a tenth off. The car wasn't quite there."
Starks started the heat race on the outside of the second row, but he advanced to the runner-up position on the opening lap and took the lead by the midpoint. The heat race win gave him the most points after the heat race and he pulled the No. 4 in the feature redraw, which lined him up fourth for the 30-lap main event.
"We made some big, big changes," he said. "The car wasn't still great, but it seemed to be in the right direction. The whole night was figuring out what the track was going to do. Friday night was hooked up, wide open."
Starks battled within the top five during the entire race and he finished where he started.
"It started out looking really good," he said. "I thought I had an opening on the bottom to go to second or the lead, but it didn't work out. We had to play catch up for four or five laps.
"I hit lapped traffic at the wrong time. Lappers were running the top. I think we were outside of the second-place car when we got to lapped traffic. The rest of the night we ended up going to the middle and everybody was there. At a point in the race I thought we were going to win it. The second half of the race it didn't work as well as it did in the beginning."
Starks will return to Skagit Speedway on Thursday for the Summer Thunder Series finale before the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series doubleheader on Friday and Saturday.
QUICK RESULTS -
Aug. 23 - Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. - Qualifying: 6; Heat race: 1 (4); Feature: 4 (4).
Aug. 24 - Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. - Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 4 (4); Feature: 1 (3).
SEASON STATS -
31 races, 3 wins, 17 top fives, 23 top 10s, 26 top 15s, 30 top 20s
UP NEXT -
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., for the Summer Thunder Series and the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS -
Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/treystarks55
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts
VIDEO -
Here's a link to Trey's win at Skagit Speedway on May 25 with highlights beginning approximately 4:45 into the video: http://youtu.be/JlaX5Lvj4VI
Check out some in-car footage of Trey provided by Downforce Designs: http://youtu.be/dv2_v22rcO4
Here is a link to check out highlights from Trey's victory at Skagit Speedway on May 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHzc9tXVaQ&feature=youtu.be
APPAREL -
Starks has men's and women's long-sleeve shirts, t-shirts and hoodies available at any race he attends and at http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT - Starks Timber Processing
Starks Timber Processing is a logging business owned by Trey's father, John, who is a third-generation logger. It has been based out of Washington for the last 15 years.
"Starks Timber Processing is what provides me the opportunity to race," Trey said. "It has played a huge role in my life, both on the track and away from it."
Starks would like to thank his sponsors, including Blue Dot Fabrications, BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, SpeedMart and Masco Petroleum for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS -
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations, media management and merchandising services for sprint car teams. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and your sponsors' return on investment.
To meet the media relations needs of your team, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or sprintcarreporter@yahoo.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.insidelinepromotions.com.
- Admin Account on Aug 26, 2013
- Article Date: 8/26/2013 by Shawn Miller