(Photo by Lisa Dynes Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (Aug. 31, 2014) – Trey Starks captured his first win of the season last Thursday at Skagit Speedway, which hosted a Summer Thunder Sprint Series event.
Starks opened the night by qualifying second quickest and he maneuvered from fourth to third place in his heat race to advance into the main event. He then lined up on the outside of the front row for the 30-lap feature since the feature inversion was a zero.
“The track was awesome,” he said. “I’ve never seen Skagit like that. It had two grooves, one right up on the fence and the other on the bottom. The top wasn’t very good on the start. I knew once I got rolling we would be good. (The polesitter) covered the bottom the first two corners and I pulled outside of him on the backstretch and finished the move in turns three and four. I pretty much just ran the top after that.”
Starks maintained the lead for the entire 30 laps, but there were a couple of close calls.
“Lapped traffic was pretty sketchy sometimes,” he said. “Overall it was a great race and a great race track. It made it very interesting for the fans. Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend didn’t go like the first night.”
The momentum earned from Thursday night dissipated during Friday’s qualifying attempt at the first night of the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series doubleheader at Skagit Speedway.
“We broke a steering gear in qualifying,” said Starks, who timed in 17th quickest. “Once you qualify that far back we were set up for failure.”
Starks advanced from sixth to fifth place in his heat race, which lined him up 17th for the main event.
“In the main we were rolling pretty good,” he said. “I picked up a couple of spots in the first couple of laps. I think Austen (Wheatley) got in the sloppy stuff. It was like all of a sudden he was almost going the wrong way on the track. I had no time to react at all and I hit him really hard. It’s amazing that he didn’t get hurt.”
Starks was involved in the collision exiting turn two a handful of laps into the main event. He was unable to restart the race and was credited with a 22nd-place finish.
It also forced the team to use a backup car for Saturday’s World of Outlaws race.
After qualifying 19th quickest and finishing seventh in his heat race – one spot out of locking into the main event – Starks was relegated to the Last Chance Showdown. He finished second in the consolation race to garner a transfer into the main event, which he started 19th.
“We were better in the main,” he said. “I don’t think I ran a lap off the bottom. I was stuck on the bottom. It was working really well. I picked off as many cars as I could. It was a good comeback for the weekend.”
Starks rallied for a 13th-place finish, which tied his best result of the season with the World of Outlaws.
He is scheduled to compete Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., with the Summer Thunder Sprint Series before returning to the 3/8-mile track for the World of Outlaws race on Monday. Starks will then race with the Outlaws on Tuesday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 28 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (4); Feature: 1 (2).
Aug. 29 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 5 (6); Feature: 22 (17).
Aug. 30 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 19; Heat race: 7 (7); B Main: 2 (1); Feature: 13 (19).
SEASON STATS –
53 races, 1 win, 8 top fives, 19 top 10s, 31 top 15s, 35 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Sunday and Monday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., and Tuesday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts
APPAREL –
Starks has t-shirts and hoodies for sale at any race he attends as well as on http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Southstar Equipment
Southstar Equipment was launched three years ago by Dave Cochrane, founder of the Waratah Group. His goal is to bring new, innovative products to the logging industry. With good old fashion ‘know how’ Dave has engineered a series of processors that meet the need of today’s logging contractors. By focusing on reliability and production, Southstar has developed some of the most innovative harvesting equipment today. For more information, visit http://www.SouthstarEquipment.com.
“Southstar Equipment helps my dad with his timber processing company,” Starks said. “They have helped my dad out a lot and produce great equipment. We’re very excited to have them on board.”
Starks would also like to thank Starks Timber Processing, Blue Dot Fabrications, SpeedMart, King Racing Products, Masco Petroleum, RCC Powder Coating and Emory Transmission for their continued support.
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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Aug 31, 2014
- Article Date: 8/31/2014 by Inside Line Promotions