(Photo courtesy of Knoxville Raceway)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 16, 2017) – Trey Starks charged into his first career Knoxville Nationals A Main last weekend during the 57th annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store at Knoxville Raceway.
“It was a good week for us,” he said. “We made the Nationals. There are 100-some cars there and to be in the top 24 is pretty cool.”
Starks and the Gobrecht Motorsports team kicked off sprint car racing’s premier event on Thursday by qualifying sixth quickest out of more than 50 drivers. Starks then finished where he started – seventh – in a heat race, which relegated him to the B Main.
“Qualifying is a big part of it,” he said. “We drew a decent number so I knew I had to take advantage of that. We didn’t do anything in our heat race and didn’t make many points. We had to make it through the B Main and make a good amount of points in the A Main.”
Starks placed third in the consolation race to transfer into the back row of the main event.
“I rode around on the bottom the first five or 10 laps,” he said. “Then when it was time to jump to the top I got up there and put together some solid laps. I picked them off one by one. We ran out of time, but I felt good because I ran a solid race of taking what I could get and not giving anything up.”
Starks maneuvered from 23rd to a 13th-place finish, which marked the second-most cars passed. That ranked him 18th in overall points once preliminary night points were calculated, missing a spot in the A Main by only two positions and lining him up on the outside of the front row for the B Main on Saturday.
“I was really happy to not have to run on Friday night,” he said. “I’ve had to run that night every time I’ve come to Nationals. It was really relieving and took a lot of stress off.
“The B Main was definitely interesting. It was 22 laps, which was longer than a normal show at Knoxville. It wasn’t going to be easy. We led the first 15 or so laps. The track started to change. A lot of guys behind me have experience at the track and know how to run the bottom. I tried to stick with what I knew and stay up top. They went down and got bunched up and I stayed up top and whistled around. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it put us in the show.”
Starks had dropped to just outside a transfer position before a late-race pass earned him a fourth-place finish to score the final transfer into the $150,000-to-win A Main.
“We tried some different things,” he said. “I was trying to fight to stay on the lead lap. We got a really good start and got on the outside of another car. He changed lanes going into turn three. We bicycled and got up on two wheels and almost into the fence. I thought I was going over. I was in survival mode after that. We came in on the fuel stop and made a few changes. We passed a few cars in the second half of the race. We tried to take what we could get.”
Starks advanced from 24th to an 18th-place result.
He is slated to compete with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions this Friday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Saturday at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa.; and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway in Newberrytown, Pa.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 10 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 6; Heat race: 7 (7); B Main: 3 (3); Feature: 13 (23).
Aug. 12 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – B Main: 4 (2); Feature: 18 (24).
SEASON STATS –
42 races, 2 wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s, 25 top 15s, 33 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Saturday at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa.; and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway in Newberrytown, Pa., with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
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 http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Beer Hill Gang
The Beer Hill Gang, which is made up of diehard sprint car fans in Central Pennsylvania, has participated in the “Adopt-A-Highway Program,” organizes trash clean ups and sponsors various race teams, Hard Charger Awards and laps at the Tuscarora 50. The group is also a strong supporter of the Jeff Gordon’s Kick-It Foundation that helps aid children’s cancer research. For more information, visit http://www.BeerHillGang.net.
“The Beer Hill Gang is a big supporter of the Gobrecht Motorsports team,” Starks said. “The way they’ve welcomed me into the state of Pennsylvania has been much appreciated.”
Gobrecht Motorsports would also like to thank Champion Brands, Starks Timber Processing, Golf Cart Services, ServiceMaster Clean, J&J Auto Racing, Textron Off Road, Fibreworks Composites, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Gettysburg Rental Center, Gardy’s Enterprises, Kleffel’s, Moose Blocks, Baker Door Company, Moose Lodge 720, Pancho’s Racing Products, Pro Shocks, Auto Meter, KSE Racing Products, Fel-Pro, Taylor Ignition Wires, Miller Welders, K&N Filters, Mettec, Bell Helmets, AL Driveline, DMI, Champion Spark Plugs, ISC Racers Tape, Schroth Racing, HMS Motorsports, King Racing Products, Kinsler Fuel Injection, All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads, Ultra Lite Brakes & Components and Security Race Products for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
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- Shawn Miller on Aug 16, 2017
- Article Date: 8/16/2017 by Inside Line Promotions