By Starks Racing PR
Puyallup, Wash.—May 31, 2012 — It’s never too early to start preparing for the Dirt Cup, which is the biggest sprint car event in the Pacific Northwest, held annually at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. This year’s edition, the 41st Annual, will take to the track, June 14–16. Trey Starks will begin gearing up for the event this weekend, as makes his first visit of 2012 to the high-banked three-tenths-mile in both the 410-sprint car division and the 360-class.
Starks will compete in two full racing programs at Skagit on Saturday, June 2. He’ll pilot his familiar family-owned No. 55 in the 410-event, and will climb behind the wheel of the No. 11 of Ed Broers in the 360-division.
“Skagit is a fast track,” said Starks. “I’ve always liked racing there, especially around the top of the track. With a 410 (cubic-inch engine) it’s always fun to race there. Hopefully we can get a lot of laps this weekend in both cars and get ready for Dirt Cup.”
Starks has run a combination of 360 and 410 sprint car races this season. He opened the year in Arizona with the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) with a 360-cubic inch engine under the hood, before embarking on a stretch of five races with the World of Outlaws, before competing in a pair of 360 races at Hanford Speedway in California, where he scored his first win of the season on April 7.
“The acceleration will obviously be different between the 410 and the 360 at a place like Skagit,” noted the third-generation driver. “It might help me going back and forth between the two different cars and motors. I may time things better and it may help improve my reactions better. It will be fun getting to race two different cars and get twice as many laps in.”
Starks picked up his first career sprint car win at Skagit last season on August 20, winning in the 410-class. The native of Puyallup Wash., made 10 starts at Skagit in 2011, earning five Top-10 finishes, with three of those being Top-Five performances. He heads to the track in his home state this weekend, with one win and five Top-10 finishes on the season. In three starts in Washington this season, Starks has finished sixth or better in two of those races, including a third-place showing on May 20 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma.
“It would be pretty cool if we could win both the races this weekend,” said Starks. “Skagit is kind of an attrition track, so we really want to finish both the races first and foremost. It can be a tricky little track and can be hard to get around. Like I said, if we can win them both, that would be a great weekend.”
Last weekend Starks competed at Grays Harbor, during the two-night Spring Shootout, which served as the season-opener for the ASCS Northwest Region. On Saturday night, he charged from the 16th starting spot to finish sixth in the 25-lap main event. He opened the night by finishing fifth in the second 10-lap heat race.
“We were going by cars and we were fast,” Starks noted. “We were working pretty good on the top and when they were on the bottom, we would go around them on top. We had a good battle with the top-six, guys like Henry Van Dam, Travis Rilat and Roger Crockett. We were able to get sixth on the last lap, so it was a solid finish against a very strong field.”
In the finale on Sunday, Starks lined up on the outside of the third row for the 25-lap A-Feature and was running among the Top-10 when a car spun in front of him, leaving him nowhere to go. The damage sustained in the accident ended his night in the 17th position. In heat race action, Starks finished third in the first heat.
“There was nothing we could do,” explained the 16-year-old. “It wasn’t my fault and it wasn’t the guy who spuns fault. He just spun out and I didn’t see him and had nowhere to go. It’s just one those things. I just have to put it behind me and not worry about it. We knew we were fast and going good and it’s just one of those bad luck situations and you move on from it.”
Trey Starks and Starks Racing would like to thank their valued partners: BR Motorsports, FX Signs, King Racing Products, Masco Petroleum, Northwest Powerdercoating & Sandblasting, Starks Timber Processing and T &C Concepts.
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Chico 103