By Starks Racing PR
Puyallup, Wash.—August 26, 2012 — Keeping a sprint car driver away from the race track is not an easy thing to do. Trey Starks and his team originally had planned to take this past weekend off in preparation for the World of Outlaws swing through the Pacific Northwest this week, but at the last minute, they decided to head to Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., on Saturday, Aug. 25, to turn a few extra laps. That decision paid dividends as he scored a runner-up finish, leading 16 laps in the process.
“We had a really fast car all night and were really good each time we hit the track,” said Starks. “Travis (Jacobson, who won) is really good there, so you can’t feel too bad finishing second to him. We just got a little bottled up with lapped cars and he was in the right spot at the right time. All in all it was a good night.”
Starks lined up second for the 25-lap main event, and used the high groove at the three-tenths-mile bullring to take the lead from veteran Toni Lutar on the ninth circuit. The third-generation driver would pace the field until the final lap, when Travis Jacobson used a slide job in turn two to steal the lead and the win. Starks encountered lap traffic with three laps remaining, which allowed Jacobson to gain ground and close in on him.
Starks opened the night as the third-fastest driver in time trials, behind Chad Hillier and Jacobson. The native of Puyallup, Wash., stopped the clocks with a lap of 11.705-seconds. He finished fourth in the second eight-lap heat race, which would put him on the outside of the front row for the A-Feature.
The 16-year-old has made eight starts at Skagit this season, finishing seventh or better in six of those contests. The runner-up finished on Saturday night marked his best showing at the track since he earned his first-career 410-sprint car win at the venue last August.
“Skagit is a unique track and you really won’t another surface like it anywhere,” he explained. “I seem to be able to find places to go on that track where no one else can go. I’ve always enjoyed racing there and done pretty well there over the years as well.”
Starks returns to action this week in his home state of Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, as the World of Outlaws will take to the three-eighths-mile for the first time since 2008. He’ll then return to Skagit for a two-night event with the series on Friday, Aug. 31 and Saturday, Sept. 1. Starks will then compete with the ASCS Northwest Series at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., on Sunday, Sept. 2, followed by the World of Outlaws inaugural visit to the facility on Monday, Sept. 3, which marks the series only visit of the season to the state of Oregon.
“We wanted to get a few practice laps in at Skagit before the World of Outlaws race, so hopefully that helps this week,” he shared. “We wanted to win, but we were able to turn some good laps and had a strong car. That’s mainly what we were looking for and that helps us get ready for this weekend.”
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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