By Starks Racing PR
Puyallup, Wash. — Sept. 4, 2012 — While Trey Starks has only raced at Willamette Speedway in Oregon a handful of times in his young career, the three-tenths-mile bullring has quickly become one of his favorite tracks, and his success there speaks for itself. The native of Puyallup, Wash., matched his career-best finish at the track on Sunday, Sept. 2, as he came home second with the ASCS Northwest Series.
Starks made his second start of the season at Willamette Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 2, as the ASCS Northwest Series paid a visit to the high-banked oval. He finished sixth at the venue earlier this season in a 410-sprint car against a strong field that featured several drivers from California, and Sunday’s event was his first start with a 360-cubic inch engine under the hood of his family-owned No. 55 at the track since last year. He qualified third, and came from the sixth starting spot to win a heat race, which put him in the dash. Starks won the dash from the fourth starting position to earn the pole position for the main event, where he would finish second to Roger Crockett. In three appearances at Willamette over the last two seasons with the ASCS Northwest Series, Starks has a pair of runner-up finishes and a sixth-place showing.
“The car was good all night,” said Starks. “We just kind of got beat off the start of the main event. The top was a little better than the bottom. The track ended up taking rubber and we are usually pretty good in the rubber, but the race was shortened by 10 laps, so who knows what might have happened if we had those 10 laps. All in all we were happy with it.”
In the World of Outlaws debut at Willamette Speedway on Monday, Sept. 3, the native of Puyallup, Wash., lined up 20th and steadily worked his way through the field to finish 12th, in the 30-lap main event, which garnered him the KSE Hard Charger Award for the third time this season. Starks was 20th in time trials and moved from seventh to fifth in the second eight-lap heat race. For the young driver, the 12th-place finish marked his best World of Outlaws finish of 2012, and the second-best of his career with the series.
“We were able to pass cars in the A-main and had a good car,” he said. “We were real good on the top and in traffic, and just ran out of laps. I’ll take passing eight cars with the World of Outlaws any night. We’ve struggled a bit with qualifying the last few months, but have raced pretty well.”
Starks finished 19th in the World of Outlaws opener of the two-night event at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., on Friday, Aug. 31, after being involved in an accident with just three laps remaining. In the finale at Skagit, he finished 16th after starting in the 22nd spot. Starks won the B-Main that night from the seventh starting position to earn a spot in the 35-lap main event.
“We worked our way up a little bit in the main on Saturday night, after having trouble earlier in the night and only getting one lap in qualifying,” noted Starks. “It’s hard sometimes to start at the back at Skagit and work your way forward, because of the dust. Skagit is a lot different than any other track when it comes to running through traffic. Track position is definitely important there.”
Starks opened the World of Outlaws four-race swing through Washington and Oregon on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. The event marked the World of Outlaws return to the three-eighths-mile for the first time since 2008, following a couple of rainouts. Starks, who had a pair of Top-10 finishes at Grays Harbor in a 360-sprint car this season, was making his first start at the track with a 410-engine under the hood. He finished 12th in the 30-lap main event, after lining up on the outside of the seventh row.
“Nobody had run a 410 there for so long, that is was different for everyone,” Starks explained. “It got a little tough to pass in the feature, but I think we had a good night. It was a different feel for sure racing there in a 410, but we were able to apply some of the things we had run on our 360 earlier this year and they worked.”
With school starting on Wednesday for the high-school sophomore, he and his team are currently weighing their options for racing plans 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.
###
Keep Up-to-Date
For the latest news and information on Trey Starks and Starks Racing, visit www.TreystarksRacing.com . Also keep up with Trey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing, and follow Trey on Twitter at: twitter.com/TreyStarks55.