From Inside Line Promotions
Alger, WA — (June 23, 2013) — If it wasn’t for a couple of unlucky breaks last weekend, the sky was the limit for Trey Starks at the 42nd annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” he said. “Everything was awesome until the features. It seemed that everything that could go wrong went wrong. At least we had a fast car. That’s a good feeling to take away. If everything would have went right, who knows what would have happened.”
Unfortunately, Starks’ night was derailed in the feature after promising starts during the two preliminary events and the finale, when he managed to claim a 14th-place finish.
The weekend started when Thursday’s preliminary night was postponed to Saturday morning because of rain. Action resumed on Friday when Starks qualified third quickest and charged from fourth to second in his heat race to advance to the feature.
The inversion for the 30-lap feature started him 13th and he battled just outside the top 10 for the first half of the feature until a dirt clod broke through the hood and hung the throttle open around the midpoint.
“In the main it got pretty rough and chunky,” he said. “In the third lap I had a big piece of dirt cave my right side panel in. A couple of laps later I felt one hit the lower right side kick panel and hit my leg. It must have been a big, big piece of dirt. It knocked the whole side in and bent the dash. It was weird because the track didn’t really look like it was rough and all of a sudden you’d get hit with something. It seemed like I was doing everything but trying to drive.”
Starks was forced to the pits and credited with a 21st-place result.
“It would have been interesting to see,” he said. “We were running 12th or 13th and we ended up with a DNF. If we would have finished I think we could have gotten into the top six in points to put us in the scramble (on Saturday).”
With two shows to complete, Saturday was a long day. It began with the makeup event from Thursday night and once again Starks started on a roll. He qualified second quickest and drove from fourth to third in his heat race to earn a trip to the main event, which he started 14th.
“The beginning of the day mirrored the night before,” Starks said. “I had a good qualifying lap. In the heat race the first couple of laps I ran the high groove, which nobody else had done, and got it to work. We transferred through to the main.
“On the first lap we were trying to pick some cars off on the bottom. Me and Chad Hillier were fighting for some spots. It was a tough deal. We were just too guys going for the same spot.”
After the opening-lap collision, the team fixed his flat left rear tire and Starks restarted at the back. He worked his way toward a top 10 until a late-race collision with another driver damaged Starks’ nose wing. Starks said he held on to what he could get in the closing laps and finished 13 th overall.
After the two preliminary events were completed, Starks earned the 13th-most points to lock himself into the $20,000-to-win Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup feature on Saturday night.
“The car was ridiculously fast all weekend,” he said. “The whole reason you go to Dirt Cup is the main.”
Starks opened the 40-lap feature on the inside of the seventh row and once again maneuvered into the top 10 until tough luck struck again.
“Saturday night we lost a nose wing again,” he said. “I think that was from getting hit with a chunk of mud. We were up to about eighth before that nose wing fell off. The car went away and I made a couple of decisions that didn’t end up working out very well.”
With a car unable to handle how Starks wanted, he nursed it to a 14th-place finish.
This weekend he plans to return to ASCS Northwest Region action with a doubleheader on Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 21 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 21 (13).
June 22 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (4); Feature: 13 (14).
June 22 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Feature: 14 (13).
SEASON STATS –
13 races, 2 wins, 8 top fives, 9 top 10s, 12 top 15s, 12 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., with the ASCS Northwest Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
VIDEO –
Here’s a link to Trey’s win at Skagit Speedway on May 25 with highlights beginning approximately 4:45 into the video: http://youtu.be/JlaX5Lvj4VI
Check out some in-car footage of Trey provided by Downforce Designs: http://youtu.be/dv2_v22rcO4
Here is a link to check out highlights from Trey’s victory at Skagit Speedway on May 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
APPAREL –
Starks has men’s and women’s long-sleeve shirts, t-shirts and hoodies available at any race he attends and at www.TreyStarksRacing.com.