Inside Line Promotions
ALGER, Wash. (July 30, 2024) – 
Race Car Creative Photo
Starks kicked off the event on Friday by setting quick time during time trials.
“We went out in the middle and it seemed like we squeezed everything the track still had,” he said. “After I went out it was difficult to get into the top five so we went out just early enough to get a good lap.
“The heat race inversion was eight and we went eighth to fourth, which built pretty good points. That was good enough to be second in points going into the feature.”
The feature inversion lined Starks up on the inside of the ninth row.
“We were in this position at Dirt Cup and maybe tried too hard and was too aggressive,” he said. “I told myself we could be aggressive, but we needed to finish the race. A top 10 would be plenty fine. We rolled our way up through the main and picked off what we could get. We were probably a top-five car, but had a couple of cautions not fall our way. I ended up eighth, which put us second in points overall and in a good spot going into Saturday.
“We didn’t have much to do until after the heat races. We rolled into the pole shuffle. We won it for second place and were close in the battle for the pole position against Dominic Gorden. The bottom was preferred and we were on the outside. I thought we put up a good fight for not being in the preferred line.”
The pole shuffle started Starks on the outside of the front row in the 40-lap main event.
“It had its fair share of cautions and drama,” he said. “We took the green and the preferred line was on the bottom so we fell into second. I pedaled as hard as I could on the top to make it work. I could feel it slowly start to come my way. I wanted to get there, but not let him hear me. That’s a difficult thing to do. We ran behind him for about five laps and had a caution. On the restart I started taking runs at him and could tell the bottom was starting to go away. I knew at this point he could hear me so it was about making the right decision when he switched lanes to capitalize.
“He switched around Lap 9 or Lap 10. I was able to turn it down underneath him and pass him coming from the top to the bottom out of turn four. I think we held the lead for maybe five laps. We had a restart and I kinda knew it was coming, but we slid each other back and forth for two or three laps until a red came out. It was really close at the line and I didn’t know who had the lead. Unfortunately for him, when we refired after the red he had an issue and had to go to the tail. I wish we could have battled it out without him having to go to the back.
“We had a few more restarts and it was mainly about navigating traffic. We had one restart toward the end where I left the bottom open and I think (Jason) Solwold may have passed me, but I was able to carry momentum around the top to get back by him. Dominic Gorden made it back to second and he was close. I could see after watching the race that if I had made a significant mistake in traffic he would have been there for the win. You had to drive as hard as you could for 40 laps and hope you ended up on the right side of it. Fortunately we did.”
Starks returns to Skagit Speedway this Saturday. He leads the 360ci winged sprint car championship standings by 88 points.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 26 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 4 (8); Feature: 8 (17).
July 27 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Pole Shuffle: 2 (2); Feature: 1 (2).
SEASON STATS –
19 races, 9 wins, 14 top fives, 15 top 10s, 17 top 15s, 18 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.StarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts