By Andrew Kunas
(6/21/25) Burlington, WA … “Hell, yeah! We won Dirt Cup! Let’s go!”
Trey Starks had over 100,000 reasons to smile and celebrate Saturday night at Skagit Speedway, as he scored by far the biggest win of his racing career, fighting off a determined Tanner Holmes and taking the checkered flag at the 53rd Annual Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup.
Starks’ third career NARC 410 sprint car victory earned him a staggering $100,026 payday, plus another $11,600 in lap money, for a total of $111,626 in winnings.
Starting on the pole after emerging victorious in the eight-car pole shuffle earlier in the evening, Starks jumped out to the lead ahead of fellow front row starter James McFadden. McFadden ran in second until Holmes raced his way by him on Lap 7. As the leaders entered traffic, Starks’ pace began to slow some and Holmes was able to catch up to him. As the completed Lap 13, Holmes had a run off of Turn 4 and then threw a slider entering Turn 1, taking the lead from Starks. Holmes led the next three laps before a yellow flag and then a red flag stopped action.
During the open red flag, Starks’ crew made fuel adjustments to his car and it paid off. After the restart, Starks was able to keep pace with Holmes on the open track and then passed him for the lead on Lap 18. Starks again took off from there. During the long green flag run, Holmes closed in as Starks again battled traffic but could not make a pass like he did earlier.
Starks maintained a several car length lead over Holmes in the closing laps and held on for the big win aboard the T&C Concepts-sponsored Starks Racing No. 55 Fisher-powered J&J. After clearing the scales post-race, Starks’ car was rolled in front of the grandstands and with his helmet still on he climbed atop his car to celebrate as the Skagit Speedway crowd roared in approval of one of their own winning the Dirt Cup. He was then greeted by his family and his team along with track owner Kevin Rudeen.
“It’s on the top, absolutely!” Starks said of where this win placed on his resume. “I knew I had one chance. I knew if I didn’t wheelie over backwards on the restart I could get him. I couldn’t let (Holmes) him have an inch because he was obviously fast. And then when I got to traffic, motor or not, I had to be really, really aggressive. I was going until I saw the checkered flag two times in a row.”
“The air must’ve changed a bunch (before the race), because our motor just would not run. It was flat on the top. We changed any fuel settings we could. If I could get the temperature up it was great but if it cooled down too much it was iffy,” Starks said about how his car ran early on and then the changes his team made to the car during the open red flag.
Just six nights earlier, Starks felt the sting of losing the NARC Timber Cup feature at Grays Harbor Raceway on a last lap pass. The biggest win of his life Saturday probably made him forget all about it. Starks ran his first sprint car race, a 410 race, at Skagit Speedway, in 2010. Fifteen years later, his hard work paid off. Starks praised his family and team for their support over the years.
Holmes, after leading four laps, turned in his best Dirt Cup finish, taking second aboard the Legacy Builder Supply-sponsored Holmes Racing No. 18t Rider-powered Triple X. Holmes was disappointed as he wanted that one more spot in the finishing order, but he still earned $40,000, plus more than $7,000 in lap money for running in the Top 3 the entire race.
James McFadden ran in the Top 3 the entire race and finished third aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21t Kistler-powered Maxim, earning $20,000 for the position and more than $4,000 in lap money for also running Top 3 throughout.
Shane Golobic ran in the Top 5 throughout and finished fourth aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. Justin Sanders started fifth and finished there aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC. Colton Heath, Scott Bogucki, Joel Meyers Jr, D.J. Netto and Brent Marks rounded out the Top 10.
Sean Becker earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming out of the Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier, advancing nine positions from 23rd to 14th.
Max Mittry won the Beacon Wealth Strategies B-Feature, taking Justin Peck, Becker, Caeden Steele, Landon Brooks and Cory Eliason with him to the Dirt Cup main event.
Four qualifiers were run earlier in the evening, lined up by accumulated points from Thursday’s and Friday’s preliminaries, with the winners joining the top four drivers in points already locked in the “King of the Hill” pole shuffle, and second through fourth locking into the Dirt Cup main event also. Those were won by Scott Bogucki, Colton Heath, James McFadden and Jason Solwold.
McFadden defeated Solwold in the first match race of the pole shuffle, and nearly ran the table, losing in the final round to Starks but still starting alongside him on the front row.
Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (40 laps): 1. 55 Trey Starks (1), 2. 18t Tanner Holmes (3), 3. 21t James McFadden (2), 4. 17w Shane Golobic (4), 5. 2x Justin Sanders (5), 6. 1c Colton Heath (7), 7. 78 Scott Bogucki (6), 8. 4 Joel Meyers Jr (9), 9. 88n D.J. Netto (12), 10. 19b Brent Marks (10), 11. 18 Jason Solwold (8), 12. 95 Justin Youngquist (13), 13. 41 Dominic Scelzi (16), 14. 7b Sean Becker (23), 15. 24D Danny Sams III ( 14), 16. 2xm Max Mittry (21), 17. 2k Gauge Garcia (17), 18. 77 Levi Klatt (18), 19. 21L Landon Brooks (25), 20. 45 Cory Eliason (26), 21. 10 Dominic Gorden (20), 22. 121 Caeden Steele (24), 23. 42 Sye Lynch (11), 24. 21p Robbie Price (19), 25. 26 Justin Peck (22), 26. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt (15).
METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: Trey Starks 1-13 & 18-40, Tanner Holmes 14-17
Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 7b Sean Becker, 23rd to 14th (+9)
Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Qualifier 1 (8 laps): 1. 78 Scott Bogucki, 2. 4 Joel Meyers Jr, 3. 95 Justin Youngquist, 4. 2k Gage Garcia, 5. 26f Eric Fisher, 6. 91 Chase Goetz, 7. 17 Cam Smith, 8. 9 Greg Otis, 9. 95r Dan Reynold, 10. 15 Nick Parker.
Kimo’s Tropical Carwash Qualifier 2 (8 laps): 1. 1c Colton Heath, 2. 19b Brent Marks, 3. 24d Danny Sams III, 4. 77 Levi Klatt, 5. 2xm Max Mittry, 6. 35km Tyler Thompson, 7. 45 Cory Eliason, 8. 1m Mike Brown, 9. 0 Ashleigh Johnson, DNS – 27c Camden Robustelli.
WEDG High Performance Karts Qualifier 3 (8 laps): 1. 21t James McFadden, 2. 42 Sye Lynch, 3. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 4. 21p Robbie Price, 5. 121 Caeden Steele, 6. 7b Sean Becker, 7. 21L Landon Brooks, 8. 29k Levi Kuntz, 9. 51 Dustin Gehring.
Winters Performance Qualifier 4 (8 laps): 1. 18 Jason Solwold, 2. 88n D.J. Netto, 3. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 4. 10 Dominic Gorden, 5. 26 Justin Peck, 6. 94TH Braden Chiaramonte, 7. 9a Luke Didiuk, 8. 17c Chris Bullock, DNS – 14 Mariah Ede.
Beacon Wealth Strategies Last Chance Qualifier (20 laps): 1. 2xm Max Mittry, 2. 26 Justin Peck, 3. 7b Sean Becker, 4. 121 Caeden Steele, 5. 21L Landon Brooks, 6. 45 Cory Eliason, 7. 26f Eric Fisher, 8. 35km Tyler Thompson, 9. 91 Chase Goetz, 10. 1m Mike Brown, 11. 29k Levi Kuntz, 12. 0 Ashleigh Johnson, 13. 51 Dustin Gehring, 14. 17c Chris Bullock, 15. 95r Dan Reynold, 16. 9 Greg Otis, 17. 17 Cam Smith, 18. 9a Luke Didiuk, 19. 27c Camden Robustelli, DNS – 14 Mariah Ede, 15 Nick Parker, 94TH Braden Chiaramonte. First six finishers transfer to A-Feature.