6/28/2021
Inside Line Promotions
Starks Captures Career-Best Second-Place Finish During Dirt Cup
Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 28, 2021) – Trey Starks produced a pair of podiums at the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup, including a runner-up result during the finale of the prestigious Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event hosted by Skagit Speedway.
“It was definitely our best Dirt Cup and it’s the smoothest Dirt Cup we’ve ever had,” he said. “Usually on a prelim night we have something go sideways. We didn’t really have that this year.
“We stayed out of trouble, moved forward and took what we could. I was really happy with everything. It came together and we had some good luck – or at least not bad luck – so we were able to capitalize on the speed we’ve had the last couple of weeks.”
The three-day event began on Thursday with Starks advancing from sixth to second place in a heat race and from sixth to fourth place in a qualifier. He ranked third in overall points out of the 40-plus competitors, which started him on the inside of the second row for the A Main.
“It was a caution-filled main event,” he said. “Every time we got going we’d get stopped. About the 10th lap we got into the wall and knocked the Jacob’s Ladder out. After that I was riding around trying to salvage. I think we were good enough to contend for the win, but with the cautions breaking everything up and knocking the Jacob’s Ladder out of it we couldn’t move forward. However, it’s all about building points the first two days so all things considered it was a good night.”
Starks’ third-place finish tied his season-best outing at the track.
Night 2 of the event featured a sixth-place finish in both a heat race and a qualifier. Starks came alive in a B Main, winning it from fifth before maneuvering from 18th to 10th in the main event.
“We had a really good car in the B Main,” he said. “We got off to a slow start, but the last 10 laps or so we started moving forward and picking off spots. We got the win on the last corner by about a nose. I usually wouldn’t try to be too aggressive in the B Main, but I knew we had a good car and every spot in the B Main is another row you move forward in the feature.
“I moved my way through the field as fast as I could, but as cautiously as I could. A DNF wasn’t going to do us any favors. We were into eighth toward the end. I was hanging it out on the top while everybody was moving to the bottom. We picked up a couple of spots, but I got hung out at the wrong time and moved down a lap too late and got shuffled back to 10th. It was still a good top 10 and set us up well in points.”
Starks ranked sixth in preliminary points to garner the sixth starting position for Saturday’s finale.
“We had a decent start and got into fifth right away,” he said. “We battled between fifth and sixth for the first 10 or 15 laps. We had a longer run through the middle of the race and picked up a couple of spots. We were running fourth and just as I started to get close to Justin Sanders for third in traffic we had a caution that took the leader out. That put us to third. We had six or seven cars between the leader and us and Sanders running second. I knew it was going to be tricky and I wasn’t sure if we’d get a shot at the lead. On the restart Sanders got into a lapped car and that opened the door up for us to sneak by into second. We had a real late caution that put us on the back bumper of Dominic (Scelzi). I knew we had a good car, but so did he. I tried to go to the bottom to make something happen because I knew he‘d be on the top. I didn’t get a good run off turn two, which let (Matt) Covington get by us briefly. I ran a pretty hard final lap and we snuck by for second coming to the checkered.”
Starks’ second-place showing marked his second straight ASCS National Tour event with a career-best result. He also placed second on June 20 during the Fred Brownfield Classic at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
Next up for Starks will be a two-day Western Sprint Tour Speedweek event on July 16-17 at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 24 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 2 (6); Qualifier: 4 (6); Feature: 3 (3).
June 25 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Heat race: 6 (6); Qualifier: 6 (7); B Main: 1 (5); Feature: 10 (18).
June 26 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Feature: 2 (6).
UP NEXT –
July 16-17 at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., with the Western Sprint Tour
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
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Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
