Puyallup, Wash.—March 28, 2012 — It’s kind of like final exam week for Trey Starks this weekend, as the World of Outlaws wrap up their early season West Coast swing. The stretch of races began in early March on a pair of half-miles, before shifting to a pair of bullrings. The stretch of races will come full circle and conclude on a tight 1/3-mile track and a sprawling half-mile this weekend, providing Starks the opportunity to utilize everything he has learned over the last three weeks competing with the best sprint car drivers in the world.
The penultimate race of the West Coast swing will take to the track on Friday, March 30 at Merced (Calif.) Speedway, which was recently reconfigured and now measures 1/3-mile. The weekend wraps up on Saturday, March 31 at Calistoga (Calif.) Speedway in the scenic Napa Valley of Northern California.
“I’m looking forward to both Merced and Calistoga,” said Starks. “Merced was small last year and they lengthened the track out this year, so I am excited to see how it will be. We had a good finish at Calistoga, after some bad luck early in the night there, and that’s a track I enjoy racing at.”
Starks made his debut at Merced Speedway last season, as the World of Outlaws also made their maiden voyage to the venue. He opened the night by turning the 19th-fastest lap in time trials, with a strong 33-car field in attendance. He finished seventh in the third eight-lap heat race, which put him in the B-Main. He finished second in that contest to earn a spot in the 40-lap main event, where he would finish 25th.
“There is a noticeable difference between a quarter-mile and a one-third-mile or even a three-eighths-mile,” explained the young driver. “A lot of the quarter- miles tend to be similar. When you get a little bit bigger of tracks, that’s when things are different. I’m hoping that with Merced being a stretched out this year, that it will equal the playing field a bit and not give the California guys such an advantage.”
At Calistoga Speedway last season with the World of Outlaws, the 16-year old finished 13th, which at the time was his best-career finish with the series. He bettered than in the Gold Cup Race of Champions last September with an 11th-place showing. Starks finished 13th earlier this season at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. with the World of Outlaws.
“Calistoga is a big, fast half-mile and having run well there last year, we have some confidence heading in there,” he noted. “Hopefully we can build on what we learned there and have a good surface to race on.”
Starks has competed with the World of Outlaws in all four of the events that have comprised the West Coast swing this season with an additional two races being rained out. The native of Puyallup, Wash. has finished in the Top-15 twice and has been 19th or better in all four contests. He has earned the KSE Racing Products Harder Charger Award in each of the last two races, which is given to the driver that passes the most cars in the A-Feature. He gained nine spots at Thunderbowl Raceway on March 16, while getting by six cars on March 23 at Silver Dollar Speedway on a track that was very difficult to pass on.
“It’s nice to get the Hard Charger, but we want to qualify better, so we can start up front and finish even further up front,” Starks said. “On the other side of the coin, it is a good feeling to know that in a World of Outlaws race, you have passed more cars than anyone else, especially on a track like last week where it was so hard to pass.”
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.
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- Admin Account on Mar 28, 2012
- Article Date: 3/28/2012 by Starks Racing PR