Trey Starks earned a runner-up result last Friday during his season opener.
Starks, who was driving for Scelzi Motorsports, led 25 laps during the 30-lap NARC 410 Sprint Car Series feature at Thunderbowl Raceway to kick off the Dennis Roth Classic. He followed that with a sixth-place run on Saturday during the event finale.
“It was definitely a solid weekend,” he said. “I’d say it was the most comfortable I’ve felt the first nights out in a car I’d never driven before at a track I hadn’t been to in a long time. All in all, it was a successful weekend. We had good speed. You could tell I hadn’t raced since last season. The car felt nice. It was a good, fun weekend. To be competitive was an added bonus.”
Starks started Friday’s program by qualifying sixth quickest. He then won a heat race to advance into the dash, in which he maneuvered from sixth to third place to garner the third starting spot in the A Main.
“We qualified solid,” he said. “We won our heat race and moved forward in the dash. We were slated to start third, but after a couple of cautions on the start with the front row guys we ended up starting on the front row. We got the lead early and ran a pretty good race until about five laps to go. Corey Day found something else and I left the door open. A guy like Corey is on it. He’ll be there when I make a mistake and that was the case with four laps to go. I tried to throw a couple of Hail Mary’s, but couldn’t get anything to stick to get back by him so I finished second.”
Starks timed in seventh quickest on Saturday before he placed second in a heat race.
“Qualifying was similar to Friday and we got the lead in the heat race and led five or six laps,” he said. “I started moving around a little more than I should have. That allowed Tim (Kaeding) to get by me, which put us out of the dash. We started eighth in the feature. The highest I was was fourth and the furthest back I was maybe eighth or so. All in all, it was a solid race and we finished sixth to just miss another top five. I didn’t take as many chances as maybe I needed to, but it was Tulare slick right on the wall.
“I’m thankful to Scelzi Family for the opportunity they gave me. I always like hanging out with them. I have fun whether I’m driving or scraping mud.”
Starks had planned on kicking off his season in his No. 55 sprint car this weekend at the new Douglas County Dirt Track in Roseburg, Ore., but the event has been canceled because of weather. The most likely start to the season will now be May 6 at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 14 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 6; Heat race: 1 (1); Dash: 3 (6); Feature: 2 (3).
April 15 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 7; Heat race: 2 (2); Feature: 6 (8).
SEASON STATS –
2 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 2 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 2 top 20s
UP NEXT –
May 6 at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash.
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