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Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 21, 2024) – Trey Starks made the most of a one-event offer to drive for Rudeen Racing last weekend when he won the Trophy Cup finale at Thunderbowl Raceway.

The victory was his 15th overall this season and his first during the prestigious event.

“I think the word to describe it is rewarding,” Starks said. “It was the second week in a row with a team I’d never raced with. Even though it was just for one weekend, it was one of the biggest opportunities of my career. Rudeen is one of the most prestigious teams. To be able to come in and run good with a new team was great. The weekend wasn’t super smooth, but to take the hand we were dealt and turn it into a feature win on Saturday was really, really cool.”

Starks was solid throughout the three-day show, which he began on Thursday by qualifying eighth quickest in his group. A fifth-place finish in a heat race was followed by a run from seventh to fourth place in a B Main to transfer into the main event. Starks advanced from 20th to 15th in the feature.

“The first night out in a new car to me it was about getting comfortable,” he said. “The most gains we made was on Thursday. I wasn’t as comfortable as I needed when we started and we kept getting better. We passed some cars and took what we could when we could, but didn’t push the issue. We rolled the car into the trailer in one piece and knew we had a baseline for the next day.”

Friday started off on a better note with Starks timing in second quickest in his group. He then hustled from sixth to second place in a heat race to garner the 10th starting position in the main event.

“I felt awesome starting with hot laps,” he said. “We went out late in our qualifying group and the track was getting tricky. We were able to go second quick and I felt really comfortable to run the car hard. Then in our heat race I felt awesome. We were tied for third in points so we started 10th. We got to eighth, but on a restart we got collected with a car that was crashing in front of us. We really had nowhere to go and we sustained some damage on the car and it flattened our right rear tire. We barely got back out from the work area and had some other damage that affected the car and we finished 19th.”

The event concluded on Saturday with Starks placing sixth in a heat race. A second-place showing in the 25-lap B Main scored a transfer into the A Main, which was inverted. That placed Starks on the outside of the front row for the 50-lap race and he capitalized.

“That is the hardest 75 laps I’ve ever run by far,” he said. “That track demands it as well as the weight of that event and the level of competition you have. You get to the back of the pack to lap guys and it’s like you had to start back there. I’m almost a lapped car in that situation because those are the high-point guys. They have every reason to race me tough versus normally when you’re trying to lap someone you expect them to be a little less aggressive.

“I got out in front of Tanner Holmes right away in the feature. We raced 34 laps straight before a caution. I had about 10 or 12 laps of open track. From there until the stoppage it was in traffic trying to lap probably the hardest cars you’d see other than maybe the Knoxville Nationals. They are racing you just as hard to stay on the lead lap as you are racing to get by them. We had the stoppage and luckily had enough time to fix some damage we got in traffic. We had a ton of close calls and some contact. We had three restarts toward the end and I just tried to run as fast as I could like a car was on my tail the whole time. Luckily, we put the whole feature together and came home with a win. It was really rewarding with it being a last-minute deal and I was happy to get back to the Trophy Cup and be a contender.”

Starks led 49 of the 50 laps. The triumphant performance wraps the season up on a positive as he was victorious during his first and final races of the season for the first time in his career. He also finished seventh in the final Trophy Cup points standings.

In other news, Starks offers his condolences to the family and friends of his former car owner, Jeff McCall, who unexpectedly passed away last week.

“While we were racing last weekend we were thinking about Jeff and his family,” Starks said. “He was a big factor in my career and one of the reasons for the success I’ve had over the years.”

QUICK RESULTS –

Oct. 17 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 5 (5); B Main: 4 (7); Feature: 15 (20).

Oct. 18 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 2 (6); Feature: 19 (10).

Oct. 19 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Heat race: 6 (5); B Main: 2 (2); Feature: 1 (2).

SEASON STATS –

34 races, 15 wins, 22 top fives, 24 top 10s, 29 top 15s, 31 top 20s

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.StarksRacing.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.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.