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Starks Struggles to Find Luck in First-Ever Trip to Australia

Inside Line Promotions – WARRNAMBOOL, Victoria, Australia (Jan. 29, 2014) – Although his debut in Australia didn’t end up as he hoped, Trey Starks enjoyed his first racing trip to the country last week.

“Despite the racing part, all in all, it was really good to go down there and meet a lot of people,” he said. “The fan base is really eye-opening. It was great to see a different side of the sport. The experience overall was good.”

The racing wasn’t as successful.

“It was like the worst weekend we had luck-wise,” he said. “It seemed like every time we turned around something went wrong.”

After a schedule change, Starks opened the week driving for Andy Caruana last Thursday at Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier, South Australia, for the 19th annual Kings Challenge.

“We missed on the setup in hot laps and then had the wrong gear in for qualifying,” he said.

Starks timed in 31st quickest. He then quickly began to move forward after starting seventh in his first heat race.

“We were passing for third on the first lap and a car bounced off the wall in front of us,” he said. “We got tangled with a car and were unable to finish. How they do it is if you don’t finish for an event you don’t get any points.”

Starks had similar bad luck in his second heat race while maneuvering toward the lead.

“We were racing for second and hit a rut and bounced off the wall and spun around,” he said. “We were able to restart and we got back up to eighth.”

However, without any points from the first heat race, the team didn’t have enough points to advance to the C Main.

Starks tackled the 42nd annual Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria, for his preliminary night on Friday. After qualifying 49th quickest, Starks crashed during the first heat race.

“The first heat race we were moving forward and up to seventh,” he said. “I way overdrove and stuck it in the fence. I broke off a shock. I thought we might have been ok, but I drove it around and it was all over the place.”

Things finally clicked in his second heat race as Starks claimed the victory.

“In our second heat something finally went right,” he said. “That was the first time I felt comfortable in the car. We ran some solid laps.”

That earned the team enough points to start ninth in a C Main.

“I was up to fourth on the second lap and there was a restart,” he said. “The motor fluttered really bad and I ran for another lap and pulled in. We would have probably transferred through the C Main and who knows what would have happened in the B Main.”

The team discovered that several parts in the engine were damaged and without replacements, Starks had to compete with a 360ci engine during Sunday’s finale.

“We thought we might be ok if we were in late heats and had a slick track, but we were in the third heat where it was still wide open and hooked up,” he said. “We weren’t terrible. We ran the second quickest lap of the heat on our last lap.”

Starks was unable to overcome the horsepower and weight difference and he finished ninth in his heat race and 10th in a D Main.

“We didn’t get the results we expected, but it was still a great trip and I can’t thank Andy enough for the opportunity,” he said.

Starks will return to action March 5-6 at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series.

QUICK RESULTS –

Jan. 23 – Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia – Qualifying: 31; Heat race #1: DNF (7); Heat race #2: 8 (6).

Jan. 24 – Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia – Qualifying: 49; Heat race #1: DNF (10); Heat race #2: 1 (1); C Main: DNF (9).

Jan. 26 – Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia – Heat race: 9 (9); D Main: 10 (8).

SEASON STATS –

3 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 top 15s, 0 top 20s

UP NEXT –

March 5-6 at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreyStarksRacing?fref=ts

APPAREL –

Starks has men’s and women’s long-sleeve shirts, t-shirts and hoodies for sale at any race he attends.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Blue Dot Fabrications

Blue Dot Fabrications is owned by Trey’s uncle, Dean Starks, who fabricates various types of vehicles, including vintage cars and road race cars. Blue Dot Fabrications even built quarter midgets when Trey began racing. For more information, visit http://www.BlueDotFab.com.

“Blue Dot Fabrications is another business that has been around my family my entire life,” Starks said. “My uncle, Dean, has always been around ready to fix anything that gets dinged up at the track.”

Starks would also like to thank Starks Timber Processing, BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, SpeedMart and Masco Petroleum for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports teams. 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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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