---

Starks Records First Career Win at Knoxville During Knoxville Nationals Preliminary Night

(Photo by Paul Arch)

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 12, 2019) – Trey Starks picked an amazing time to earn his first career win at the famed Knoxville Raceway.

The Gobrecht Motorsports driver was victorious last Wednesday during his preliminary night at the 59th annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores.

“The goal coming out to Knoxville (to run weekly this year) was to get better and prepare for the Nationals,” he said. “We wanted to run at Knoxville and be competitive for points, but our main focus was the Nationals. We didn’t get very many races in because of the rain and some of our laps weren’t that great. We had times where we weren’t where we wanted to be even on a local race. The weeks leading into the Nationals were probably two of our worst of the season. To come in on our prelim night and put all the pieces together was incredible. It really shows how good our team is and in hard times we’re still able to perform the way we need to.”

Starks qualified 15th quickest out of more than 50 drivers and he maneuvered from sixth to fourth in a heat race to lock into the main event. The inversion lined him up on the outside of the second row for the A Main.

“We qualified decent and were in the hunt,” he said. “We did what we had to do in the heat race to get into the A Main. We were a product of the circumstances because some of the faster guys in qualifying didn’t transfer through so that moved us into the inversion. I knew we had a good shot, but everything had to go right. If I was given the opportunity I had to do as much as I could to get the best result to maximize our points. I thought if we can stay in the top five we’ll have enough points to be in the Saturday feature or close in the B Main.

“We got a great start and by a couple of cars. I saw an open lane on the top and sometimes if guys miss the bottom or get stuck in the middle the top is a great place to be on the start. I’ve really been working on running the bottom at Knoxville. I haven’t been good at it. When I got to second I knew (Mark) Dobmeier would be glued to the top so I put my head down and focused on hitting the bottom until we got to him. Once we did I knew I couldn’t show him my nose early. He’s a great driver and he knows what to do. If I showed him my nose he’d take my line away. I held back a couple of laps until I knew I could get by him. I threw that slider in turns three and four. I knew I had to get turned back across the track and take my line going back into turn one. That worked and everything went just the way it was supposed to for us. It was a great feeling to be able to get that for our team.”

Starks took the lead on Lap 5 and held on to capture his first career win at the half-mile oval and first during a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series sanctioned event. Once preliminary points were tabulated Starks ranked 11th out of more than 100 drivers, lining him up on the inside of the sixth row for Saturday’s 50-lap A Main.

“We ended up changing a few things because we thought the track would be different,” he said. “In hindsight we should have kept the car similar to the prelim night. We also experienced some mechanical problems. Restarts would just slow us and it hurt us on the bottom, which trapped us right to the top. We lost spots on restarts and then got put down a lap before the break. It didn’t play out and we finished 19th, but I can’t do anything but look back at the weekend and smile.”

Starks plans on resuming competition this Saturday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., with the Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series.

QUICK RESULTS –

Aug. 7 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 15; Heat race: 4 (6); Feature: 1 (4).

Aug. 10 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Feature: 19 (11).

SEASON STATS –

29 races, 1 win, 4 top fives, 10 top 10s, 13 top 15s, 18 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., with the Midwest Power Series and Midwest Sprint Touring Series

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Starks55Trey

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

APPAREL –

Starks has t-shirts and hoodies for sale at http://www.TreyStarksRacing.com.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Fibreworks Composites

Fibreworks Composites has a unique combination of customers ranging from motor sports, OEM, solar and aerospace. A leader in the composite industry with the highest standards of quality and customer support, Fibreworks currently has two lines of business. FWC’s core business is the custom design, engineering and manufacturing of composite parts. FWC’s secondary line of business is high performance custom seating for the motor sports industry. For more information, visit http://www.FibreworksComposites.com.

“Fibreworks Composites makes custom seats and bodies for our race team,” Starks said. “I never realized there was a difference in a seat until I used Fibreworks Composites and I’ll never switch.”

Gobrecht Motorsports would also like to thank E-Z-GO, FK Rod Ends, Champion Brands, Golf Cart Services, J&J Auto Racing, Moose Blocks, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Beer Hill Gang, Gettysburg Rental Center, Gardy’s Enterprises, Baker Door Company, Moose Lodge 720, Pancho’s Racing Products, Pro Shocks, Auto Meter, KSE Racing Products, Fel-Pro, Taylor Ignition Wires, Miller Welders, K&N Filters, Mettec, Bell Helmets, AL Driveline, DMI, Champion Spark Plugs, ISC Racers Tape, Schroth Racing, HMS Motorsports, King Racing Products, Kinsler Fuel Injection, All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads, Ultra Lite Brakes & Components, Security Race Products, Benner’s Butcher Shoppe and Darwin L. Martin Trucking for their continued support.

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.

---

Back to News