7/16/2016
Western Sprint Tour
Trey Starks Earns First Career Speedweek Northwest Championship; Rutz Racing Becomes First Canadian Car Owner Speedweek Champs
Trey Starks Earns First Career Speedweek Northwest Championship; Rutz Racing Becomes First Canadian Car Owner Speedweek Champs
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Dirt Monkey Productions)
2016 would go down as one of the most exciting installments of Speedweek Northwest. The Pacific Northwest summer Sprint Car tradition would be held for the nineteenth time since it was begun by Fred Brownfield in 1998. The 2016 championship would be decided in the final laps of the main event and Trey Starks would hoist the trophy on high.
The 2016 Speedweek would, for the first time ever, begin at Sunset Speedway Park on Sunday July 3rd. The campaign would be wrapped up, also for the first time, at Southern Oregon Speedway on Saturday the 9th. Out of the six events there would be five different winners including three drivers winning their first career Speedweek main events.
Forty-five cars would make the journey for at least one race during the week. Teams travelled from Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Also represented was the Southland region of New Zealand.
Trey Starks would top the points table by a mere three markers over second place. Starks started the week off with a twelfth place result at Sunset Speedway Park. As the week went along the finishes would improve including a victory on the final night at Southern Oregon Speedway. Trey would finish among the top five four times and won one heat race while setting fast time once.
It would be the second time a Washington driver has finished on top at Speedweek. The last time was Mitch Olson in 2012. Doug and Kathy Rutz, providing Starks his ride, became the first car owners from the nation of Canada to win a Speedweek Northwest title.
Steven Tiner posted the most top five results of the Speedweek. Tiner placed fifth or better five times out of six nights including two third place finishes. His worst run of the week was an eighth on the last night. Tiner was the winner of two heat races.
Mitchell Faccinto, in the Stan Greenberg machine, had a quiet start to his second ever Speedweek but by the end was making some noise. Faccinto won the feature at Siskiyou Motor Speedway, in Yreka, California, and second in the last race bringing him to third in the final points. It would be Faccinto’s only top five finishes while he managed to win one trophy dash.
Fourth in the standings was Jake Wheeler. Wheeler had a breakout Speedweek debut including an impressive third place finish at Coos Bay after running second for so long. It would be his only top five of the week. Wheeler also would score his only heat race the same evening.
Completing the top five in the final table was Cory Eliason. Eliason, driving for Harley Van Dyke, picked up a big win at Willamette Speedway after finishing second and fourth the two previous races. They would be the only top fives the whole week.
2016 Speedweek Northwest Schedule:
(Date-Track-Location-Winner)
Sunday July 3rd-Sunset Speedway Park-Banks, Oregon (Roger Crockett)
Monday July 4th-Cottage Grove Speedway-Cottage Grove, Oregon (Roger Crockett)
Tuesday July 5th-Willamette Speedway-Lebanon, Oregon (Cory Eliason)
Wednesday July 6th-Coos Bay Speedway-Coos Bay, Oregon (Justyn Cox)
Thursday July 7th-Off Day
Friday July 8th-Siskiyou Motor Speedway-Yreka, California (Mitchell Faccinto)
Saturday July 9th-Southern Oregon Speedway-White City, Oregon (Trey Starks)
Final Speedweek Northwest Points (Top Twenty):
- 8R-Trey Starks 499; 2. 94-Steven Tiner 496; 3. 37-Mitchell Faccinto 408; 4. 21WR-Jake Wheeler 404; 5. 5H-Cory Eliason 348; 6. 51-Bricen James 347; 7. 11-Roger Crockett 343; 8. 44NZ-Daniel Anderson 341; 9. 26F-Shane Forte 336; 10. 5-Brian Boswell 318; 11. 5D-Patrick Dills 301; 12. 31C-Justyn Cox 299; 13. 1B-Chelsea Blevins 296; 14. 77-Kyle Hirst 290; 15. 12-Jared Ridge 284; 16. 22-Garen Linder 281; 17. 2JR-Kelly Miller 255; 18. 3-J.J. Hickle 224; 19. 42X-Herman Klein 197; 20. N8-Nate Vaughn 174
Main Event Wins:
Roger Crockett- 2
Justyn Cox- 1
Mitchell Faccinto
Cory Eliason
Trey Starks
B Main Wins:
Raquel Ivie-1
Bricen James
Top Five Finishes:
Steven Tiner- 5
Trey Starks- 4
Roger Crockett- 3
Cory Eliason
Kyle Hirst
Jonathan Allard- 2
Justyn Cox
Mitchell Faccinto
J.J. Hickle- 1
Garen Linder
Jared Ridge
Jason Solwold
Henry Van Dam
Jake Wheeler
Heat Race Wins:
Logan Forler- 2
Bricen James
Kyle Miller
Steven Tiner
Jonathan Allard- 1
Brian Boswell
Justyn Cox
Roger Crockett
Kyle Hirst
Robbie Price
Jared Ridge
Trey Starks
Nate Vaughn
Jake Wheeler
Trophy Dash Wins:
Roger Crockett- 2
Justyn Cox- 1
Mitchell Faccinto
Jared Ridge
Jason Solwold
Fast Times:
Roger Crockett- 2
J.J. Hickle- 1
Kyle Hirst
Trey Starks
Henry Van Dam
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
