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(Photo by Donna Darko)

Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 26, 2026) – Trey Starks recorded a trio of top-five finishes last weekend to keep his streak of top fives to start the season alive.

Starks has produced eight consecutive top fives to open the season for the second time since 2024, when he started the year with a career-best 12 in a row.

“It was really good in terms of consistency,” he said. “With two days and three different races I’d love to say we picked up a win in at least one of them, but we were close in all three. In terms of speed and consistency, we were happy.”

Starks did double duty at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Wash., last Saturday when he competed in both the 410ci winged sprint car and 360ci winged sprint car divisions during the John Carroll Classic.

He qualified second quickest, advanced from fourth to second place in a heat race and ended the night fifth in the 410 main event.

“We didn’t draw very well and drew fifth so we started the feature in the third row,” he said. “We were moving forward and battling for second. There was a car that was off the pace and seemed there could have been a caution. They were in my blind spot on the right and we closed on him fast. We clipped him off turn four, spun around and had to go to the back. We fought our way back to fifth. If that hadn’t happened we would have had to have some things go our way to challenge for the lead, but we had speed.”

Starks set quick time during 360 qualifying. A fourth-place heat race result was followed by a rally from sixth to second place in the A Main.

“We drew the No. 6 so we started sixth, but the track was wide and racy,” he said. “We got into the top three and I was working on Cam Smith. I think the pivotal moment of the race was that I got by him, but it slowed our pace. Right after I got by him, Colton (Heath) got by us and he ended up winning the race. We had a good battle with Levi Hillier. Once I put him away, Colton was too far out.”

Starks is currently second in the 410 championship standings – five points behind the leader – at Skagit Speedway and he leads the 360 championship standings by 47 points.

The weekend wrapped up on Sunday at Cottage Grove Speedway, which hosted the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic. Starks was fifth quickest in qualifying. A heat race victory moved him into the dash. He placed fourth in the dash and gained a position to end the night third in the main event.

“We were able to win the heat race and get into the dash,” he said. “We picked up a spot in the dash to gain us a row to start fourth in the feature. I felt pretty good. Being a 41-lap race, we made the adjustments we thought we’d need to do and the track hung around better than we anticipated. I got into third right away and was feeling pretty good. On the second lap, I got a little tight coming off turn two. That allowed two cars to get by me and one was the eventual winner. That was a pivotal moment because if I had kept those guys behind me I’d have a better chance. We kept plugging forward and we were right on the bumper of second coming across the finish line so we were close. We just weren’t quite good enough as I think the top three were all very similar. I like running that race every year and supporting them. To have a good, solid showing was nice.”

Starks returns to Skagit Speedway this Saturday for the third-and-final round of double duty this season.

QUICK RESULTS –

May 23 – Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Wash. (410 sprint car) – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 5 (5).

May 23 – Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Wash. (360 sprint car) – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 4 (4); Feature: 2 (6).

May 24 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 1 (2); Dash: 4 (5); Feature: 3 (4).

SEASON STATS –

8 races, 3 wins, 8 top fives, 8 top 10s, 8 top 15s, 8 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Wash.

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.StarksRacing.com

X: 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.