Trey Starks Goes Two For Two at Skagit

Trey Starks competing at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Washington. (Photo: Always Race Day Media)

BURLINGTON, Wash. — After Wednesday’s night feature at Grays Harbor, The Evergreen State got to hold onto the High Limit Racing Sprint Cars for three more days at Skagit Speedway for the Skagit Nationals.

Looking to bring more glory to his home state, Trey Starks was eager to move up one position to lead the field. Beside him sat Landon Brooks, leading the field through Turn 4 to kick off the 30-lap feature.

Night One of the Skagit Nationals started off with a bang as Brooks took the immediate lead but lost it as they shot out of Turn 2. Starks went up high and used his momentum to drive around the lower Brooks. 

Seven laps later, Justin Sanders, another West Coast native who has been making a name for himself, went to the inside of Brooks coming off of Turn 4 and slide-jobbed him for second. Now in the runner-up position, he had his sights set on Starks in the lead.

As soon as Sanders had moved up a spot, Starks came into lapped traffic. As he looked for a way to get around the cars in front of him, Sanders went to the bottom and was also looking for a way to get around — Starks, that is. Try as he might, he could not find a way around Starks and ended up losing some ground on the leader.

A couple positions back though, Shane Golobic was coming up through the ranks. Running the bottom, Golobic was closing in on Brooks. As they raced into Turns 1 and 2, they were side-by-side and as they exited, Golobic’s nose was ahead of Brooks’, resulting in him sneaking his way into third.

With 14 laps to go, the battle for the lead was heating up. Starks and Sanders danced with each other, putting on an amazing show for the crowd. Just as Sanders started his slide job, Starks slid back down in front of him, blocking it. Sanders went to pass on the bottom and Starks moved a wheel in front of Sanders to block him again. They were side-by-side and knew each other were there, but the dance got cut short due to a wreck in Turns 3 and 4. 

On the restart, Starks shot out to the lead with Sanders on his heels, but Golobic was right there as well. Coming off of the corner, Golobic went wheel-to-wheel with Sanders and accidentally hit him going into Turn 3, resulting in Sanders drifting up the track slightly. This set him back a little bit and gave second to Golobic.

It took him a while, but Sanders caught back up to Golobic and was gunning for his spot back. Just as the battle got interesting, Brooks’ front end was run over by Brad Sweet, resulting in him going end-over-end and Sweet’s car limping away. Tyler Courtney also spun out to avoid hitting Brooks.

With the remaining four laps and a single-file restart, there was not much that Sanders or Golobic could do. Starks held on to win for the second night in a row with High Limit, as well as make it a 100% West Coast podium, with each driver representing a state the series had been to thus far.

High Limit stays at Skagit Speedway for Night Two of the Skagit Nationals on Friday night.