Trey Starks proved to be the man to beat over the weekend, as he powered to the USCS Sprint Car Series victory Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Puyallup, Washington driver capped off the clean sweep of the weekend on Saturday night with the win in the 25-lap feature by leading wire-to-wire. It marks Starks fourth series victory of the season.
Dylan Westbrook finished in second, with Dane Lorenc in third, Lance Moss in fourth and Morgan Turpen in fifth.
Kevin Roberts, Michael Miller, Jake McLain, Brandon McLain and Johnny Petrozelle rounded out the top ten.
Starks took the lead at the start of the race that took three tries due to a false start and a stall by Eric Riggins, Jr. Starks would continue to lead through the next three cautions.
Championship contender Terry Gray was running third when he slowed suddenly on lap 16 with a cut tire, drawing the caution flag one lap later.
Back under green, Turpen passed Michael Miller to move into the top five on lap 18, while up front, Starks breezed through the final laps to score the win by a 3.784 second margin of victory over Westbrook at the checkered flag.
Gray’s cut tire proved costly in more ways than one. Despite recovering for a 13th place finish, his misfortune handed the series points lead back to Turpen, who is also Gray’s teammate, Morgan Turpen. The two have been in a back and forth battle since the middle of the season. The battle could get even tighter going into the final race weekend of the season on Nov. 11-12.
In preliminary action, Starks set fast time on Friday night with a lap around the 4/10-mile clay oval in 14.748 seconds. He then won his heat race, earning him the pole for the USCS Pole Scramble. In that race, Starks went unchallenged, leading all 12 laps for the win and earning the K&N Filters Pole Award for the Saturday’s A-Main.
Nick Nyder and Shawn Murray also score heat race wins on Friday night.
The next event will close out the 2016 USCS Season, as Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas will host the USCS Fall Nationals on Friday night, November 11 and Saturday night, November 12.
For more information, visit USCSRacing.com.
USCS Sprint Car Series
The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
World Short Track Championships – Oct. 22, 2016
POS START CAR # DRIVER
1. 1 23s Trey Starks Puyallup, WA
2. 2 47x Dylan Westbrook Scotland, ON, Canada
3. 11 00 Dane Lorenc Lancaster, NY
4. 3 23 Lance Moss Cherryville, NC
5. 12 10m Morgan Turpen Cordova, TN
6. 14 22r Kevin Roberts Washington Court House, OH
7. 8 4m Michael Miller Ocean Springs, MS
8. 16 67 Jake McLain Indian Trail, NC
9. 22 21b Brandon McLain Indian Trail, NC
10. 18 59 Johnny Petrozelle Lexington, NC
11. 6 22 Shawn Murray Jacksonville, FL
12. 4 0 Glenn Styres Ohsweken, ON, Canada
13. 5 10 Terry Gray Bartlett, TN
14. 7 12 Nick Roberts Bloomingburg, OH
15. 19 99 Tanner Witherspoon Jacksonville, FL
16. 11 38 Tony Agin Fort Myers, FL
17. 21 27 Stan Zanchin Fort Erie, ON, Canada
18. 10 116 Nick Snyder Marco Island, FL
19. 9 1x Scott Hunter Concord, NC
20. 17 24 Danny Sams III Englewood, FL
21. 13 47 Eric Riggins Jr. Charlotte, NC
22. 20 43 Terry Witherspoon Jacksonville, FL
23. 24 51 Jay Dunham Harlem, GA
DNS: 23 33 Joe Larkin
