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“Shugah” Shane Sexton Ready for SoCal Lightning Sprints Summer Showdown at Barona

Warner Springs, CA — July 30, 2025 — Riding high off a victory and a runner-up finish in his last two lightning sprint car starts, Warner Springs, California’s “Shugah” Shane Sexton is heading into the 1st Annual SoCal Lightning Sprints Summer Showdown at Barona Speedway with momentum—and confidence—on his side. The doubleheader event takes place this Friday and Saturday, August 1st and 2nd, and runs in conjunction with the Barona Dwarf Car Nationals.

Sexton, who also competes in the 410 Sprint Car ranks with the Avanti Windows and Doors USAC/CRA Series, will be making just his fourth and fifth lightning sprint starts of the 2025 campaign this weekend. At his most recent outing on July 19th at Barona, Sexton won his heat race and charged to a second-place finish in the 20-lap main event. He clawed his way up from third place and was rapidly reeling in the leader, but ultimately ran out of laps before he could make a final push for the win.

Earlier this summer, on June 7th, Sexton dominated at Barona. After finishing third in his heat, he started on the outside of the front row in the feature and led every lap to claim the main event victory.

With a history of delivering in high-stakes races—such as preliminary main wins at Washington’s Clay Cup and the California Cup, as well as a runner-up finish at a POWRi national event in Missouri—Sexton will be one of the pre-race favorites on both nights at Barona.

“We’ve got a great setup and a lot of confidence going into this weekend,” Sexton said. “The car has been fast, and the crew has been incredible. I feel like we’re in a really good position to make a serious run at both nights of the Showdown.”

Fans looking to catch Sexton and the #74 team in action will find full event details below:

Event Information – Barona Speedway

Dates: Friday & Saturday, August 1–2, 2025
Gates Open: 2:00 p.m.
Racing Starts: 6:00 p.m.
Adult Admission: $20.00
Kids (7–17): $10.00
Seniors, Military, EMTs: $10.00
Kids 6 & Under: FREE
Family Pack (2 Adults, 2 Kids): $50.00
Parking: FREE
Website: www.baronaspeedway.com
Phone: (619) 994-6560
Location: 5.8 miles north of Barona Casino on Wildcat Canyon Road (between mile markers 11.0 and 11.5)

Starks Becomes First Driver to Win Both Super Dirt Cup and 360 Nationals at Skagit Speedway in Same Season

Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (July 28, 2025) – Trey Starks added his name to the record book under a new category last Saturday at Skagit Speedway, where he won the Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals presented by Bob’s Burgers & Brew.

Starks became the first driver in track history to win that event as well as the Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup, which he accomplished last month, in the same season.

“I didn’t realize that hadn’t been done yet, but I feel like that’s huge,” he said. “To be able to say you’ve won both in itself is huge let alone in the same year. It does make it extra special to be able to pull off both in one year.”

Starks set quick time in his qualifying group to open Friday’s preliminary night before he placed sixth in a heat race.

“Friday night went smooth,” he said. “We laid down a good lap and went quick time overall. The heat race wasn’t as good as it could have been. We got to fifth and jumped the cushion in the closing laps and fell to sixth. That put us fifth in overall points going into the feature.”

The feature inversion lined Starks up on the outside of the sixth row for the main event.

“It started off slow as the track was a little narrow,” he said. “The second half of the race we really started moving forward. We got into the top five in the closing laps and ultimately finished fourth so that put us second in overall points. That locked us into the pole shuffle. Being locked in is huge because you don’t have to go through a qualifier, where anything can happen.

“We had two rounds in the pole shuffle on Saturday. We beat Levi Hillier to have an opportunity to start on the front row and then went against Jesse Schlotfeldt for the pole position and won that, too.

“We fired off good and got the jump on the start of the main event. I knew I wanted to be the one to set the pace. I wasn’t super concerned if we didn’t get the lead right away because traffic would be a factor, but since the track was more narrow than normal it was important. We got cautions at good times when we were in thick traffic. We had a handful of restarts. On one with 11 laps to go it was for a couple of cars who crashed in front of us and I made contact. The handling changed toward the end, but it wasn’t enough to affect our speed.

“Dominic (Scelzi) was behind me for those last restarts and I saw him on the one with 11 laps to go. On the final restart, with about five laps to go, he slid by me and I had to cross underneath him. He threw another slider into turn three and I had enough speed to squeeze by him on the outside. I felt good from that point on.”

The weekend wrapped up on Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway, which hosted the final night of the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek presented by the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.

“We drew a late number and there was a pretty big fall off in qualifying,” he said. “We ended up qualifying 14th and that put us in the back of a heat race. We started fifth and finished fifth, which put us starting 14th in the feature. The track was a little wet in turns one and two and took half the race to widen out. Once the track widened out our car came alive and we started picking them off.”

Starks hustled from 14th to fourth to earn the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.

Starks will return to Skagit Speedway this Saturday for a 360ci winged sprint car event. He currently leads the championship standings by 95 points.

July 25 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 6 (6); Feature: 4 (12).

July 26 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Pole shuffle: 1; Feature: 1 (1).

July 27 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 14; Heat race: 5 (5); Feature: 4 (14).