(Photo by Fletcher Motorsports)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (July 13, 2014) – Henry Van Dam is only halfway through his career-best season and the highs continue to rejuvenate his team.
Van Dam garnered his career-high fourth victory of the year on Friday at Grays Harbor Raceway before capping the Summer Thunder Sprint Series weekend by charging from 15th to fifth on Saturday.
“It seems like the last couple of years we’ve been working really hard to figure our stuff out,” he said. “You have to go through those times to get out of your comfort zone and to grow. This year we’re seeing the payout from those hard times.”
Last weekend began on Friday with Van Dam qualifying fourth quickest around the 3/8-mile oval. He then finished where he started – fourth – in his heat race to advance into the feature redraw, where he drew the No. 4 to start the main event on the outside of the second row.
“It was a weird night for us with fours,” he said. “We were fourth in hot laps, fourth in qualifying, started and ended fourth in the fourth heat race and then drew four for the main event. We were hoping that wouldn’t continue.”
Van Dam made sure it didn’t as he worked an outside groove into the track for several laps before using it to drive into the lead approximately one third of the way through the 25-lap feature.
“Nobody had been running the top through the heat races and the B Main,” he said. “I knew there was a really good track up there. I made sure I did the best I could from the start of the race to get it worked in. It took me a couple of laps to get it worked in and then I went to the front. Once we got it cleaned off it was by far faster than the bottom.”
Van Dam maintained a solid advantage for the remainder of the race en route to his second straight Summer Thunder Sprint Series victory this season.
“I felt really comfortable in traffic,” he said. “I could move where I wanted. We had one of the fastest cars both nights.”
Unfortunately, Saturday didn’t start off as well. Van Dam had a miscue during qualifying and it resulted in him timing in 17th quickest.
“The qualifying deal was completely my mistake,” he said. “I had my work cut out for me the rest of the night.”
Van Dam advanced from fifth to third place in his heat race to lock himself into the 30-lap feature, which he started on the inside of the eighth row.
“We started on the bottom and the track was a lot better on the top,” he said. “We held our own for the first couple of laps and then picked them off one by one. The track was really fast around the top. The only way you could get by somebody was a slide job. You had to work really hard to make your passes count. We were patient the whole race and took what we could get.”
Van Dam maneuvered from 15th to his fifth-place finish, which marked his ninth top five of the season.
“The feature was tough so to get through there was good,” he said. “For starting that deep I was pretty satisfied with that.”
Van Dam will take this weekend off before the Bob’s Burger & Brew Summer Nationals at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., July 25-26.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 11 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 4 (4); Feature: 1 (4).
July 12 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 3 (5); Feature: 5 (15).
SEASON STATS –
20 races, 4 wins, 9 top fives, 14 top 10s, 17 top 15s, 17 top 20s
UP NEXT –
July 25-26 at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., for the Bob’s Burger & Brew Summer Nationals
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HenryVanDam.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanDamRacing
VIDEO –
Here is a link to a video by ARRacing of Van Dam winning the Summer Thunder Sprint Series event at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., on June 7: http://youtu.be/a2sBRaf5l1c
APPAREL –
Van Dam has t-shirts and sweatshirts available for sale at his race trailer.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw
Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw is a leading tire store that also services brakes, shocks and struts, batteries, wheels and more. For more information, visit http://www.LesSchwab.com.
“Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw just came on board the last couple of years,” Van Dam said. “They take care of me from my car to the hauler and trailer to make sure we get down the road.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Johansen Excavating, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, Factory Kahne, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Van Dam Dairy, Village Green Resort, D&L Equipment Repair, Zender Equipment, Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet, Bob and Joan Shumway, Kellan and Kelsey Hall, Foothills Auto Supply, American Powder Coating, Pete Vos, Char’s Barber Shop, Wesmar Race Engines, SpeedMart, Van Dam Farms and Rich Van Dam Dairy for their continued support.
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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jul 13, 2014
- Article Date: 7/13/2014 by Inside Line Promotions