(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – LEBANON, Ore. (Aug. 10, 2014) – Speed has not been a problem for Henry Van Dam this season.
That was evident last Friday when he garnered a podium finish with the ASCS Northwest Region at Willamette Speedway.
“Any time you can leave a race track feeling you had the car to win it’s a good feeling,” he said. “We have the speed.”
Van Dam kicked off the night by starting on the pole of a heat race.
“It was hard to get going on the bottom on the start,” he said. “I gave up too much on the start. We went back to third. It took me a couple of laps to get around the second-place car. We got what we could. Running second still put us in the redraw.”
His runner-up result in the heat race earned Van Dam a trip into the feature redraw, where he pulled the No. 1 in the random draw to start the main event on the pole.
“The start for the main event was the same thing as the heat race,” he said. “Logan (Forler) got the jump on me. I got a good run through turns one and two, but I wasn’t sure how much room I had. He cleared me in turns three and four and had the preferred line. I ran second to him for a while.”
Van Dam took the lead in traffic just before the midpoint of the feature, but the caution waved to negate the pass.
“We caught traffic around Lap 10 and I passed him, but the caution came out so we had to give the spot back,” he said. “I was leading across the line, but the whole field didn’t cross. We were pretty equal in open air. In lapped traffic I thought I was a little better and could move around a little better than he could.”
Van Dam maintained a close second until Roger Crockett took over that position with approximately eight laps remaining. The duo battled for the runner-up spot throughout the closing laps. Van Dam took the white flag in second place, but he was forced to check up in turns three and four to avoid Crockett.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Van Dam said after finishing third. “It was definitely not what we were hoping for though.”
He will take this weekend off before racing at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., on Aug. 23.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 8 – Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore. – Heat race: 2 (1); Feature: 3 (1).
SEASON STATS –
24 races, 5 wins, 11 top fives, 17 top 10s, 21 top 15s, 21 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Aug. 23 at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
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 – A.R.T Speed Equipment
Established in 1976, A.R.T. Speed Equipment is a parts and fabrication shop with a huge inventory of sprint car and mini sprint parts. A.R.T. also builds top-notch chassis. For more information, visit http://www.ARTspeedequip.com.
“I’ve been using A.R.T. chassis for the past few years and they are made with awesome quality, but the awesome customer service I receive makes it a great company,” Van Dam said.
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Johansen Excavating, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, Factory Kahne, 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 Aug 10, 2014
- Article Date: 8/10/2014 by Inside Line Promotions