(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (Sept. 28, 2014) – Henry Van Dam capped his season in the Northwest with a podium finish last Saturday.
Van Dam earned a runner-up result during the season finale at Grays Harbor Raceway, where he scored a career-best and track-high four victories this year.
“Being in the top three is always something that is the goal if you can’t win,” he said. “It was another solid night by our team. To come out with a top three is a good confidence booster.”
Van Dam was locked into the scramble as one of the top eight drivers in the championship standings. He lined up on the inside of the fourth row for the six-lap race.
“The track was really wet because of all the rain last week,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of chances for passing.”
Van Dam advanced from seventh to fifth place, which is where he started the main event.
“It was kind of misting and we had a tough time getting the race going,” he said. “It took about 25 minutes to get the first few laps in. With the mist coming down it made the track even wetter than it was. On a restart I ended up catching a hole and almost tipping over. I fell back to sixth.”
Van Dam picked up a handful of positions before the white flag was waved.
“I was surprised by the white flag,” he said. “I was expecting to have more laps. We had just caught lapped traffic. I knew I was going to have an opportunity. I made my best effort to close about five car lengths. I was on the leader’s back bumper at the checkered flag, but that was as close as I got.”
Van Dam’s second-place result marked his 14th top five of the season.
“It was a good way to cap the year in the Northwest,” he said. “Hopefully we can take our momentum down to Trophy Cup.”
Van Dam will take the next two weekends off before competing Oct. 16-18 at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the 21st annual Trophy Cup.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 27 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Scramble: 5 (7); Feature: 2 (5).
SEASON STATS –
31 races, 6 wins, 14 top fives, 22 top 10s, 27 top 15s, 28 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Oct. 16-18 at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the 21st annual Trophy Cup
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 Sep 28, 2014
- Article Date: 9/28/2014 by Inside Line Promotions