(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – SOMERTON, Ariz. (Jan. 5, 2015) – Henry Van Dam carried the momentum from his career-best season last year into 2015.
Van Dam earned a top 10 on Round 1 of the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown at Cocopah Speedway last Friday.
“It was a really good night,” he said. “I felt we had really good speed and we were able to hold our own. It was a great way to start the week.”
Van Dam maneuvered from seventh to third place during his heat race, which ranked fourth in overall points.
“There was a lot of stuff that happened in our heat race,” he said. “I think being able to survive our heat race was important. We also did alright in our qualifier, which put us up there.”
After advancing from sixth to fifth place during a qualifier, Van Dam was seventh in total points. That lined him up on the inside of the fourth row for the 30-lap main event.
“We were moving forward and then the red flag really hurt us,” he said. “I made some adjustments and it took me a couple of laps to get going. Because of those adjustments I rolled my wing forward. I had it too far forward on the restart, which didn’t give me enough grip.”
Van Dam, who was closing in on the top five prior to the red flag on Lap 11, lost a few spots on the restart before rebounding with a ninth-place result.
“I think it shows the quality of our team now as far as putting a good car on the race track,” he said. “I think if we can make quality laps with these guys you can go anywhere and make quality laps.”
Unfortunately, Saturday’s event was short-lived. Van Dam was running third in his heat race when a mechanical issue forced him to stop in turn four coming to the white flag.
“We had a vibration and I couldn’t figure out what it was,” he said. “We found a broken cam. Dan from Wesmar is flying in from Oklahoma to fix it. It’s pretty cool of him to do that. We’re hoping it attributes to the same thing as the vibration.”
Van Dam said he expects to compete on Tuesday during Round 3 of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Series, which wraps up next Friday and Saturday.
QUICK RESULTS –
Jan. 2 – Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz. – Heat race: 3 (7); Qualifier: 5 (6); Feature: 9 (7).
Jan. 3 – Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz. – Heat race: DNF (1);
SEASON STATS –
2 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 1 top 10, 1 top 15, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz., for the inaugural Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HenryVanDam.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanDamRacing
APPAREL –
Van Dam has sweatshirts and hats available for sale at his race trailer.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Johansen Excavating
Based in Buckley, Wash., Johansen Excavating specializes in civil construction. For more information, visit http://www.JohansenExcavating.com.
“Johansen Excavating has been a partner for the past few years,” Van Dam said. “They’ve been a great sponsor, but have been even better friends.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw, 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 Jan 05, 2015
- Article Date: 1/5/2015 by Inside Line Promotions