(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (July 6, 2015) – Henry Van Dam registered his first Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour top 10 in almost two years on Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway during the Fred Brownfield Classic.
Van Dam also captured a pair of heat race victories during the doubleheader, which was taped for a delayed television broadcast on MAVTV.
“I’d say it was a good weekend, but not where we wanted to be,” he said. “I thought we could have got up there and mixed it up with those guys. As the track slowed down we weren’t able to make the right adjustments. It was a little disappointing, but there were some positives.”
The weekend began last Friday with Van Dam claiming his heat race after starting on the inside of the second row. That locked him into the feature redraw where he pulled the highest number – eight – to start the main event on the outside of the fourth row.
“On the initial start we had to take evasive measures to miss somebody and ended up way over the cushion,” he said. “We fell back to 12th or 13th. As we were coming back through there we ended up breaking the right front shock. It was one of those nights where I just had to hold on. I fought for everything I could to get back to 11th.”
Van Dam posted an 11th-place finish.
He returned to the 3/8-mile oval on Saturday for the finale, which Van Dam kicked off by scoring another heat race win after starting on the outside of the front row. Once again that locked him into the feature redraw, but once again he pulled the highest number to start the main event eighth.
“I had to dodge a car that was coming to the stop on the start of the feature,” he said. “Somebody got in my left rear wheel and bent the wheel. A few laps later we got pushed over the cushion again and lost four or five spots. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time and weren’t good enough to overcome it.”
Van Dam battled back to record a 10th-place result, which marked his 12th top 10 of the season.
“Everybody has those circumstances where things don’t go your way and the great teams are able to overcome those and get a great results,” he said. “It’s going to happen where you’ll have bad draws and bad stuff happen on the race track. If you have a good car to overcome it you can still have good nights.”
Van Dam will return to Grays Harbor Raceway this Saturday.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 3 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (3); Feature: 11 (8).
July 4 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 10 (8).
SEASON STATS –
19 races, 2 wins, 7 top fives, 12 top 10s, 14 top 15s, 17 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway at Elma, Wash.
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HenryVanDam.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanDamRacing
APPAREL –
Van Dam has t-shirts available for sale at his race trailer and at Enumclaw Xpress Lube.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Kovash Logging
Kovash Logging is a logging company based out of Enumclaw, Wash.
“Butch and Donna Kovash came on board a few years ago and have turned into two of my biggest supporters,” Van Dam said. “Not only have they helped with the financial side of it, but they are very nice people and very knowledgeable, and have been a huge asset to the team.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Johansen Excavating, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Van Dam Dairy, Village Green Resort, Factory Kahne, 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 by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jul 06, 2015
- Article Date: 7/6/2015 by Inside Line Promotions