(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (May 16, 2016) – Henry Van Dam bounced back from an early miscue to pick up a top-five finish on Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway.
The night began with Van Dam qualifying fifth quickest around the 3/8-mile oval, which was recently resurfaced.
“We were the first out to qualify and we didn’t know where the best line would be or how hard to drive it,” he said. “We put a decent lap down, but were a couple of tenths off. We made some adjustments for the heat race and had a good car. We were able to get around the polesitter in turns one and two when there wasn’t much track on the outside lane.”
Van Dam won his heat race to make the feature inversion, which lined him up on the inside of the second row for the 25-lap main event.
“On Lap 2 I was trying to get the top going,” he said. “I drove into turn three and it bottomed the frame out. It got me in the loose, fluffy stuff and that got me spun out. I had to go all the way to the back, which was 14th at the time.”
In addition to the miscue Van Dam battled an ill-handling car for the remainder of the feature.
“We didn’t get to where we needed to be car-wise and I didn’t stay patient enough in the feature,” he said. “I worked my way up the rest of the race. I picked them off one at a time. We still didn’t have that great of a car. A lot of it was me trying to get the most out of the car. I took advantage of restarts to get ourselves in a better position.
“The track went a lot slicker than we thought. Elma has a tendency to get clean and get the grip toward the end of the night. It stayed a little bit dirty and the car stayed on top of the track. It wasn’t until halfway through the feature when it cleaned off. We just didn’t make the right adjustments for the track conditions.”
Van Dam rallied from the back to post a fifth-place result, which marked his third top five of the season.
He is scheduled to return to Grays Harbor Raceway this Saturday.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 14 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 5 (3).
SEASON STATS –
12 races, 1 win, 3 top fives, 5 top 10s, 5 top 15s, 6 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in 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 – Clems Enumclaw Powersports
Located in Enumclaw, Wash., Clems Enumclaw Powersports has been family owned and operated since 1974. Clems has been a one-stop shop for all powersports needs for nearly 40 years. For more information, visit http://www.EnumclawSuzuki.com.
“Clems Enumclaw Powersports makes sure our needs are taken care of getting around the pit area,” Van Dam said. “I’m very grateful for their support of the race team.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Johansen Excavating, Highmark Concrete Contractors, Northwest Welding & Fabrication, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw, 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 May 16, 2016
- Article Date: 5/16/2016 by Inside Line Promotions