(Photo by Justin Brester)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (June 6, 2016) – Henry Van Dam’s seventh-place finish last Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway marked his seventh top 10 of the season.
The Summer Thunder Sprint Series event began with Van Dam qualifying seventh quickest around the 3/8-mile oval.
“We started off with the track pretty dry,” he said. “I wasn’t near aggressive enough in qualifying and left a lot on the table as far as speed. That got us behind. We ended up seventh, which was better than I thought we were going to be.”
Van Dam then advanced from third to second place in a heat race to qualify for the feature redraw.
“The bottom was preferred so we got a good start, hung in third and were able to run down second and get around him,” he said. “I felt like we had a pretty decent car.”
Unfortunately, Van Dam pulled the highest number – eight – during the random redraw to start the 30-lap main event on the outside of the fourth row.
“We felt like we were set up pretty good for the feature,” he said. “A couple of laps in I could tell we were a bit off and it was survival mode for the remainder of the feature. I couldn’t gain the speed or the grip to compete with the cars in front of us. We needed our car freed up a little more. We had it way too right rear tight and couldn’t turn on entry (into the corners). It made it tough to carry speed into the corner and throughout the corner.”
Van Dam maintained a top 10 throughout the main event before finishing seventh.
He will return to action this Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., where Van Dam captured his lone win this season.
“I’m excited to gain more information,” he said. “Even when you win races you aren’t sure you have the right setup to come through the field and pass cars. More information is always good. It will be a great Dirt Cup tuneup.”
QUICK RESULTS –
June 4 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 7; Heat race: 2 (3); Feature: 7 (8).
SEASON STATS –
14 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 7 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 8 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, 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 – 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, Highmark Concrete Contractors, Northwest Welding & Fabrication, 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 Jun 06, 2016
- Article Date: 6/6/2016 by Inside Line Promotions