(Photo by Justin Brester)
Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (July 3, 2016) – Henry Van Dam set himself up to compete for a Fred Brownfield Classic victory this weekend at his home track.
Van Dam opened the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour doubleheader at Grays Harbor Raceway on Friday by maneuvering from fifth to second place in a heat race at the 3/8-mile oval.
“We had a decent car in the heat race and were able to get a couple of cars picked off on the first lap,” he said. “We moved into a good passing points position. We had the car feeling pretty good.”
That earned enough points to advance into the feature redraw, where Van Dam pulled the No. 2 during the random redraw to start the main event on the outside of the front row.
“We had pretty good company around us,” he said. “We were a little off to run the top. We couldn’t carry enough speed. We could keep pace with the guys, but we just couldn’t race with them. We needed to be able to roll the top with a bit more speed. The car would get bogged down. Any time I got around other cars it just killed too much speed.”
Van Dam fell to fourth in the first couple of laps before losing a pair of positions late in the race to finish sixth, which was tied for his second-best ASCS National Tour result.
“There were definitely positives there,” he said. “We were able to hold our own. We got some good information. You have to take all the positives.”
Van Dam returned to the track on Saturday for the finale. He rallied from seventh to fourth place in a heat race, which started him on the pole of a B Main.
“Our heat race was tough,” he said. “We got blocked in on the bottom and didn’t have enough options. We needed to pass one more car to get locked into the feature. We made some changes for the B Main and the car really came alive. We were going pretty good. About Lap 8 one of the water lines came off the side of the motor. It caused me to spin out. In hindsight it was probably a good thing so we didn’t burn up the motor.”
Van Dam wasn’t able to finish the consolation race and his weekend ended early.
He will return to action this week during a trio of Western Sprint Tour Northwest Speedweek events. Van Dam is slated to race on Monday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.; Tuesday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore.; and Wednesday at Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 1 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Heat race: 2 (5); Feature: 6 (2).
July 2 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Heat race: 4 (7); B Main: DNF (1).
SEASON STATS –
16 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 8 top 10s, 8 top 15s, 9 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Monday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.; Tuesday at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore.; and Wednesday at Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore., for the Western Sprint Tour Northwest Speedweek
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 – Northwest Welding & Fabrication
Northwest Welding & Fabrication is located in Lacey, Wash.
“Chuck from Northwest Welding & Fabrication has been a good friend over the years,” Van Dam said. “He’s been a comrade not only in the business world, but also in racing.”
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, 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 03, 2016
- Article Date: 7/3/2016 by Inside Line Promotions