(Photo by Justin Brester)
Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (Aug. 1, 2016) – Henry Van Dam picked up a pair of top-10 finishes last weekend during the Bob’s Burgers & Brew Summer Nationals at Skagit Speedway.
“It wasn’t great by any means, but it definitely wasn’t bad,” he said. “We had speed in the car. At times we had good speed in the car. We just couldn’t carry that speed in traffic.”
The doubleheader began on Friday with Van Dam qualifying second quickest overall before he advanced from fourth to third place in a heat race to make the feature redraw. Unfortunately, he pulled the second-highest number – seven – to start the main event on the inside of the fourth row.
“We were good in qualifying and that transferred into the heat race,” he said. “We were able to get to third and we were all over first and second. In the main event the dash was pushed back a little and it created some issues with the throttle. When I let off the gas it wouldn’t let off all the way. I’d have to power brake to slow it down. It threw off my rhythm.”
While battling through the problem during the main event Van Dam competed just outside the top five until posting a seventh-place finish.
He returned to the high-banked oval on Saturday for the event finale. Van Dam timed in 10th quickest to kick off the action.
“I think we had a decent car,” he said. “I decided on a line to run that didn’t work out. We had a better car than 10th.”
Van Dam then won a heat race to lock himself into the 14th starting position for the main event.
“Once again we were mired in heavy traffic throughout the whole event,” he said. “We never could get going. We’d catch a car and have a hard time getting around them. On the very last lap I think we were running 10th and a driver spun out in turn four and collected three other cars. The leader had already taken the checkered. It was just about avoiding the turn four melee. So we went from 10th to sixth.”
Van Dam missed the crash to come home with a sixth-place result.
He will resume competition this Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.
QUICK RESULTS –
July 29 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (4); Feature: 7 (7).
July 30 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 10; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 6 (14).
SEASON STATS –
20 races, 1 win, 6 top fives, 12 top 10s, 12 top 15s, 13 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 – Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw
Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw is a leading tire store that also services brakes, shocks and struts, batteries, wheels and more. For more information, visit http://www.LesSchwab.com.
“Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw came on board the last couple of years,” Van Dam said. “They take care of me from my car to the hauler and trailer to make sure we get down the road.”
Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Johansen Excavating, Highmark Concrete Contractors, Northwest Welding & Fabrication, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, 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 Aug 01, 2016
- Article Date: 8/1/2016 by Inside Line Promotions