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Van Dam Ties Season-Best Result With Podium Finish at Grays Harbor

(Photo by Justin Brester)

Inside Line Promotions – ELMA, Wash. (Sept. 5, 2017) – Henry Van Dam tied his season-best finish last Sunday when he scored a runner-up result at Grays Harbor Raceway to extend his top-five streak to six consecutive races.

Van Dam opened the Summer Thunder Sprint Series event by qualifying eighth quickest overall.

“We got better all night,” he said. “We were first out to qualify and that was a little disadvantage, but we still qualified in the top eight. That meant we just had to make it through our heat race to make the feature redraw.”

Van Dam did just that as he won his heat. He then pulled the No. 6 during the random redraw to start the main event on the outside of the third row.

“We had a really good car,” he said. “We were able to work the top, bottom and middle of the race track to get to second. We didn’t have a lot of laps to do anything with the leader in traffic. We had a caution about every five laps. We didn’t have a good enough car to drive around him so we needed long runs with traffic.”

Van Dam’s second-place finish was his third podium of the season.

The weekend wrapped up on Monday at Grays Harbor Raceway, where Van Dam made his season debut with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series.

“I felt like a rookie,” he said. “The Outlaws have a way of showing you how good they are pretty quick. My timing was way off. It took some adjusting to be able to run the slick efficiently. It’s quite a bit different than what I’m used to with the 360.”

Van Dam qualified 21st quickest and placed eighth in a heat race, which relegated him to the Last Chance Showdown.

“In the LCS we were able to dice it up and get to the lead for a half a lap and we were able to race up front lap after lap,” he said. “I felt like we had a good car.”

A second-place finish in the LCS transferred Van Dam into the 20th starting position in the main event.

“I had a decent start,” he said. “We made a couple of adjustments that weren’t the best with a full fuel load. I felt like we were competitive racing with some good race cars. We had a long green flag run and we were put a lap down before the first caution. After that we were able to pass three or four cars that weren’t for position, but we had some good racing going on.

“I didn’t feel like I was where I wanted to be at the end of the night, but we made a lot of ground up.”

Van Dam, who was credited with a 19th-place finish, will take the next two weekends off before competing Sept. 22-23 at Central Washington State Fair Raceway in Yakima, Wash., with the Summer Thunder Sprint Series.

QUICK RESULTS –

Sept. 3 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 8; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 2 (6).

Sept. 4 – Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash. – Qualifying: 21; Heat race: 8 (7); B Main: 2 (4); Feature: 19 (20).

SEASON STATS –

13 races, 0 wins, 6 top fives, 10 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 13 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Sept. 22-23 at Central Washington State Fair Raceway in Yakima, Wash., with the Summer Thunder Sprint Series

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.

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