5/31/2015
Inside Line Promotions
Van Dam Nets Pair of Top Fives at Marvin Smith Memorial
(Photo by Malcolm White Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 31, 2015) – Henry Van Dam scored a pair of fifth-place results during the 2nd annual Marvin Smith Memorial last weekend at Cottage Grove Speedway.
That gives him six top fives in his last seven races, including four straight. However, the finishes masked a car that struggled throughout the weekend, Van Dam said.
“The positive out of it is we got a lot of good laps with a lot of quality cars,” he said. “You have to take that as a chance to learn. The negative is we didn’t run as well as we wanted to. We had high hopes and a little bit of momentum, but never seemed to put it together. I couldn’t pass lapped cars when I needed to and couldn’t move around when I needed to. Things just didn’t go our way.”
Van Dam opened the doubleheader last Friday by qualifying third quickest around the quarter-mile bullring. He then advanced from sixth to fourth place to lock himself into the dash, where a fifth-place finish started him on the inside of the third row for the main event.
“We pretty much ran around fifth the whole time,” he said. “I think we fell back to sixth at one point and got a spot back. I tried the top. I tried the bottom. I moved around and just couldn’t get anything to work. It’s probably one of the worst cars I’ve had in years. How we got a fifth-place finish out of it was pretty amazing.”
Van Dam returned to Cottage Grove Speedway on Saturday and improved his qualifying result by one. He also maneuvered from sixth to third place in a heat race to make the dash for the second straight night. A sixth-place result in the dash lined him up on the outside of the third row for the 41-lap, $4,100-to-win feature.
“We were just off with our setup a little bit,” he said. “I was trying the same scenario both nights with right rear tight and couldn’t get the car to rotate like I needed to. Stuff that has worked in the past hasn’t been working the last couple of weekends like we needed it to. It seemed like we had speed early, but I didn’t seem to make progress. It was one of those weekends where you’re waiting for something to happen. No matter what we tried we rode around with the same speed.”
Van Dam battled for a top five throughout the feature before ending with his sixth top-five result of the season.
“There’s definitely a positive that you pull out of every weekend,” he said. “That’s where we have to look for this weekend. Then you just put your head down and get after it again.”
Van Dam will return to action this Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., with the Summer Thunder Sprint Series.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 29 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 4 (6); Dash: 5 (5); Feature: 5 (5).
May 30 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 2; Heat race: 3 (6); Dash: 6 (6); Feature: 5 (6).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 1 win, 6 top fives, 10 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 13 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, 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 – 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, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Factory Kahne, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Van Dam Dairy, Village Green Resort, 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.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller