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Van Dam Earns Two Top Fives during Marvin Smith Memorial

(Photo by Justin Brester)

Inside Line Promotions – COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 31, 2016) – Henry Van Dam scored a pair of top-five finishes last weekend during the Marvin Smith Memorial at Cottage Grove Speedway.

“I think overall it was a success,” he said. “We made progress all weekend. I just missed a little on the feature on Saturday when it counted. For the most part we got better and had a car capable of winning.”

The doubleheader began on a sour note as Van Dam qualified ninth quickest in his group on Saturday.

“We were really off in qualifying,” he said. “I was surprised we ended up where we were. We didn’t have any balance in the car and made some changes for the heat race. I got out and led the thing. On the last lap I drove off the track in turn one. I got back on the track and still finished third.”

Van Dam’s third-place result in the heat race locked him into the 16th starting position in the main event.

“The first part of the main event was hectic,” he said. “There were cars spinning out and doing 360s. The first couple of laps it was about survival. The track had quite a few ruts on the top and bottom. It was handful no matter where you were running. I focused on the bottom and we started patiently working our way through there. The track was slick on entry (to the corners) and rough on exit. You had to really hit your marks.”

Van Dam drove into the top 10 near the midpoint of the race and was eying one of the four lock-in positions to Sunday’s dash.

“There was a restart with a handful of laps to go and we were eighth or ninth,” he said. “I knew I had a shot at it, but it was hard to be aggressive. I needed long green flag runs to get going. I knew once I got to fifth I needed one more spot. A car ended up getting into the fence with about two laps to go so that helped us there.”

Van Dam crossed the finish line fourth to lock himself into Sunday’s dash, which determined the lineup for the 41-lap main event.

“We led the whole dash and actually pulled away to win that and get the pole for the main event,” he said. “Right before the feature they went out and tore the track up from top to bottom. We chose to free up the car and by Lap 2 the track was back to the same again. We shot ourselves in the foot by freeing it up. It took rubber about halfway through.”

Van Dam led the first few laps before losing the lead in traffic. He was passed for second place midway through the feature when another car found the rubber before him. Van Dam ended with a third-place result, which marked his fifth top five of the season.

He will return to action this Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., with the Summer Thunder Sprint Series.

QUICK RESULTS –

May 28 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 3 (2); Feature: 4 (16).

May 29 – Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore. – Dash: 1 (2); Feature: 3 (1).

SEASON STATS –

14 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 7 top 10s, 7 top 15s, 8 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 – Kovash Logging

Kovash Logging is a logging company based out of Enumclaw, Wash.

“Butch and Donna Kovash came on board a few years ago and have turned into two of my biggest supporters,” Van Dam said. “Not only have they helped with the financial side of it, but they are very nice people and very knowledgeable, and have been a huge asset to the team.”

Van Dam would also like to thank 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.

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