10/24/2016
Inside Line Promotions
Van Dam Earns Career-Best Third-Place Result During Trophy Cup Finale
(Photo by Justin Brester)
Inside Line Promotions – TULARE, Calif. (Oct. 24, 2016) – Henry Van Dam capped the 2016 season with one of his strongest performances of the year.
Van Dam recorded a career-best third-place result during the 23rd annual Trophy Cup on Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway, where he finished a career-best sixth in points out of nearly 60 competitors.
“Those were our best finishes for sure and a great way to end the season,” he said. “For us as a team it’s huge. To not race every week and then go to Tulare is intimidating in itself. Just a lap in qualifying is a nail biter. Throw a bunch of cars in there and to have to run the fence, do what you have to do, not wreck; there’s so many things that have to go right. It all just came together. It was a good way to go into the winter with enthusiasm.”
Van Dam opened the marquee event last Thursday by qualifying 13th quickest in his group. He then placed second in a heat race, which lined him up on the outside of the second row for a B Main.
“I felt pretty comfortable and we had a good balance in the car,” he said. “We were able to get up to second fairly quickly in the B Main. My car started going away and I made a mistake on a restart to let Jason Meyers get by.”
Van Dam ended third in the consolation race to transfer into the 14th starting position for the main event.
“The track changed between the B Main and the A Main,” he said. “We didn’t make enough adjustments. We got to 11th at one point, but I made a few mistakes at the end and lost some spots. It was a disappointing end to the night knowing we had so much speed and didn’t keep up with the track enough.”
Van Dam finished 15th.
He returned to the track on Friday and timed in ninth quickest in his group before finishing sixth in a heat race and fifth in a B Main, which was only one spot shy of a transfer into the main event.
“We made a run at it at the end to get to fifth,” he said. “We needed a couple more laps to work around the transfer spot. We had a decent car. We just tried to run our car too tight and couldn’t get the speed we needed.”
Van Dam entered the finale on Saturday ranked 21st in points. He maneuvered from fifth to third place in a heat race, which moved him up to 20th in overall points. That locked him into the pole position for the 50-lap feature.
“That was really good,” he said. “It made our night a whole lot easier. They reworked the track right before the start of the A Main. Being 50 laps it’s a whole different mindset. We got pinched down on the start and settled into second. We traded back and forth with third at one point and were able to get back to second. Later in the race I fell back to third, but on a restart I was able to get back to second. With about five laps to go I played it too conservative and third got back around me for second. It was still a great result for us.”
Van Dam went back and forth between second and third place throughout the main event before closing with a third-place finish, which was his 10th top five of the season.
QUICK RESULTS –
Oct. 20 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 2 (3); B Main: 3 (4); Feature: 15 (14).
Oct. 21 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Qualifying: 9; Heat race: 6 (4); B Main: 5 (8).
Oct. 22 – Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif. – Heat race: 3 (5); Feature: 3 (1).
SEASON STATS –
28 races, 2 wins, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s, 18 top 15s, 19 top 20s
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.
Article Credit: Inside Line Promotions
Submitted By: Shawn Miller
