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(Photo by Paul Gould)

Inside Line Promotions – CHICO, Calif. (March 9, 2014) – Henry Van Dam recently embarked upon an ambitious start to his season.

The Enumclaw, Wash., resident hauled to Arizona, Nevada and California for five races, including doubleheaders with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series and the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.

“The positive is that we know what we need to work on,” he said. “We had some speed and a decent car, but we probably didn’t have all the pieces in order. We’ll get home and regroup, reorganize and get after it again.”

Van Dam opened the trip on Feb. 28 and March 1 at Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz., for the first two rounds of the Cocopah Cup Challenge with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.

“We kinda struggled with some issues with our driveline,” he said. “We didn’t find that problem until we left. We just never had the speed we needed.”

Van Dam finished fifth in his heat race both nights, but rallied to a third-place result in a B Main during the Friday event. He then advanced from 22nd to 15th in the feature to earn the Hard Charger Award.

The team ended with a sixth-place finish in a B Main during the Saturday race.

Van Dam then traveled to Las Vegas for the FVP Outlaw Showdown last Wednesday and Thursday at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas, which didn’t greet the team with a positive note.

“On Wednesday night we had a rock go through the oil filter in the heat race and a nozzle line was knocked off during the B Main,” he said.

Van Dam qualified 33rd and 35th quickest, respectively, during the World of Outlaws events. On Wednesday, he finished ninth in his heat race and 14th in the Last Chance Showdown. Things weren’t any better on Thursday when the engine struggled to run well.

The team scratched from the heat race and put in a 360ci engine for the Last Chance Showdown, which Van Dam ended 14th in for the second straight night.

The racing trip concluded on Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway for the finale of the Silver Cup.

Van Dam qualified 17th quickest and advanced from fifth to fourth place in his heat race to lock himself into the main event. After starting 16th and working toward the top 10 in the early stage, Van Dam pulled off the track with approximately 10 laps remaining and was credited with a 15th-place result.

“The track was rough and I had been lapped,” he said. “I didn’t want to be in the way. It got slick and it was really rough around the top with deep ruts. You had to tighten your car up, but not too much where it’d cause you to tip over.”

Van Dam will return to action on April 25-26 at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., for the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic.

“I’m glad we got out and got racing early,” he said. “It’ll give us time to regroup and work on the other things before racing again.”

QUICK RESULTS –

Feb. 28 – Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz. – Heat race: 5 (1); B Main: 3 (4); Feature: 15 (22).

March 1 – Cocopah Speedway in Somerton, Ariz. – Heat race: 5 (5); B Main: 6 (6).

March 5 – The Dirt Track at Las Vegas in Las Vegas – Qualifying: 33; Heat race: 9 (9); B Main: 14 (13).

March 6 – The Dirt Track at Las Vegas in Las Vegas – Qualifying: 35; Heat race: DNS (9); B Main: 14 (15).

March 8 – Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. – Qualifying: 17; Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 15 (16).

SEASON STATS –

5 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 2 top 20s

UP NEXT –

April 25-26 at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore., for the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.HenryVanDam.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanDamRacing

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Johansen Excavating

Based in Buckley, Wash., Johansen Excavating specializes in civil construction. For more information, visit http://www.JohansenExcavating.com.

“Johansen Excavating has been a partner for the past few years,” Van Dam said. “They’ve been a great sponsor, but have been even better friends.”

Van Dam would also like to thank Kovash Logging, Les Schwab Tire of Enumclaw, Enumclaw Xpress Lube, Van Dam Dairy, Village Green Resort, Big Bob’s Flooring Outlet, Bob and Joan Shumway, Kellan and Kelsey Hall, Foothills Auto Supply, American Powder Coating, Pete Vos, Clems Enumclaw Powersports, Char’s Barber Shop, Wesmar Race Engines, Factory Kahne, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, 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 and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.