(Photo by Studio 92 Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 26, 2014) – The Knoxville Raceway season finale last Saturday was eventful for White Lightning Motorsports.
“We went in with a lot of confidence ready to get the job done,” Jamie Ball said. “I went out and timed 10th, which I was disappointed in. We just missed it.”
Then misfortune struck Ball during his 360ci heat race at the half-mile track.
“I was racing with Carson McCarl pretty tight for third place and the motor let go in turn three with three laps to go,” he said. “It broke a piston and broke the rod and junked everything. Our spare engine had some mag issues so I thought we were done. I walked past Lee Nelson of Ostrich Racing Engines in my street clothes. He wanted to help and started checking out the engine with the mag issue and gave it a clean bill of health to at least get out there to start the feature.”
White Lightning Motorsports then pulled the engine from the spare car and swapped it with the primary engine just in time to make the feature, which Ball started 20th.
“With Jody Hegwood’s quick ability to get the engines changed we were able to get out there,” he said. “I was on the track with one lap to go before they wouldn’t let me on. We made it in the nick of time. It was remarkable that our team could do two engine changes in 25 minutes.”
Ball picked up a handful of positions in the opening laps before he elected to head into the pits approximately five laps into the main event. He was scored with a 20th-place result, which was good enough to earn him a career-best third place in the track championship standings.
“It wasn’t the route I saw us going to achieve that goal, but in the end it worked out,” he said.
Teammate Devin Kline also had a memorable evening in the 305ci class, where he was looking for his third consecutive victory.
“I was trying to go for three in a row,” he said. “We ended up seventh in qualifying, so that put me starting on the front row of the feature if I made it through the heat race. After qualifying I knew (points leader) J Kinder had pulled off the track early. As soon as I got out of the car and Jody told me Kinder blew up I wanted him to run our engine and get his points championship.”
Kline loaned his engine for the remainder of the night to Kinder, who went on to win his first career track championship at Knoxville Raceway.
QUICK RESULTS –
BALL – Aug. 23 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 10; Heat race: DNF (3); Feature: 20 (20).
SEASON STATS –
JAMIE BALL – 14 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 10 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 12 top 20s
LARRY BALL JR. – 8 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 top 15s, 3 top 20s
DEVIN KLINE – 7 races, 2 wins, 2 top fives, 3 top 10s, 3 top 15s, 3 top 20s
MEDIA LINKS –
Jamie Ball Website: http://www.JamieBall.com
Larry Ball Jr. Website: http://www.LarryBallJr.com
Devin Kline Website: http://www.DevinKline.com
Jamie Ball Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JamieBall5j
Larry Ball Jr. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LarryBallJr5j
Devin Kline Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DevinKline5j
VIDEO –
Here is a link to highlights from Ball’s first career 360 victory at Knoxville Raceway on June 21: http://youtu.be/sJxnb-gK1nY
Here is a link to highlights of Kline’s first-ever 305 win at Knoxville Raceway on July 19: http://youtu.be/cu2F34pQISg
Here is a link to highlights from Kline’s triumph at Knoxville Raceway on Aug. 2: http://youtu.be/wHeFsGhah6I
APPAREL –
White Lightning Motorsports has t-shirts and hoodies available for purchase at their race trailers in the infield of each sprint car event at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Ostrich Racing Engines
Ostrich Racing Engines offers performance 305ci, 360ci and 410ci engines. Along with being a dealer for many of the top product manufacturers, Ostrich also offers a complete machine shop service and dyno facility for the do-it-yourself racers. For more information, visit http://www.OstrichRacingEngines.com.
“We have been utilizing Ostrich power since we started our race team,” Jamie Ball said. “Lee and the crew at Ostrich build a great engine and provide great service. At Knoxville Raceway you must have a great engine and Ostrich has been providing us with some of the fastest engines in the country. All of our cars are consistently top qualifiers and top runners and we credit that to our Ostrich Racing Engines.”
White Lightning Motorsports would also like to thank L & J Automotive, AIB College of Business, JJ Kane Auctioneers, Van Gorp Construction, The Hearing Clinic, Timber Line Tree Service, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Matt Jones Trucking, Bell Helmets, Driver Websites, Sweet Manufacturing, Vocon Auctioneers, Iowa State Savings Bank, FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, King Racing Products, BR Motorsports, Hoosier Tire, MPD Racing, Champion Oil, Wingdance Graphics, Replay XD, Shell Shock and Hooker Harness 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.
- Shawn Miller on Aug 26, 2014
- Article Date: 8/26/2014 by Inside Line Promotions