Jamie Ball- One Spot Short
(White Lightning Motorsports) – June 28, 2010 – This week would see the Delta Oil #5J race on Saturday June 26, 2010 at the Knoxville Raceway. Our teams 305 engine was still getting ready to race so once again we only raced our 360 sprint car.
The night would start out by drawing a #22 pill to be lined up for group time trials. I would be in the 3rd flight of cars to time trial. I felt confident going into the night about my chances of timing good and starting the night off right. The confidence transpired into my best time trial in my career. My best lap would be a 16.561, which was good enough for 11th quick overall out of the 28 car field.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQxvBJ6614
Next up would be the heat race; I would be scheduled to line up second row inside (3rd position) in heat race number two. My heat race was filled with lots of good guys and I knew it was going to be tough but I felt that myself and the car had what it was going to take to get a top five finish to transfer into the A-Main. Some of the cars in the heat were Jon Agan, Danny Heskin, Josh Higday, Chad Humston and Ryan Roberts. The green flag would drop and Jon Agan would stumble on the start and it stacked the field up a bit. I got a bad start and coming off turn two I was back to 4th position. Throughout the next seven laps I would lose three more spots and finish the heat race in 7th place. The car was good I just wasn’t putting the car in the right spots on the track. But with more laps knowing where to put the car will get easier each week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql-PKBbqq4Y
After finishing 7th in the heat race I would have to run the B-Main to try and transfer into the A-Main. The top five finishing cars would transfer into the A-Main. I was scheduled to start on the pole (1st position). The green flag would drop and I once again got a bad start. Coming off turn two I was all the way back to 5th position (final transfer). For the duration of the next 8 laps I would race comfortably in the final transfer position. Then on lap 8, #54 Brian Dobesh would slide me going into turn 1. I turned down off the cushion and came off turn two on the bottom and had a run on the #54 down the backstretch and I was going to slide him going into turn three. Upon entering turn three I would turn a bit too early and hit the berm at full speed. This sent the car airborne a little bit and it would upset the car enough to kill my momentum. That allowed the #54 to secure the final transfer spot. I was however able to save the car from crashing. I would go onto finish in the 6th position, one spot out of the transfer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inFHcaz97jQ
This week the White Lightning Motorsports Team plans to race on Saturday July 3, 2010 at the Knoxville Raceway. This Saturday is twin feature night, so making the A-Main is very important in the chase for 2010 360 Class Rookie of the Year. Come out and support myself and the rest of the White Lightning Motorsports race team at Knoxville Raceway this Saturday.
Keep an eye on my progress this week and beyond at www.jamieball.com
if you would like to receive the weekly releases, send an email with the subject line “Jamie” to jamie@jamieball.com
White Lightning Motorsports LLC would like to thank Delta Oil, L & J Enterprise Inc, JJ Kane Auctioneers, Iowa State Savings Bank, Fragola, VP Racing Fuels, Bell Helmets, Keizer Wheels, Driver Websites, Pro Shocks, Vortex Wings, Hoosier Racing Tire, DMI, King Racing Products, BR Motorsports, Wilwood Brakes, and all other family and friends for their support.
- administrator on Jun 28, 2010
- Article Date: 6/26/2010