Jamie Ball- No Place to Go
(White Lightning Motorsports) –
This week the L & J Automotive #5J would race on Saturday May 7, 2011 at the Knoxville Raceway in the 360 division. Saturday marked the first time I have ever competed in the same division as my dad. I was very excited going into this weekend because of that. I would go out in the first qualifying session and register a 16.444 lap time (8th quick) and my dad would go out in the third qualifying session and would turn a 16.598 (12th quick). I was excited that I out timed my dad. Our qualifying times would put us both in heat two. I would start 4th and LBJ would start 2nd. My mom was a nervous wreck that was the last thing she wanted to see. The green would fly and LBJ would jump out to an early lead and I would struggle and fall back to 6th. I would go onto finish 6th and LBJ would take his first heat race victory of 2011. Once the lineups were posted we found out that I would be on the pole of the B-Main and LBJ would be on the pole of the A-Main. I would go onto win the B-Main. This would set me up 16th in the 360 A-Main. The green flag would fly and on the front stretch #28 Jonathan Cornell and #4 Jon Agan would get together and it would send cars flying everywhere. As I tried to dodge the disaster I would clip the front end of Cornell and it would send my flying into the #38 of Wayne Johnson. I would bounce off him and land going into turn one. It would knock the wind out of me for a while but I was able to walk away. The car on the other hand was not okay. It was destroyed. Thankfully we have another car for me back at the shop that I will be able to be back next week in the 305 class. On a good note, LBJ was able to finish a strong 2nd place on his first night back since 2006. We are going to work hard in the shop this week to get ready for the 2nd round of 305 races. I’m looking to build one spot on my opening night finish.
The next time that White Lightning Motorsports plans to race is on Saturday May 14, 2011 at the Knoxville Raceway in the 360 sprint car class. I will be racing the 305 class and LBJ will be racing the 360 class again, also hoping to improve one spot from his previous week finish.
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 would like to thank L & J Automotive, L & J Enterprise Inc., AIB College of Business, Timber Line Tree Service, JJ Kane Auctioneers, Sweet Manufacturing, Iowa State Savings Bank, Fragola Performance Systems, VP Racing Fuels, Bell Helmets, Keizer Wheels, Driver Websites, Vortex Wings, Hoosier Racing Tire, DMI, King Racing Products, BR Motorsports, Wilwood Brakes, and all other family and friends for their support.
Check out this video of the crash: http://knoxvilleraceway.com/Videos.aspx
- administrator on May 09, 2011
- Article Date: 5/9/2011