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Jamie Ball – Runner Up!

[i (Outlaw Karting of Iowa)] Memorial Day weekend 2009 was not exactly what Jamie Ball was hoping for. The Knoxville, IA native raced at English Creek Speedway on Friday May 22, 2009. The weekend was full of motor troubles that would hold back the team from getting the finished they were looking for. The night would start out good with a #4 draw number putting the #5Jr on the pole of heat one. The heats are 8 laps long and Ball would go on to lead all but one, the one the counts, the checkered flag. "The engine was dying when I would bury the right rear into the cushion and it would die for a second causing just enough problems to not be able to hold onto to the heat one victory".

After coming in there was a change in need for the team if they wanted to get back atop the podium for the third consecutive week. Teammate Jody Hegwood #5xxx would be willing to offer his cr500 power plant to try and solve the issue. Between heats 1 & 2 the engine swap would be completed in less than 20 minutes. Heat two was set up with Ball starting third row outside (6th). The outcome of this heat was once again problem filled. "This time we had this other motor of Jody's on and it was just "flat" it had no power to it at all and it would not RPM they way we need to win". At the finish Ball would take third place. After the heats were over for the Open class (500cc) the main would be set up with Ball starting second row inside (3rd). "We changed the gear to try and bring the RPM back up for some much needed speed and turns out it would hurt us slightly as we were running out of gear about 3/4 the way down the straight-aways". The green flag flew and right off the bat it was once again "the battle of the 5's" with Nick DeMoss leading Jamie Ball. DeMoss was running the high groove with Ball in hot pursuit running the low line. Lap traffic looked to be a deciding factor in who would prevail as the winner. On lap 12 a yellow would come out for a spinning car and the lap traffic issue would be thrown out. It would be a show down with three laps to go. The checkered flag flew and Ball would trail DeMoss by 3 kart lengths. The finishing order would be (1st) Nick DeMoss #5, (2nd) Jamie Ball #5Jr, (3rd) Cody Ambers #92c. "The engine problems right off the bat put us behind the eight ball and our night just didn’t go as planned, the one good thing though is we’re getting the problems sorted out early in the season and it’s a great thing to be upset about a second place finish".

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