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White Lightning Motorsports Responds to Knoxville Disqualification

(Photo by Studio 92 Photography)

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (July 12, 2015) – White Lightning Motorsports wants to set the record straight following shocking news within the last week.

The team’s home track of Knoxville Raceway disqualified Devin Kline from his most recent 305ci feature victory – his fourth of the season – on June 27 because of what was deemed an illegal right rear tire. Kline was forced to forfeit the trophy and money earned as well as first-place points, which dropped him to fourth in the championship standings.

Here is the official statement from White Lightning Motorsports Co-Owner Jody Hegwood:

“After Devin won the feature on Midseason Championship Night the race track took samples of our right rear tire in our pit area an hour after the 410 checkered flag fell. We had to go get the Knoxville tech officials three times to get them to come down and get samples that they said they wanted. It was stated in the drivers meeting that night that they were going to take samples of the top three in all classes. They took no samples from the 410s because their tires were bald from the rubber-down race track. They took samples from the top three in the 360 class and only Devin’s tire in the 305 class. Devin wasn’t even the fastest car on the track. Chris Walraven blew a tire leading and Kade Hidgay would have won if he drove decent laps. People always think we are cheating because we win the majority of the 305 races. Our 305 has been teched at Knoxville Raceway 13 times in the last three and a half years and has never been found illegal. We don’t have a roller cam, bigger lifters, domed pistons, etc. We have a very good working race car, a great running engine and a very talented race car driver. As for our DQ and supposed use of tire softeners here is what we know:

1. When (Knoxville Raceway Competition Director) John McCoy showed us the results of the tire sample it said H15 did not conform. Our tire was an ASCS medium. When I brought this to John McCoy’s attention he said that must be a typo. I informed him that typos don’t exist in situations like this. I called and talked to Steve at Blue Ridge Labs and spoke to him about several different factors. I asked him if he checked our sample as an H15 or an ASCS medium. He would not answer that question as he said that is propriety information that belongs to Knoxville Raceway. I told him we used Black Magic (tire shine) on the sidewalls of our tires to make the tires look good to our fans. We use WD-40 on the wheels to remove grease and baby oil on the car. Steve stated they considered these items as topical and they have found that centrifugal force and friction with the race track remove these and aren’t an issue. Our car was rolled through the pits and teched well after numerous fans had been around our car. Centrifugal force and friction now no longer apply.
2. Steve from Blue Ridge Labs also stated that they could not tell how much of the chemical nor if the chemical had been directly applied (or soaked) into a tire. He also stated that in the right situations the tire can get chemicals transferred to it without being in direct contact to that chemical. I spoke with Shannon Rush from Hoosier Tire and asked him if the rubber compound of an H15 and ASCS medium are different and he said most definitely. The H15 is a softer compound and has a different rubber and chemical composition.
3. How many racers have gotten tires, mounted them up and found they don’t roll out to what they should? We have taken tires back to Jamie Moyle twice ourselves this year and traded them in for other tires. How do we know the history of that tire before we get it? We don’t. Someone could have done something to that tire and not had it rolled out to what they wanted and returned it. John McCoy said that the chemicals found in our tire had been there for a while and it wasn’t the new tire. It had a date code of 2014. Every tire that we have run on our race car this year has come from Jamie Moyle and was bought new this year. Is Hoosier selling us old inventory or did someone trade that tire back into Moyle this year? Shannon from Hoosier stated that most tire dealers in the country have went to a no-return policy just for this reason. Jamie Moyle currently does not have a no-return policy. Because of this we went to Hoosier Midwest on Friday, July 10, and bought a new inventory of tires (12 right rears, 12 left rears and 4 fronts) so we could know the history of our tires. Any of you racers that don’t do this, you should.

“WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO THE TIRE ON DEVIN’S CAR BESIDES GROOVE AND SIPE IT. If we were doping tires and got caught we could just stop and be ok. However, we didn’t do anything to his tire and now we have to take extra precautions to make sure this injustice doesn’t happen to us again. There have been several people on social media talking about this and you all need to realize this very thing can happen to you. We are supposed to get a report of the chemicals that are supposedly in the tire so we can hire our own lab to run tests and confirm Blue Ridge Labs results. Then we will run the chemical compositions of the products that we use around our car and see if that’s where the chemicals came from. We will do everything in our power to exonerate our names and do away with this injustice.

“On another note we just received our brand new 305 engine with the latest updates from Ostrich Racing Engines and Jamie Ball will be running a second car for White Lightning Motorsports for the remainder of the year in the 305 class at Knoxville Raceway.”

SEASON STATS –

JAMIE BALL – 17 races, 1 win, 3 top fives, 5 top 10s, 10 top 15s, 16 top 20s

DEVIN KLINE – 7 races, 4 wins, 4 top fives, 5 top 10s, 6 top 15s, 7 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa

MEDIA LINKS –

Jamie Ball Website: http://www.JamieBall.com

Devin Kline Website: http://www.DevinKline.com

Jamie Ball Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JamieBall5j

Devin Kline Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DevinKline5j

VIDEO –

Here is a link to highlights of Kline’s first win of the season at Knoxville Raceway on May 9: https://youtu.be/ErMdMcbuxjQ

Here is a link to highlights of Kline’s second win of the season at Knoxville Raceway on May 23: https://youtu.be/3BbJfIPVbqc

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 – Matt Jones Trucking

Matt Jones Trucking is a licensed and bonded freight shipping and trucking company running freight hauling business from Monroe, Iowa. Matt specializes in the transportation of livestock throughout the Midwest. Call Matt today at (641) 891-0686 to get an estimate on all of your shipping needs.

“Matt Jones has been a long time crew member, supporter and sponsor of the 5J cars for the past 10-plus years,” Ball said. “Matt and his family (Christy, Jaslyn and Evan) have been instrumental in our success over the years. It is a pleasure to have Matt Jones Trucking on board the 5J cars this season.”

White Lightning Motorsports would also like to thank Jerry & Kelly Johnston, Housby, JJ Kane Auctioneers, Ostrich Racing Engines, BCP Weddings, Timber Line Tree Service, The Hearing Clinic, Sweet Manufacturing, Bell Helmets, Driver Websites, Iowa State Savings Bank, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, King Racing Products, BR Motorsports, Hoosier Tire, MPD Racing, Champion Oil, Wingdance Graphics, 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 by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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