At this point fail2ban wasn't really needed anymore since the author installed it to stop the people using the server as an open proxy. After they solved the proxy issue fail2ban was just causing problems and wasn't needed.
I understand it wasn't needed after the fact. But the entire point of the original post/resolution was to understand what was causing the problem (page time outs) - yet when faced with a second problem, he chose the 'easy' route of just uninstalling it (unalike his resilience to pay for his IP change or wiping the server).