By Bill W
May 27, 2013 – A three-race weekend was washed away to one for Jerrod Hull and the Rockwell American #12 team. Planned MOWA stops in Pevely, Missouri and Quincy, Illinois were rained out. Fortunately, the team got in an event at Benton Raceway Park in Benton, Missouri, just eight miles from Jerrod’s home in Sikeston. The result was a third place finish amongst the 22 cars assembled.
Jerrod would draw outside row one for his heat and run second. “The track was slick,” he says. “It was really slick all night. It never took rubber, but it was slick from the get go. Robbie (Standridge) started on the bottom and he got the jump on me.”
The finish set up a starting spot outside of row three in the main event at Benton. “I had a feeling we’d get some cars around the bottom at the start,” says Jerrod. “We ended up passing three cars. We got by Robbie and Eddie Gallagher. We were able to get to third within a couple laps.”
That was where he would finish, behind winner Tommy Worley Jr. and Jimmy Hurley. “We were right there,” says Jerrod. “We really didn’t have anything for first or second. The top three kind of checked out from everyone else, but we were about the same speed.”
With some early season bad luck, it was good just to finish a feature…to get a podium finish was even better. “It was a slick track with not a whole lot of grooves, but I was just happy to finish,” says Jerrod. “I was looking forward to Pevely and Quincy, and maybe getting a win, but that didn’t happen, of course.”
Washed out MOWA events have been common as of late, just like the rest of the racing in the Midwest. The series will try it again this Friday night with the makeup date for the Mary Lee Standridge Memorial at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois. On Saturday, they’ll tow up to the Spoon River Speedway south of Canton, Illinois. Jerrod is no stranger to Victory Lane at either venue.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to Jacksonville for the Mary Lee Standridge Memorial,” he says. “And, of course, getting up to Canton on Saturday. We’ve had some success at those tracks and they are two of my favorites, so we’re looking forward to it. I just hope the rain gets out of there so we can run.”
Jerrod and the #12 team would like to thank: Rockwell American, Midland Performance, Super Shox, Sebastian Sand Blasting & Powder Coating, Inc., Sherwin Williams, Chuck’s Small Engines, Don Hamilton, HRP, Lighthouse Christian Center, Logo Daddy, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld, Automotive Machine, Maxim and Heartland Trailer Manufacturing.