By Bill W
June 18, 2013 – Getting two shows in was a breakthrough for Jerrod Hull and the Rockwell American #12 team last weekend. They were able to register a pair of top fives at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois on Friday night, and at the Tri-State Speedway near Haubstadt, Indiana on Saturday. This Saturday night finds the MOWA series at the Montgomery Motorsports Park near New Florence, Missouri for the second time this season.
Friday was the Shawn Marquard Memorial at Jacksonville. Jerrod ran third in his heat after starting fifth. “The heat went pretty well,” he says. “That got us in the Dash, but we redrew eighth. The track was rough and had a big cushion. It got wider in the feature, but the cushion was hard to run. It was about 2/3 of the way up the track and it was hard to run. A mistake would put you over it. We weren’t able to make any moves in the Dash.”
Starting eighth in the main event, the Sikeston, Missouri driver gained most of his advantage at the end of the race when the track widened. “There at the last, we got going really well around the bottom,” says Jerrod. “We were right there with second, third and fourth. Jimmy (Hurley) was out front in clean air, so he got away from us. You couldn’t really follow someone without messing your line up the way the track was.”
Jerrod would checker fifth in the feature. “I was happy with the way we ran towards the end of the race,” he says. “It was good to get a top five, and we moved on to Haubstadt.”
Saturday saw the night start out with a heat win from row two on the Tri-State bullring. “We felt really good in the heat,” says Jerrod. “We made a few changes heading in. We drew a four for the Dash from there.”
A tangle in the Dash thwarted any movement to the front. “We were battling there in second and third with Jimmy Hurley,” says Jerrod. “I don’t know if (Hurley) got into the guy in front of him or what, but he ended up spinning around. He was just right there in front of me. I tried driving straight underneath him, and tore the top wing off. That ended up laying him over. We were able to restart without the wing, and I ran around the back to get my starting spot.”
Starting seventh, Jerrod roared to a fourth place finish in the main event. He is currently second in MOWA points. “We were able to pick up a few cars there,” he says. “The track had a top and a bottom. We were just a fourth place car there. That’s all there was to it. The crowd was great. I think they had a good race, and hopefully, we can go back there.”
Jerrod and the team are still looking for their first win in 2013. “We’ve moved forward from where we started, but we don’t have anything really special yet,” he says. “We’re working on some things and hopefully, we’ll get something figured out the next few races.”
A broken gear dropped Jerrod out of contention last time at Montgomery County. “We were fast the last time we were there,” he says. “We were right there in the battle before we had issues. We’re going to see if we can’t get a win Saturday.”
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.