From Bill W
June 24, 2014 – Jerrod Hull and the Rockwell American #12 picked up where they left off in MOWA competition last weekend in Indiana. The Sikeston, Missouri driver picked up his third win of the season Saturday night at the Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, and widened his point lead in the series’ standings. He will race closer to home this weekend in the Jim Hall Memorial $5,000 to win 410 event in Benton, Missouri on Friday, and Saturday he will race with USCS at Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
The weekend in Indiana started Friday at Bloomington Speedway. “We drew badly,” says Jerrod of his heat run. “The track was really muddy and one-lane. We started in the back, and fell back to eighth. We were able to get up on top and get by a couple of cars, but that still put us in the B. We started on the pole of that, and we were able to win.”
The ¼-mile bullring stayed tacky, and Jerrod would line up 17th on the starting grid. “The track was just getting worked in about feature time,” he says. “I did run out of tear-offs about halfway through the feature though. You had to hit the bottom just right, but the track was widening a little bit. We were able to pass a few cars and we ended up eighth.”
The veteran prefers a dry-slick track, but it was a good point night. “I guess the night was about making up some points,” says Jerrod. “It wasn’t my kind of track though. Anytime I have to rip off more than three tear-offs, it’s not my kind of track!”
The team looked forward to Haubstadt on Saturday. “We’ve been able to win some races there, so we were confident going in that we’d have a good run,” says Jerrod. “We felt good in hot laps, and we were able to win the heat after starting fourth.”
That put Jerrod in the Dash. “We drew a four for the Dash, and we were able to get by a couple of cars,” he says. “That put us up front for the feature. On the first start, AJ (Bruns) slid us. We drove back underneath him, and I don’t know if he got sideways or what, but we got into him with the right rear. The car jumped up, and I thought we’d have a flat tire. Fortunately, everything was good.”
From there, it was smooth sailing. “The car was perfect,” says Jerrod. “We were able to just stay out front all night. It was one of those times when everything is good. The guys had the car perfect, and it was a fun one. We had a few close calls in lapped traffic, but I could run anywhere on the track. I felt comfortable on the top and the bottom.”
Benton Raceway Park will host the Jim Hall Memorial Friday, and the team will switch to 360 racing on Saturday. “We’re planning on running Benton on Friday night,” says Jerrod. “We’ll put the 360 in on Saturday and run the USCS race at Poplar Bluff on Saturday. Having two races that close to home is pretty exciting.”
Jerrod and the #12 team would like to thank: Rockwell American, Midland Performance, Super Shox, Sebastian Sand Blasting & Powder Coating, Inc., Chuck’s Small Engines, Don Hamilton, HRP, Lighthouse Christian Center, Logo Daddy, Hoosier Tire, Simpson, Weld, Automotive Machine, Maxim and Heartland Trailer Manufacturing.