Jerrod battles Danny Holtgraver at Lincoln (Bob Hunt Photo)
(Bill W) May 24, 2016 – Jerrod Hull and the Heartland Trailer Manufacturing/Neal Tire #12 surged from 12th to fifth with the All Stars last Friday at the Lincoln Speedway in Illinois. The Sikeston, Missouri driver made his progress early in the feature on a track that ended up with one-lane conditions. This weekend, the team races with the MOWA series at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri Saturday and Quincy Raceways in Illinois on Sunday.
The All Stars time in groups that they also use for their heat races. Jerrod timed in fourth quick in the third of four groups. “We’d never run that qualifying procedure, but I thought it was pretty neat,” he says. “You know who you’re qualifying with and who you’ll be racing with in your heat. I actually enjoyed that. Qualifying fourth quick in our group wasn’t where we wanted to be, but it worked in that it put us on the pole of the heat.”
Unfortunately, the initial start of the heat was called back for a spun car. “We had a really good start on the first one and had gotten to the lead,” says Jerrod. “The next one wasn’t as good. Danny Holtgraver was on the outside of me and we dragged down the front straightaway and he was able to pull away on the cushion. We held onto second, and I thought we would be pretty good and get eligible for the Dash. Chad (Kemenah) got really good on the bottom though, and actually passed both of us.”
The third place finish meant a starting spot outside of row six for the main event. “The car was great to start the feature,” says Jerrod. “The first few laps, we were really nice. We were running the top and passing cars right and left. We were in lapped traffic and we were up to fifth. The leaders were right there for us.”
It looked like Jerrod definitely had something for the leaders. “In the next corner, I started feeling rubber and I thought, ‘Oh no,’” he says. “A lap after that, it was lockdown rubber and everyone went to the bottom. It was really follow the leader from there on. We thought about making a move on a restart, but we had been perfect before the rubber went down, and we were just tight after that. I hate rubber down racetracks!”
The team was happy with the outing. “We were hoping we could get a top three, which I think was really possible before the track took rubber,” says Jerrod. “As far as starting twelfth and running fifth…the way things were; we were really happy. It was fun to run with the All Stars and hopefully, we’ll get to do some more of that in the future.”
Jerrod is looking forward to getting two shows in with the MOWA series this weekend. “We’ll see what happens,” he says. “Pevely is one of my favorite places. We’ve been able to win at both tracks. We’re looking forward to having some fun and maybe get a victory this weekend.”
Photo: Jerrod battles Danny Holtgraver at Lincoln (Bob Hunt Photo)
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