HULL BROTHERS FINISH FIRST AND SECOND IN MERIDIAN MINI STOCKS

08/16/2012 By Jon Brown

MERIDIAN, Idaho — Two drivers who picked up their first main event wins of 2012 at ASA-sanctioned Meridian Speedway benefitted from the hard luck of drivers in front of them Wednesday night.

On a night themed as the Brasher’s Auto Auction Hornet Massacre, it was the drivers from the regular racing divisions of the Pit Stop Drive Mini Stocks and the Domino’s Pizza Legends that were slipping and sliding all over the paved quarter-mile oval.

Jonathan Hull of Boise, Idaho won the Mini Stocks main event when the race leader fell off the pace in the final laps. Mike Cullum led the final 23 laps of the 35-lap Legends feature after the race leader had to leave the track for repairs while the event was under one of its six caution flags.

Hull was running in third place with five laps left when race leader Jeff Waldemar of Kuna, Idaho, spun through the infield after contact with second-place Donovan Parker from Garden City, Idaho.

Hull went to the front, and his brother, Larry Hull III, assumed second as the race stayed under green-flag conditions. Parker fell back to third place.

Jonathan held off Larry over the final few laps to add a main event victory to the Fast Dash he had won earlier in the night.

“I’ve been waiting for this day all year,” Jonathan said. “I’ve had a rough year. I’ve only won heat races.

“There at the end, I was holding my brother off. We didn’t wreck, so it’s all good.”

The Hulls finished in the same 1-2 order in the Fast Dash, with the same physically demanding run to the finish that featured contact between their two four-cylinder racecars.

In other main events:

Big Tuna, with Stanley Irons of Boise, Idaho aboard, won the Thunder Dog race in which reigning division champion and overwhelming fan favorite Cat Fish had to be towed off the track after a debilitating encounter with an opposing car.

Dave Edmark of Edmark Chevrolet won the Brasher’s Auto Auction Hornet Massacre after the two racecars in front of him exited the racetrack after taking the white flag with one lap remaining. The 20-lap race featured personnel from Southern Idaho auto dealerships, and a couple of professional drivers who also are connected with car sales.

Thomas Harrod of PBT Auto won the 18-lap Hornet Massacre Pro feature for drivers who have had experience on the racetrack.

At the beginning of the season, Mike Cullum didn’t want to race. Midway through the year, he wasn’t sure if he could race again.

In Wednesday’s Domino’s Pizza Legends main event, the hometown driver found out why it’s good to stick around.

After starting the night with a Fast Dash win, Cullum held off Kuna, Idaho’s Casey Tillman to win a 35-lap main event punctuated by six caution flags.

“I love running with Casey,” Cullum said after thwarting the No. 92’s inside-out attempt in the waning laps. “He’s clean. I’ll tell you what: He made this fat boy work.

“It’s fun racing with these kids.”

Among the “kids” was Cullum’s daughter Jenna.

After winning the Fast Dash, Mike said he would have been content not driving in 2012 and helping his daughter out. But a friend talked him into rolling out his No. 27 Legends Woody with the surfboards painted on top, convincing Dad that it would be a blast to compete against Daughter.

Then Mike Cullum’s racecar burst into flames one night at the racetrack, putting the future of his season in serious doubt.

He returned Wednesday night for the Brasher’s Auto Auction Hornets Massacre and annihilated the field.

Cullum finished ahead of runner-up Tillman in claiming both his checkered flags.

The Legends main event was peppered with accidents. Early race leader Jonathan Davis of Emmett, Idaho, was force to exit the track under a yellow flag with 25 laps remaining because he was dragging a bumper.

Star, Idaho’s Charlie Fiscus assumed the lead, and Davis never saw the front of the pack again. However, three laps later, Fiscus spun while leading and opened the door for Cullum.

Cullum led the race’s final 23 laps and held off Tillman in another restart after Davis spun in front of the lead pack with six laps left.

In the 20-lap Thunder Dogs race to cap the night, the competitors finally found a way to end Bootlegger’s run of success.

You must spin him out and spin him out hard.

Bootlegger (Sean Hackworth of Caldwell, Idaho) was taken out of the lead on two separate occasions. First, Bull Dacious (James DeMello of Boise) did it, and then Big Tuna (Stanley Irons of Boise) arrested Bootlegger’s progress to open the gates for a victory.

Meridian Speedway

Brasher’s Auto Auction

Hornet Massacre

Wednesday’s unofficial results

Main events

Domino’s Pizza Legends (35 laps) – 1. Mike Cullum, Meridian; 2. Casey Tillman, Kuna; 3. Phyl Zubizareta, Garden City; 4. Jimmy Ingham, Meridian; 5. Zach Blume, Eagle

Hornet Massacre consolation (12 laps; top two transfer to main) – 1. Chris Burke, Team Mazda-Subaru; 2. Jimmy O’Shields, Franklin Auto; 3. Brent Bradshaw, Mountain Home Auto Ranch; 4. Roger Tilben

Hornet Massacre Pro (18 laps) – 1. Thomas Harrod, PBT Auto; 2. John Newhouse, The Car Store; 3. Trenton Barrington, Alic Motors; 4. Bobby Peterson, Fairly Reliable Bob’s; 5. Josh Jackson, Unlimited Auto

Hornet Massacre A (20 laps) – 1. Dave Edmark, Edmark Chevrolet; 2. Tyson Vaughn, This ‘n’ That; 3. Joe Pinkston, Allen Marsh Auto Sales

Pit Stop Drive Thru Mini Stocks (35 laps) – 1. Johnathan Hull, Boise; 2. Larry Hull III, Boise; 3. Donovan Parker, Garden City; 4. Sarah Shaw, Boise; 5. Donovan Johns, Meridian

Thunder Dogs winner (20 laps) – Big Tuna (Stanley Irons, Boise)

Heat races

(Eight laps each)

Brashers Hornet Massacre

Pro Heat – 1. Thomas Harrod, PBT Auto; 2. Chuck Youngblood, PBT Auto; 3. John Newhouse, The Car Store; 4. Josh Jackson, Unlimited Auto; 5. Trenton Barrington, Alic Motors

Pit Stop Drive Thru Mini Stocks

Fast Dash – 1. Jonathan Hull, Boise; 2. Larry Hull III, Boise; 3. Donovan Parker, Garden City; 4. Ray Bolinger, Meridian; 5. Sarah Shaw, Boise

B Heat – 1. Richard Brees, Meridian; 2. Chad Barker, Kuna; 3. Duane Gerber, Boise; 4. Jeff Waldemar, Kuna; 5. Jayson Wardle, Boise

C Heat – 1. Mary Johnson, Meridian; 2. John Ellsworth, Kuna; 3. Mike Davis, Boise; 4. Robbie Hyde, Twin Falls; 5. Art Heath, Nampa

D Heat – 1. Brendon Fries, Meridian; 2. Nathan Dearing, Boise; 3. David Edwards Jr., Nampa; 4. Leonard Reed, Meridian; 5. Travis Pavlacky, Fruitland

Domino’s Pizza Legends

Fast Dash – 1. Mike Cullum, Meridian; 2. Casey Tillman, Kuna; 3. Chase Gilbertson, Boise; 4. Phyl Zubizareta, Garden City; 5. Sara Henry, Nampa

B Heat – 1. Charlie Fiscus, Star; 2. Steve Thimsen, Boise; 3. Jimmy Ingham, Meridian; 4. Andrew Clark, Boise; 5. Aubree Wartman, Boise

C Heat – 1. Johnathan Davis, Emmett; 2. Rod Stiller, Meridian; 3. Aly Clark, Boise; 4. Darin Turpin, Nampa; 5. Chance Davis, Emmett

D Heat – 1. Dayna Skiver, Meridian; 2. Leonard Maine, Hermiston, Ore.; 3. Caitlin Stroebel, Meridian; 4. Jenna Cullum, Meridian; 5. Brad Gutenberger, Boise

(Six laps)

Thunder Dogs

Heat winner – 1. Bootlegger (Sean Hackworth, Caldwell); 2. Vulgar Display (Joe Volm, Meridian); 3. Sledge Hammer (David Jolley, Nampa); 4. Big Tuna (Stanley Irons, Boise); 5. Bull Dacious (James DeMello, Boise)

Fast times

Domino’s Pizza Legends – Chase Gilbertson, Boise, 15.354 seconds

Pit Stop Drive Thru Mini Stocks – Ray Bolinger, Meridian, 15.496