Red Light Racing at Thompson

by Lowell Jewell

Red Light Racing
Skitter Creek SK Modifieds
Season 13 Race 3
Thompson Speedway
January 23, 2025

by Tim Corder

Race 3 of Season 13 of Red Light Racing’s Skitter Creek SK Modifieds series was held at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on January 23^rd. Chad Alcares brought the field to the green flag and held the lead for 16 laps. Jeff Aho took over the point and, for the third week in a row, would lead the most laps of the race. Ultimately it was Eric Stout that took the checkered flag of the 100-lap event. Alcares finished second and Andrew Massey improved an impressive 17 spots from his 20^th place starting position to take 3^rd place. Rounding out the top 5 were AJ Hamel in 4^th and Rex Hoyle in 5^th.

The event saw the caution flag wave 9 times for a total of 36 laps. Many of the cautions started with self-spins, a sign that the drivers were challenged to keep their rear tires from trying to pass their front tires.

One of the larger cautions of the night happened after a restart on lap 61. Hoyle and Hamel made contact on the backstretch that sent Hoyle bouncing off of the inside wall. At least 8 drivers were caught up in the mayhem, including Donnie Moore who did a barrel roll as a result of the wreckage around him.

The green would come out following the caution on lap 66, with Stout restarting 2^nd on the inside beneath leader Aho. Bucking the trend of the night, Stout was able to take over the point from the inside line. Stout was able to hold off all challengers for the rest of the event. Aho would finish in 6^th, his highest finish of the season despite the early dominance he’s shown in all three events so far.

Following suit for the first two race of the season, no drivers escaped the event without incident points.

AJ Hamel joined Stout, Alcares, and Aho as the leaders of the event. Three drivers picked up double digit places from the starting positions to finish in the top 10, Chris Haizlip improved from 23^rd to finish 7^th, Bruce Pearson finished 9^th from 24^th and the aforementioned Andrew Massey was the hardest charger of the event picking up 17 spots to finish third. Twelve cars finished the event on the lead lap. For the third race in a row no drivers escaped the event without incident points.

Stout’s win catapulted him up 10 spots in the championship standings and had him tied with Bradley Stefane in the early standings. Brandon Feeney left the race in 3^rd and Andrew Massey moved up to 4^th. Jeff Aho and Brian Neff are tied for 5^th in the championship.

The series take to triangular Concord Speedway on January 30^th. Virtual Grip Racing is broadcasting live all events this season, so, be sure to tune in for another exciting race, green flag is scheduled to drop at 7:55 PM Eastern.