Red Light Racing at Hickory

Skitter Creek SK Modifieds
Season 13 Race 12
Hickory Motor Speedway

March 27, 2025
by Tim Corder

Fans would be forgiven if they’ve come to expect the same story at every Skitter Creek SK Modifieds race this season. They may feel that the only suspense often is “what margin of victory will Eric Stout have this time?” Fans for whom this common storyline has started to wear a little thin had a pleasant surprise in store when the series took to historic Hickory Motor Speedway on March 27, 2025. There were so many storylines during the race it resembled a Seinfeld episode . . . a long green flag run saw lap traffic come into play, pit strategy was a major factor, and a no-call by the tower had many fans wondering was anyone in the tower even watching the race? Oh, and Eric Stout didn’t win. It was instead Fred LeClair that took his first league trophy home after deftly picking up 12 positions from his 13^th place starting position.

In qualifying, Chad Alcares was the cream of the crop, grabbing the pole with a 13.534 second lap. Jeff Aho, Bradley Stefane, AJ Hamel and TJ Henson rounded out the top five in qualifying, all within 1/10^th of a second of Alcares time. Championship leader Eric Stout started in sixth.

The race got off to a rocky start with two cautions within the first ten laps, both of which involved Stout. The first fell on lap 2 when Rob Higgins tapped Eric Stout’s rear bumper in turn 4, sending the two spinning and gathering other drivers along the way. Stout would drop all the way back to 17^th for the restart on lap 7. On the restart, Bob Higgins checked up because of those in front of him slowing. Stout was unable to slow down in time to avoid Higgins sending Higgins spinning.

The green flag would again wave on lap 12 with Alcares still at the point. The yellow would not again come out until lap 68. Alcares set a blistering pace over the green flag run and caught the back end of the field. Battling to stay on the lead lap Brandon Feeney spun, Ken Allen also spun as the drivers reacted to Feeney’s car, which brought out the lap 68 caution.

Six of the top ten drivers at the time of the caution pitted to take on tires, including Stout and eventual winner LeClair. Stout and LeClair restarted on lap 73 in 10^th and 11^th, respectively. The next caution came out on lap 77 when TJ Henson spun in turn 4 with Alcares still leading. After the resulting lap 82 restart, Bradley Stefane took over the point from Alcares on lap 84.

The tower’s decision to keep the race under green despite a massive pileup on the front stretch on lap 89 left the entire grandstand scratching their collective heads. The melee started with AJ Hamel spinning at the exit of turn 4. Car after car then piled-in blocking the front stretch, with the better part of ½ of the field involved. The race stayed green while those involved tried to rejoin the race. Leader Stefane completed lap 90 before hitting Rob Higgins who was trying to get his car pointed in the right direction after being involved in the pileup. The Stefane wreck woke up the assumed-to-be-sleeping officials who finally decided to throw out the caution. As a consolation to Stefane, the tower allowed him to keep the point position.

At the time of this officiating disaster, LeClair had worked his way up to 4^th and Stout had risen to 6^th, both taking advantage of their fresh tires over the brief green flag run. The green briefly came out again on lap 95 but the yellow waved again before the completion of that lap. As briefly as the green was out, though, LeClair was able to take over 2^nd and Stout took over 5^th.

The final restart of the night happened on lap 100, resulting in a green-white-checkered finish. Stefane led the field on the restart, but LeClair took over the point with an outside line pass on lap 101. LeClair would not relinquish the lead and took home the checkered flag. Stefane finished second just 0.188 seconds behind LeClair. Rounding out the top five were Alcares, Stout and Chris Haizlip.

The twelve spots LeClair picked up in winning the race were the most spots gained by any driver, so LeClair also claimed the Hard Charger of the Race award. Chad Alcares led 78 laps of the event. Joining Alcares, LeClair, and Stefane as leaders of the race was Jeff Aho who led two laps. Alcares also set the fastest lap of the race, completing lap 18 in 13.582 seconds. No driver escaped the event without any incident points.

Stout stays well in control of the championship point standings. Stefane stayed in second for the championship, 56 points in arrears to Stout. Alcares moved up to third in the points. Kenny Allen stays fourth, and with the race win, LeClair moved into fifth in the championship running.

The series next visits historic North Wilkesboro Speedway on April 3^rd with a Twin 50 lap event. The first green flag drops at 7:55 PM Eastern. Catch all the action LIVE on Virtual Grip Network.