Red Light Racing at N Wilkesboro
Skitter Creek SK Modifieds
Season 13 Race 13
North Wilkesboro Speedway
April 3, 2025
by Tim Corder
Skitter Creek SK Modifieds mixed things up this week with Twin 50s at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Both races saw domination by their winners. AJ Hamel won the first event from the poll, leading 49 laps. Then, Jeff Aho secured his first win of the season, leading 45 of the 53 laps of the green-white-checkered extended second race.
Hamel set the pace in qualifying for the first race turning a 17.716 second lap. Eric Stout, Brian Bianchi, Chad Alcares, and Bradley Stefane rounded out the top five in qualifying, all within 0.06 seconds of Hamel’s lap time. The only challenges Hamel faced were on restarts after the opening event’s two caution flags. Stout and Bianchi both fought valiantly on the outside line on restarts, but Hamel would prevail and stay on the point. Stout spoiled Hamel’s shot at leading wire-to-wire by leading one lap of the race.
Joining Hamel on the podium for the first race were Bianchi and Stout. Completing the top five were Stefane and Alcares. Joshua Buckley’s 17.699 second lap 8 was the fastest lap of the first race. Benjamin Gerhardt won the first of the Hard Charger Awards. He gained 9 spots, climbing from his 20th place starting position to 11th. All but two drivers completed all 50 laps. Fifteen of the 20 drivers left the first event without any incident points.
The starting grid for the second of the Twin 50 races was set by inverting the first 10 finishing positions from the first event. As a result, Fred LeClair started on the pole. Rob Higgins, Jeff Aho, Rex Hoyle, and Joshua Buckley rounded out the top five starters.
LeClair led the first eight laps of the race before Jeff Aho was able to take over the point with a pass to LeClair’s inside. Buckley, in third, spun trying to follow Aho in passing LeClair, bringing out the first of 5 cautions on the night. Buckley would finish the night in 11th. LeClair battled Aho for most of the event but on lap 47, battling traffic to his inside, LeClair’s hopes of a top 5 finish were dashed. After slight contact with Bianchi, LeClair bounced off the outside wall coming onto the front stretch. This sent LeClair spinning in front of half of the field, gathering several other cars in the melee. LeClair managed to finish in tenth.
Joining Aho on the podium were Stefane and Kenny Allen, Allen having picked up an impressive 10 spots from his 13th place starting position. Completing the top five were Bianchi and Luke Logan Allen. Luke Logan Allen also won the event’s Hard Charger of the Race Award, picking up 14 spots from his 19th place starting position. Joshua Buckley repeated his performance from the first event by turning the fast lap of the second race as well. He completed the fifth lap of the race in 17.704 seconds, besting Aho’s fifth lap by just 0.001 seconds.
Twelve of the twenty drivers finished all 53 laps of the second event. Only three drivers escaped with no incident points: Aho, Kenny Allen, and Andrew Lewis.
Championship leader Eric Stout finished the second race in 8th. The top ten finish coupled with his 3rd place finish in the first race meant that little changed at the top of the Championship standings. He keeps a commanding 51-point lead over Stefane for season championship. Chad Alcares and Kenny Allen left the day’s two races still in 3rd and 4th in the standings, respectively. Brian Bianchi moved up to fifth in the standings. With just three races left in the season, Stout seems to have all but locked-up the Championship.
Anything could happen, though, as the series heads to tricky Oswego Speedway on April 10th. The green flag drops at 7:55 PM Eastern. Catch all the action LIVE on Virtual Grip Network.
Virtual Grip Network 