Lessard scores first U.S. ACT win in Kancamagus 150

When a damp day across New England gave way to blue skies Saturday evening, there were two winners at White Mountain Motorsports Park.

Raphaël Lessard was the winner on track, prevailing in a four-lap shootout to win the North Woodstock, N.H. bullring’s inaugural Kancamagus 150, his first checkered flag in the United States in almost five years.

And for only the second time this year, the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour completed a race as originally scheduled.

Both the Vermont-based Tour and WMMP have been besieged by bad weather in 2025, and Saturday was no exception, opening with heavy rains that left Saturday’s program in doubt. Fortunately, the skies cleared in the afternoon, allowing for track drying and paving the way for the evening’s card.

Lessard, fresh off a third-place finish in last Sunday’s Community Bank, N.A. 150, arrived at WMMP with the points lead in his first attempt at the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour crown. The two-time and reigning Série ACT champ from St.-Joseph de Beauce, Que. was about fifty laps short of becoming the first Canadian driver to win an ACT feature in the United States since Patrick Laperle managed the feat in 2022.

Rolling off eighth, and with no prior experience at WMMP, Lessard had his work cut out for him.

Kasey Beattie and D.J. Shaw led the field to the green, with Beattie holding the early advantage. The 2023 “King of the Mountain” hoped to reverse his early-season misfortunes with a strong performance at his home track, but after early caution flags, Shaw was able to find his way to the point. Shaw, whose only Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win of 2024 came in the Midsummer Classic 250 at WMMP, had his own dry spell to shake off.

And for most of the race, the two-time ACT Tour titlist was on track to do exactly that. Shaw had a healthy advantage over Lessard and a tenacious Beattie as the laps clicked down to single digits, but Rémi Perreault’s spin with four laps to go set the stage for a battle to the finish.

Shaw selected the outside line for the restart, pinning Lessard to the curb as they dueled door-to-door for the top spot. Shaw inched ahead on the outside, but Lessard held his own on the inside, keeping the door wedged open for a late charge, all while Lessard’s teammate William Larue pressed forward on the outside.

With two laps to go, Shaw came off turn four with the lead, but Lessard refused to back down, brushing Shaw’s door as they powered into turn one. Shaw washed up the track into Larue’s path, taking a direct shot to the bumper that sent him higher up the banking and out of the top five. Beattie closed in on Lessard with the white flag flying, but all he could deliver was a light tap to the left rear.

Unfazed, Lessard inched ahead on the final circuit as he held on to take his third career Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win.

After a disastrous start to his sophomore season, Beattie took advantage of his homecoming evening to come home second, his first top-ten result of the year.

Larue, whose only ACT starts in the United States have come at WMMP with discouraging results, finished third to put both Larue Motorsport team cars on the podium. Former champion Joey Polewarczyk was fourth, with reigning champion Gabe Brown surviving his own late contact with Shaw to post a fifth-place finish.

Kaiden Fisher followed up last week’s Thunder Road victory with a sixth-place performance, with Jesse Switser seventh. Shaw plummeted to eighth at the checkers. Heat winner Jonathan Bouvrette and Justin Prescott rounded out the top ten.

Shaw’s late-race freefall was frustrating, but it could have been worse. Title threats Alexendre Tardif and Derek Gluchacki were eliminated in early wrecks, while Erick Sands suffered a mechanical issue that left him 21st at the finish.

Lessard’s third Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win comes in only his 12th series start. It’s a brief ACT resume for a racer who grew up not far from Autodrome Chaudière, a stronghold for Late Model racing and the American-Canadian Tour in Quebec. But Lessard’s career arc has a different path from most of his compatriots.

Instead, Lessard broke into the New England scene via the Pro All Stars Series, joining PASS as a 13-year-old rookie in early 2015. After one full season, Lessard moved south to race with David Gilliland Racing. Wins in DGR’s Toyota-backed fleet paved a path to the NASCAR Truck Series, where Lessard ended his rookie season 12th in points with a win in 2020.

Back home in Quebec, businesses were still feeling the impact of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessard’s Canadian sponsors were forced to cut back, and only seven races into the 2021 season, Lessard lost his new ride to funded drivers.

When the NASCAR Pinty’s Series resumed activity that August, Lessard was tapped to fill in for former ACT racer Donald Theetge, sweeping a Sunset Speedway doubleheader. Lessard also joined forces with Late Model powerhouse Larue Motorsport. The long-tenured team, part of a family business manufacturing industrial snow clearing equipment, had fielded entries for drivers like Alex Labbé, who like Lessard had relocated to the Southeast to chase NASCAR stardom.

Lessard ran the bulk of the Pinty’s schedule in 2022 as well as his first-ever starts with the American-Canadian Tour. In only his second start, he won the CAN-AM 200 at Montmagny, Larue’s first ACT Tour win since 2013. For 2023, promoters from Chaudiere and Montmagny partnered with ACT to bring back the dormant-since-2017 Série ACT moniker for a new Late Model championship. Lessard and Larue Motorsport won twice en route to the 2023 Série ACT title, then won six times in ten starts to clinch last year’s crown.

Saturday’s win was the first win for Larue Motorsport in the United States since Labbé won at Airborne Speedway at the end of 2013. For Lessard, it was his first win in the U.S. since his Truck Series victory at Talladega in the fall of 2020.

Saturday’s showdown was the first of three this year at WMMP, a short-distance counterpoint to August’s Midsummer Classic 250 and September’s Fall Foliage 200. Named for the scenic highway that traverses the White Mountains only a few miles north of the speedway, the Kancamagus 150 takes a slot on the schedule once occupied by the Spring Green, which has since relocated to Seekonk Speedway.

The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series was originally supposed to join ACT as a double-bill, but earlier in the week, the Monaco Modifieds were shifted to anchor Sunday’s racing schedule, featuring double features for WMMP’s own Late Models in order to make up for early-season rainouts. Beattie and Fisher were among the Tour racers who stuck around for Sunday, each taking a weekly Late Model feature win.

Of all the Tour championship hopefuls, Lessard has been the one to best manage chaos and avoid catastrophe four races into the season. Now, he has a win to back up the strong finishes. And better yet for Lessard, three of the next four races are on home turf, with appearances at Chaudière, Montmagny and Circuit Riverside Speedway Ste.-Croix looming large in June and July.

It could be a big month and a half for Lessard and the Larues.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Kancamagus 150
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H.
1. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
2. (45NH) Kasey Beattie
3. (45QC) William Larue
4. (97NH) Joey Polewarczyk
5. (47NH) Gabe Brown
6. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
7. (25NH) Jesse Switser
8. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
9. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
10. (04VT) Justin Prescott
11. (91QC) Patrick Laperle
12. (00NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
13. (77AZ) Brandon Lambert
14. (17NH) Kyle Goodbout
15. (46VT) Taylor Hoar
16. (54VT) Colin Cornell
17. (92ME) Colby Meserve
18. (29NH) Aaron Fellows
19. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
20. (03QC) Sébastien Couture
21. (36NH) Erick Sands
22. (22VT) Peyton Lanphear
23. (78NH) Quinny Welch
24. (55VT) Keegan Lamson
25. (31QC) Alexendre Tardif
26. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
27. (27NH) Cam Huntress
28. (47MA) Justin Storace
29. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
30. (23NH) Craig Smith

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