Tardif writes history with GSPSS Chaudière victory

Last Saturday night was an historic evening for Alexendre Tardif, any way you looked at it.

The Quebec racer, in his first Granite State Pro Stock Series start, won the first-ever Centre Lavertu Honda 150 at Autodrome Chaudière, the first GSPSS race in “La Belle Province” and the first American touring Pro Stock race at the oval in a decade.

After all, every good boiler needs a fireball to ignite it.

Saturday’s race was a milestone for the New Hampshire-based GSPSS, its first successful event outside New England since 2017 and its first venture ever beyond the American border. Since its announcement upon the unveiling of the 2025 schedule, the Chaudière date had generated plenty of intrigue.

For Tardif, who hails from nearby Notre-Dame-des-Pins, the homecoming opportunity was perfect. A veteran of Late Model racing and the American-Canadian Tour, the preferred stock car platform throughout Quebec, the young racer nicknamed “Fireball” added Super Late Model racing to his repertoire earlier this year. While Tardif ran the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour schedule with Connecticut-based car owner Jason Glaude, longtime car owner Arold Roy fielded his part-time Pro All Stars Series effort.

And as Tardif gained crucial experience in a Super Late Model, he prepared for what would be Chaudière’s first race for an American-based Super Late Model or Pro Stock touring series since PASS’ last visit in 2015.

Fellow Quebecer Alex Labbé set fast time in qualifying, but a procedural slip stripped Labbé of his pole position, relegating him to the rear for the start. Instead, Tardif and former ACT winner Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. led the field to green. Tardif established himself as the car to beat while Labbé, the strongest of Tardif’s Canadian competitors, worked his way from back to front.

But a flat tire ended Labbé’s charge to the point on lap 125, forcing the NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran to pit under yellow-flag conditions. Labbé worked through traffic but was unable to run down Tardif at the finish.

In the end, Tardif claimed the $10,000 victory, marking his first win in GSPSS competition in his first stop, and the first win for a Canadian racer in series history.

Renfrew finished 1.899 seconds back, with points leader Cole Robie third. Labbé charged back to fourth at the finish, with Maine’s Nick Cusack rounding out the top five.

Eddie MacDonald finished sixth for car owner Dave Lemieux, ahead of points challenger Evan Beaulieu. Andy Gilbert from nearby Jackman, Me. was eighth, with Matt Beers and William Roberge rounding out the top ten.

Marco Gilbert, Andy’s father and a veteran of vintage racing in Quebec, finished eleventh. Veteran Patrick Laperle, who won PASS outings at Chaudière in 2013 and 2015, made an early exit from his own GSPSS debut.

That the race went off as scheduled could be the biggest victory of the weekend. GSPSS president Mike Parks has proven his willingness to swing for the fences, chasing race dates that set his series apart from New England’s more established tours. Despite Parks’ best efforts, some of his swings have barely left the plate.

A 2020 event at Evans Mills Raceway Park in upstate New York was scuttled during the COVID-19 pandemic due to state restrictions. A championship finale a couple years later at Lancaster Motorplex in western New York was scrapped when not enough teams could commit to the trip. Even events at Riverside Speedway in northern New Hampshire have struggled to draw full fields.

Not long after GSPSS’ schedule release, PASS and White Mountain Motorsports Park announced their own schedule change, shifting a planned PASS event on September 20 back one week and creating a heads-up conflict with the Chaudière event. PASS and WMMP presented the change as a means of eliminating a conflict with NASCAR action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, despite years of staging an event on NHMS’ NASCAR weekend.

But the move ultimately prevented many of the region’s top racers from competing at Chaudière.

Undeterred, Parks and team pressed on with a race that, while short on cars, made series history. Not since a 2017 one-off at Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway had the GSPSS contested an event outside New England. A win in the history books, over time, can outrank those events that never panned out.

Robie, by virtue of his third-place finish, left Chaudière with a 50-point lead with one race remaining. With 50 points available to a race winner, merely starting Sunday’s season-ending tilt at Lee USA Speedway will clinch the championship for the Windham, Me. 17-year-old.

And with Casey Call skipping the Chaudière trip amid a challenging title defense, Beaulieu has second place in the standings secured. Cory Casagrande could still steal third from Call in the finale.

Tardif’s attention will likely be elsewhere for the GSPSS season finale.

But his first win at the wheel of a Pro Stock is surely a sign of things to come.

Unofficial Results
Granite State Pro Stock Series | Centre Lavertu Honda 150
Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Que.
1. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
2. (00) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
3. (29) Cole Robie
4. (21L) Alex Labbé
5. (2) Nick Cusack
6. (17MA) Eddie MacDonald
7. (56) Evan Beaulieu
8. (17) Andy Gilbert
9. (11B) Matt Beers
10. (83) William Roberge
11. (17B) Marco Gilbert
12. (91) Patrick Laperle

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