Laperle conquers Chaudière in ACT Claude Leclerc 150

One of the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour’s all-time win leaders took the Tour’s name to heart Saturday, outfoxing a rising American star on a cherished Canadian battleground in honor of Quebec’s Late Model “Ironman.”

Patrick Laperle dodged a late charge by Kaiden Fisher to win the Claude Leclerc 150 at Autodrome Chaudière, scoring his first win with the U.S.-based tour since 2022 and inching closer to second place on the all-time Tour win list.

Saturday’s race was the sixth event of the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour schedule, but the first of two back-to-back events scheduled on Canadian soil. While plenty of teams traveled from the United States, a bumper crop of Quebec teams boosted the entry list to 40 cars, making qualifying alone a challenge.

Indeed, reigning champion Raphaël Lessard and top contender Alexendre Tardif were among the nine teams who missed the cut for the feature, with Lessard estimating he had not failed to qualify for a feature race in over a decade.

Quebecers Sébastien Couture and Andrew Larue led the 31-car lineup to the green flag, with 2015 Série ACT champion Dany Trepanier taking command ten laps in. Laperle, himself a four-time Série ACT titlist and the 2008 ACT Tour champion, picked his way past Louis-Philippe Lauzier and Couture to battle Trepanier for the top spot.

“Le Grand Laperle” took the lead on lap 22, showing the way until Justin Prescott’s spin on lap 57 brought out the yellow flag for the second time. While Prescott righted himself to rejoin the field, second-place Trepanier pulled pitside with overheating issues, sidelining the veteran racer for the evening.

Back under green, Fisher fought to second place with Gabe Brown joining the podium battle. Two weeks after finishing 1-2 at Star Speedway, Fisher and Brown were in contention for the win if either could unseat Laperle out front. Their best opportunity came as Jesse Switser spun with drivetrain woes, slowing the field on lap 99.

But as officials withdrew the red flag following an extended cleanup, third-place Brown was dead in the water. Electrical issues forced Brown to the pits for a new battery, trapping him two laps down as the pack went back to racing.

Fisher pressured Laperle for the top spot, but the veteran from St.-Denis, Que. pulled away over the final green-flag run to take his 21st career American-Canadian Tour win, his first with ACT since the 2022 Fall Foliage 200 at White Mountain Motorsports Park, and his first ACT Tour win in Canada since his 2008 championship season.

Laperle capped off a tremendous day for his Canadian countrymen.

Fisher, the only American to finish in the top ten, continued his run of success with his runner-up performance. Lauzier held on for third, with Anthony Lessard and Couture rounding out the top five.

Jonathan Bouvrette, Patrick Cliché, Michaël Lavoie, Maxime Gauvreau and reigning Série ACT LMS champion Jeff Côté completed the top ten.

Brown limped home in 22nd, three laps down.

Leclerc, the namesake of the race, started shotgun on the field and retired early for a 28th-place result in his first start with the U.S.-based Tour since last summer. The 84-year-old veteran traces his career back to the defunct NASCAR North Tour that set the groundwork for the ACT’s formation in the 1980s.

A couple full-time contenders were not on hand for the first of two trips across the border, with leading rookie Jacob “Rowdy” Burns and Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. among those who had other weekend plans. A dozen teams have fielded entries in every race thus far, three of those hailing from Quebec.

Up next on the schedule is mid-July’s CAN-AM 200 at Autodrome Montmagny, the second Canadian event of 2026 and the second of three straight $10,000-to-win ACT features. The big money run ends with August’s Midsummer Classic 250 at White Mountain Motorsports Park.

Laperle has already taken home one big check. He might be in line to take more.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Claude Leclerc 150
Autodrome Chaudière, Vallée-Jonction, Que.
1. (91QC) Patrick Laperle
2. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
3. (72QC) Louis-Philippe Lauzier
4. (92QC) Anthony Lessard
5. (03QC) Sébastien Couture
6. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
7. (44QC) Patrick Cliché
8. (78QC) Michaël Lavoie
9. (17QC) Maxime Gauvreau
10. (51QC) Jeff Côté
11. (13QC) Hugo Paquet
12. (36NH) Erick Sands
13. (66QC) Simon Roussin
14. (04VT) Justin Prescott
15. (91CT) Jake Johnson
16. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
17. (29NH) Aaron Fellows
18. (83QC) William Roberge
19. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
20. (64QC) Tristian Maheu
21. (45QC) Andrew Larue
22. (47NH) Gabe Brown
23. (5QC) Patrick Hamel
24. (16QC) Jimmy Lehoux
25. (69QC) Vincent Rivard
26. (37QC) Dany Gariépy
27. (25NH) Jesse Switser
28. (11QC) Claude Leclerc
29. (33P) Philippe Poulin
30. (19QC) Dany Trepanier
31. (16L) Cedric Lemay

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