Jake Johnson is one of New England’s double-threat drivers, a capable shoe behind the wheel of a fendered stock car and an open-wheeled Modified. But while Johnson’s star has shined brightest in the Modifieds in recent years, it’s easy to forget that fenders came first.
And almost eight years after his first start with the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour, Johnson earned the double-threat badge on the road.
“Jake the Jet” held off a hard-charging Brandon Gray over the final twelve laps to take his first career ACT victory in Saturday night’s Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
And while the Rehoboth, Mass. driver celebrated his first Tour win in ACT’s biggest race of the year, he was quick to share credit with Hartwell Motorsports, the team for which Johnson has raced for since 2021.
“I’m pretty sure this is their first Tour win, too,” Johnson said of the Connecticut-based team that powered him to victory. “So it’s a special one.”
Originally a special event for WMMP before the track was acquired by ACT principals Cris Michaud and Pat Malone, the Midsummer Classic 250 has become a mid-season staple of the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour schedule. The longest event on the schedule by lap count, the Midsummer Classic 250 is one of few races all year where pit and tire strategy factor heavily into the finish, and where multiple strategies have proven their worth.
Johnson would need strategy to work forward from his 12th-place starting position. Two-time Midsummer Classic 250 winner D.J. Shaw, in his second ACT appearance of the year, secured the pole alongside Justin Prescott, racing for the Arnie Hill-owned team that Shaw carried to both his wins.
Shaw set the early pace, with sixth-place starter Gray cracking the top three as Erick Sands pitted on lap 40. Gray eventually cleared Prescott for second, with point leader Gabe Brown following as Prescott faded in the high groove.
Lapped traffic had come into play for Shaw as Marcel Gravel slowed to a stop in turn four on lap 58, bringing out the second caution flag of the night. Johnson and Nick Sweet were among those who ducked to the pits well in advance of the planned lap-100 break.
Shaw took the green flag for the restart, but Gray clung to Shaw’s door on the high side, inching ahead with the lead after a few laps. Second in Thunder Road International Speedbowl’s weekly Late Model points battle, Gray led a top-five procession of Dale Shaw Race Cars chassis, with Brown third, Kaiden Fisher fourth and 2023 Midsummer Classic winner Jesse Switser in fifth.
Derek Gluchacki had driven to seventh after starting outside the top-twenty, but his first start of the year came to a sudden stop on lap 67 with a broken trailing arm. Gray and Shaw brought the field back to green, but Gray slipped sideways on the restart, opening the door for an eager Brown to contend for the race lead. A lap-76 Sweet spin gave Brown a clear shot at Shaw, but Shaw held the point until the lap-100 competition caution.
Following a full-field fueling break, teams were turned loose for tire changes. Nearly the entire top ten peeled off for tire changes, with only Prescott and Brian Hoar remaining on the track. Shaw, Aaron Fellows and Johnson were first off pit road, while Brown rejoined the field in sixth. Fisher and weekly racer Kyle Goodbout ducked into the pits a second time before the restart.
Prescott and Hoar held their own on the restart, with Hoar making his own bid for the lead on lap 103. Shaw followed through for second as Fellows sank through the field. Trouble for Ryan Morgan on lap 113 slowed the field, allowing Shaw to reclaim the lead on the ensuing restart. Switser slipped into second as Hoar, who pitted before the intermission, began to fall back.
Shaw and Switser held steady out front as Brown, Johnson and Gray diced for position with Hoar, until Brown pulled high in turn one in a shower of sparks on lap 166. While Brown pitted for a new tire under yellow, Fisher, Prescott and others took advantage of the caution flag to make their own pit stops.
Brandon Lambert spun off the frontstretch on the restart, but the flagstand held the yellow as Lambert regained control, allowing Shaw and Switser to get away from the field. Switser snuck around Shaw for the lead on lap 176, only for the veteran to charge back to the point a lap later. In their mirrors, Johnson fended off Prescott, who had carved through traffic on fresh tires but hit a roadblock in the battle for third.
With fifty laps to go, Shaw and Switser were solidly in command, while Gray had fought his way back to fifth.
Brown had battled through traffic after his forced pit stop, but calamity struck again as he lost a second right front tire in turn two, skidding to a halt in turn two on lap 218 to bring out the caution flag once again.
Shaw selected the outside for the restart, but as he and Switser came off turn two, Johnson dove to the inside down the backstretch, forcing Shaw into the marbles and drop-kicking him from the top five. Switser held the point from the middle lane, keeping Johnson in his mirror. Sweet’s struggles of the evening continued on lap 220 as he lost a tire, slowing in turn four while Jonathan Bouvrette was sent into a spin in turn two.
Switser distanced himself from Johnson on the restart, with Gray pressuring the Bay State native for second while Shaw clawed his way back to fourth. As long as Gray raced Johnson, Switser was safe out front.
And then, with twelve laps to go, sparks sprayed from Switser’s right front as he slowed with a flat tire in turn four, Johnson and Gray scooting past at full speed as the yellow flag waved.
Shaw sat third for the final restart, ready to capitalize if the two young guns out front came to blows in the final sprint to the checkers.
But while Gray closed within inches of Johnson in the final circuits, he opted not to take the win away.
Instead, Johnson held on by 0.171 seconds for his first-ever Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win on one of the series’ biggest nights of the year.
Surviving Prescott’s late-race charge on fresh rubber may have been an indicator of things to come.
“As the race went on, I think the top became more prevalent,” Johnson said. “And I knew [Prescott] had maybe a little bit fresher tires, pitted a little later. So I was trying my hardest to hold him off, because I knew if he got by me, I couldn’t get him back. But we did a good job saving tires and keeping track position, which is a tough thing to balance.
“But we did a great job today. Just blessed to be here.”
Johnson showed the same grit holding off Gray. Could he have done anything with Switser?
“Maybe on a restart, we were good when the tires were a little bit cooler,” he said. “But Jesse had a really strong piece tonight, so I think he might have been the guy to beat when it came to those closing laps.”
He laughed. “A little bit of luck, but hey, I’d rather be lucky than good, right?”
Gray, whose Tour debut in the 2024 Midsummer Classic 250 ended with mechanical gremlins, earned his career-best ACT performance so far in only his eighth series start.
In a drag race for third, Fisher nipped Shaw to rebound from last year’s late-race heartbreak and put two Factory 47-prepared entries on the podium.
Shaw settled for fourth after being bounced from the front row, while Jonathan Bouvrette survived the late-race chaos to come home a strong fifth.
Early contender Prescott was sixth, with Kuhn, Hoar, Christopher Pelkey and Stephen Martin rounding out the top ten.
Switser finished 13th, one spot ahead of Brown, who clung to the lead lap despite two flat tires. It was only Brown’s second finish outside the top ten so far this season, though on a night where his championship rivals each placed in the top three, it was not the night Brown had in mind.
For Johnson, who has never run more than two ACT races a season, and for Hartwell Motorsports, the Putnam, Conn.-based team that for years was a fixture in weekly Late Model competition at Thompson Speedway, the night pulled everything together at just the right time.
The Hartwell team fielded cars for veteran Modified campaigner Woody Pitkat for several seasons, largely focusing on Thompson’s weekly ACT-rules Late Model program. Johnson came on board in 2021, running select events in a second car. When Pitkat stepped away after the 2022 season, Johnson became the team’s lead driver, eventually delivering a Thompson track title in 2025.
Johnson has made his name in Modifieds the last several seasons, earning a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in 2024 and six Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victories, including one at WMMP, also in 2024.
But as Johnson reminded, he was racing fendered cars long before he sat in a Modified, even stunning the country with an upset victory in the 2020 Snowflake 100.
“I’ve been around late models since I was a young kid,” said Johnson in setting the record straight. “Actually, the Modified in the last couple years has been a new venture for us. But at the end of the day, I’ve kind of become a Modified guy, and now I’m getting a little bit back to a Late Model guy.
“Seat time, seat time, seat time will never hurt you, so the more you can drive anything, the better you’ll be. I’m a firm believer in it.”
In fact, Johnson took the checkers in his ACT Tour debut at Thompson in 2018. The fifteen-year-old was then stripped of the win in post-race inspection.
“I won one once, but I got bounced,” he recalled. “So this one, this is like a little bit of redemption for me.”
Redemption for Johnson. Reward for the team that, for all their efforts, had yet to celebrate a touring win.
“To get this for these guys, it really means the whole world. It’s a special day.”
Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H.
1. (91CT) Jake Johnson
2. (00VT) Brandon Gray
3. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
4. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
5. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
6. (04VT) Justin Prescott
7. (63MA) Ryan Kuhn
8. (46VT) Brian Hoar
9. (64VT) Christopher Pelkey
10. (01VT) Stephen Martin
11. (29NH) Aaron Fellows
12. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
13. (25NH) Jesse Switser
14. (47NH) Gabe Brown
15. (17NH) Kyle Goodbout
16. (47MA) Justin Storace
17. (49NH) Matt Anderson
18. (77AZ) Brandon Lambert
19. (02WP) Geoff Rollins
20. (88VT) Nick Sweet
21. (31CT) Ryan Morgan
22. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
23. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
24. (86VT) Marcel J. Gravel
25. (51QC) Jeff Côté
26. (36NH) Erick Sands
If you like what you read here, become a Short Track Scene Patreon and support short track journalism!
Read more Short Track Scene:
American Canadian Tour
Johnson scores first ACT checkers in $10,000 Midsummer Classic 250
Late Model Stock Cars
Bumgarner out duels Millington to win Jack Ingram Mem. at Hickory
UARA National
Majeski Untouchable in UARA National Win at Golden Sands
Southern Super Series
Cordele, SSS postpone Georgia Summer Nationals due to rain
CARS Late Model Stock Tour
Doug Barnes to miss North Wilkesboro due to concussion
CARS Late Model Stock Tour
North Wilkesboro CARS Tour entry list and storylines
Super Late Models
2026 Slinger Nationals entry list
