Brown celebrates birthday with second straight ACT Fall Foliage 200 win

Of all Gabe Brown’s birthday gifts, the trophy is probably the one he likes the most.

The defending Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour champion celebrated his 23rd birthday in White Mountain Motorsports Park’s winner’s circle after a dominating rout in Saturday’s 47th Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Fall Foliage 200.

Brown took control after an early-race fuel stop and never looked back, lapping most of the field en route to his third ACT win of 2025.

The North Woodstock, N.H. quarter-mile was the site of Brown’s only win of his championship campaign last year, as he rode a streak of maddening top-five consistency to the points lead. Wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway doubled the Center Conway, N.H. native’s output this year after eleven of fourteen points-paying events.

But four finishes outside the top ten, including an early exit from August’s Midsummer Classic 250 at WMMP, had him third in the points to consistent Quebecer Raphaël Lessard with only three races remaining to decide the champion.

Brown arrived at WMMP after a tumultuous evening in Epping, N.H., where a bid to win the Pro All Stars Series Chummy Brown Memorial 144 was cut short in a fender-banging duel with Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. Renfrew was also in attendance at WMMP, along with PASS winner Joey Doiron, making his second ACT start of the season in Brown’s second car.

Thunder Road winner Kaiden Fisher and 2023 Midsummer Classic 250 upset winner Jesse Switser brought the field to the green flag, with Fisher leading early before yielding to Switser. Mechanical issues sent Fisher to the paddock after only 37 laps, while Lessard took the point in hopes of sweeping all three ACT races at WMMP this year.

A lap-55 competition caution allowed teams to pit for fuel and service, putting Lessard and Brown at the front of the field. Brown immediately seized the opportunity, getting out front ahead of Lessard and holding the lead through a couple minor incidents.

Peyton Lanphear took the brunt of a lap-111 pileup, slowing the race pace as she retired from the event. Eleven laps later, contact between Stephen Martin and Brian Hoar set off a chain reaction that collected Renfrew, Brandon Lambert, and Kasey Beattie, ending the night for all but Martin.

From there, Brown set off on a torrid pace, gapping Lessard by over six seconds on the high-banked oval. Two-time ACT Tour champ D.J. Shaw climbed to third, narrowly leading the points in the Brookside Equipment Sales Triple Crown.

But a late-race yellow never materialized, allowing Brown to cruise uncontested to a 6.778-second win and his second straight Fall Foliage 200 trophy.

Lessard finished second, one position short of sweeping all three WMMP features this year.

Shaw maintained third at the end of the race. Third was not enough, though, to clinch the Brookside Equipment Sales Triple Crown; Derek Gluchacki tied Shaw with a fourth-place finish, and the Bay Stater’s win at Seekonk Speedway was the tiebreaker that granted him the Triple Crown win instead.

Early leader Switser rounded out the top five and the lead lap.

Erick Sands was a single lap down in sixth, ahead of Doiron, who recorded his best career ACT finish since 2022 in seventh. Quebecers Will Larue and Alexendre Tardif were eighth and ninth, while Justin Prescott finished tenth.

Thirty-seven cars turned out to qualify for the Fall Foliage 200, an uptick from August’s Midsummer Classic 250. The difference was in the number of WMMP regulars entered, though few factored into the race’s outcome. Beattie, making his return to the Tour after parting ways with CSV Motorsports in August, was best in class among the weekly frontrunners despite his early exit.

Only two more points-paying races remain for the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour and its $20,000 championship payout. Thunder Road’s historic Vermont Milk Bowl is something of a wildcard; the race does not factor into the title chase, but attendance is mandated to maintain “100%” status and therefore eligibility for the points fund. That leaves back-to-back dates a month away: the postponed Pine Tree State 125 at Oxford Plains Speedway on October 18 and the Haunted Hundred at Seekonk Speedway on October 25.

Brown and Lessard are the only drivers to win multiple ACT features this year. Sandwiched between them is Shaw, the two-time former champion but winless thus far. Oxford has not always been charitable to Shaw, but he has three PASS wins and a sole ACT win at the “Cement Palace.”

Fortune alone may be enough to secure the title for Lessard, but if his fortune runs out, Brown and Shaw are in the catbird’s seat.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | 47th Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Fall Foliage 200
White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, N.H.
1. (47NH) Gabe Brown
2. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
3. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
4. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
5. (25NH) Jesse Switser
6. (36NH) Erick Sands
7. (73D) Joey Doiron
8. (45QC) William Larue
9. (31CT) Alexendre Tardif
10. (04VT) Justin Prescott
11. (5MA) Tom Carey III
12. (45NH) Stephen Martin
13. (4NH) Jamie Swallow, Jr.
14. (55VT) Keegan Lamson
15. (10NH) Bryan Mason
16. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
17. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
18. (48VT) Taylor Hoar
19. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
20. (02NH) Brian Whalley
21. (46X) Brian Hoar
22. (0NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
23. (77AZ) Brandon Lambert
24. (45VT) Kasey Beattie
25. (22VT) Peyton Lanphear
26. (7MA) Jeremy Sorel
27. (78NH) Quinny Welch
28. (42NH) Mike Jurkowski
29. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
30. (26VT) Stephen Donahue

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