Dominant drive secures Souza upset ACT Northeast Classic checkers

Connor Souza only has a handful of starts with the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour.

But it’s becoming clear which track he likes best.

The Rhode Island racer put on a dominant drive Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, earning an upset victory in the Vermont-based touring organization’s portion of the Northeast Classic.

In only his eighth Tour start, the Providence native has a win at one of the most prestigious venues on the schedule.

“I was babying it after about five laps,” Souza said. “And in the second run, my spotter was telling me, he’s like, ‘Hey you’ve got to slow it down.’ We were just clicking off laps. The thing just drove itself.”

With former champion Gabe Brown the only previous Northeast Classic ACT winner in the field, and a handful of top speedway challengers absent from the entry list, the record books were open and waiting for a first-time winner at the “Magic Mile” to open the season.

But few expected Souza, the relative newcomer from Providence, R.I. with a best finish of ninth in his seven previous Tour starts, to be the one to break through.

Souza foreshadowed his capabilities in his heat race, gaining six positions to carry to the plus-minus pool. While Jimmy Renfrew, Jr., Cole Littlewood and Jonathan Bouvrette racked up heat wins, Souza matched Brandon Barker’s plus-six to earn the outside of the front row, while Barker planted his Sullivan Family Racing entry on the pole.

Barker pulled out to the early lead, slowed momentarily by a first-lap dustup between Aaron and Allen Fellows in turn four. Souza quickly made his way to the point, pulling away in a two-car breakaway as Jake Johnson and defending race winner Brown diced for third.

Brown eventually settled into a distant third with the halfway break approaching, hoping to avoid the mechanical gremlins that had sidelined him at the end of the Pro All Stars Series feature that opened the afternoon. With the crossed flags in the air, though, Barker’s second-place mount lost power, handing the runner-up slot to Brown as the yellow flag was unfurled.

A short break on pit road afforded teams the opportunity to swap tires and add fuel, with Souza leading Brown back to the green flag. Brown tested Souza on the start, but Souza quickly broke free of his Granite State rival, leaving Brown to fend off Johnson for second.

Johnson, the Modified double-threat, wheeled his Hartwell Motorsports entry to second with ten laps to go, shuffling Brown back into the grasp of Dale Shaw Race Cars chassismate Jesse Switser.

But with the field strung out around the mile-long oval, there was no one to slow down Souza, and Johnson could not whittle down his deficit.

And after a green-flag run to the checkers, Souza crossed the line 2.425 seconds ahead of his nearest competition.

“I can’t thank Jeff Belyea and Vinnie Arrenegado enough for turning the wrenches on this thing all day,” said Souza, “because I couldn’t have done it without them. Dan [Collins], my spotter, he yelled at me for about all 50 laps to slow it down.”

Johnson, last year’s Thompson Speedway Late Model champion and a six-time Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature winner, came home a career-best second after finishing fourth in last year’s season finale.

Switser powered to third at the end, ahead of Seekonk Speedway ace Mark Jenison and veteran Bouvrette, the best-finishing Quebecer in the field.

Brown’s late fade resulted in a sixth-place finish. Justin Prescott, driving stepfather Brian Hoar’s throwback Dodge, was a strong seventh. Teen rookie Holdyn Sullivan avenged teammate Barker’s early exit with an eighth-place finish in only his second ACT start and his first at the “Magic Mile.” Alexendre “Fireball” Tardif followed up his PASS podium finish with a ninth-place run for Team 31 Racing, while Jacob “Rowdy” Burns rounded out the top ten.

Saturday marked Souza’s third career top-ten finish in Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour competition, but his first time placing in the top five. He finished tenth at NHMS in 2023, then impressed last year by driving from 30th on the grid to finish ninth.

The Pro Truck Challenge graduate and Seekonk Speedway regular earned a home track feature win last year and ended the year seventh in track points. Whether his team opts to chase the full touring circuit in 2026 remains to be seen.

If Souza does stay with the Tour, he will help to fill a void left by three of last year’s title challengers. D.J. Shaw, who won Saturday’s PASS feature, was not in the lineup for the first time since 2019 as he shifts to a limited schedule. Derek Gluchacki, a three-time Northeast Classic winner and the 2025 Kulwicki Driver Development Program champion, served as crew chief for tenth-place finisher Burns.

And newly-crowned champion Raphaël Lessard, too, has a limited slate planned as he adds the NASCAR Euro Series and an increased Pro Late Model schedule to his repertoire.

Reigning Série ACT champion Jeff Côté, who nipped Lessard by a whisker to win his first Tour race at Autodrome Montmagny last summer, plans to run the American schedule this year, but could only manage a 20th-place finish in his first trip to NHMS.

In a touring series that has enjoyed diversity in the winner’s circle in recent seasons, the change of the guard could pave an easier path for Brown to duplicate his 2024 championship effort, or it could put some new faces in victory lane.

Connor Souza is making a case for the latter.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Northeast Classic 50
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
1. (38RI) Connor Souza
2. (91CT) Jake Johnson
3. (25NH) Jesse Switser
4. (22RI) Mark Jenison
5. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
6. (47NH) Gabe Brown
7. (46VT) Justin Prescott
8. (0NH) Holdyn Sullivan
9. (31CT) Alexendre Tardif
10. (30RI) Jacob Burns
11. (36NH) Erick Sands
12. (00NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
13. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
14. (47MA) Justin Storace
15. (63MA) Dylan Estrella
16. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
17. (7MA) Jeremy Sorel
18. (02WP) Geoff Rollins
19. (92ME) Colby Meserve
20. (51QC) Jeff Côté
21. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
22. (3NH) Ryan Currier
23. (29ME) Allen Fellows
24. (23NH) Craig Smith
25. (29NH) Aaron Fellows
26. (0ME) Brandon Barker

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