Fisher becomes ACT’s youngest winner in Community Bank 150

Sometimes, when the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour returns home to Thunder Road International Speedbowl, you get a win by one of the traveling racers following the regional schedule. More often than not, you get a win by one of the home track heroes.

Sometimes, you get both.

Kaiden Fisher secured his own place in his family’s racing legacy with his first career Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour victory in Sunday afternoon’s Community Bank N.A. 150, the third event of the young season.

The reigning Thunder Road “King of the Road” and ACT Rookie of the Year runner-up passed Raphael Lessard on a lap-96 restart and held off a late bid by Christopher Pelkey to become the youngest winner in American-Canadian Tour history.

Sunday’s showdown between the touring specialists and Thunder Road regulars was a month in the making. While May’s test-and-tune day got off without a hitch, rain forced officials to postpone the racing program to the next free weekend on the calendar. Last weekend’s Mekkelsen RV Memorial Day Classic opened the season for the “Nation’s Site of Excitement,” with the 125-lap Late Model feature serving as a shakedown for this week’s Tour race.

Fisher entered the Memorial Day Classic looking for a boost from back-to-back 14th-place finishes in the first two Tour races of the year. A 17th-place result was not what the Shelburne, Vt. teen was looking for. Neither was a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s second heat.

But the latter was good enough to place Fisher third on the grid, behind two-time Série ACT champ Raphaël Lessard and Seekonk Speedway winner Erick Sands.

From the drop of the green, Lessard showed the way, looking to become the first Quebecer since 2011 to win a Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour feature at the venerable Barre, Vt. oval. Fisher slotted into second early. Two early cautions slowed the race, but not Lessard’s pace at the front of the pack.

The restart following the second caution was waved off, though, resulting in a chain-reaction collision mid-pack that collected Justin Prescott and Brooks Clark. On the second attempt, Fisher nosed out ahead of Lessard, leading three laps before Lessard could reclaim the top spot.

Trouble for Taylor Hoar brought out another yellow on lap 33. Lessard shook free of Fisher once again. In their mirrors, Kasey Beattie was defending a top-five berth when he pulled high down the backstretch and slowed to a stop between turns three and four. The yellow flew once again, with the field stopping briefly for a tow truck to retrieve Beattie’s disabled mount.

Fisher edged out front on the restart, but Lessard swapped spots with the local after only a lap, setting off on the longest green-flag run of the day. Christopher Pelkey, the 2022 “King of the Road,” and three-time track champion Jason Corliss pressured Fisher for second, while defending Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour titlist Gabe Brown knocked on the door of the top ten. Two-time champion D.J. Shaw had pitted under the lap-38 break, but struggled to pick his way through the field.

Lessard had pulled away from the runner-up battle when Shaw slowed to a stop in turns one and two, bringing the yellow out on lap 96. Shaw and a handful of others pitted, but Lessard and Fisher remained on the track to lead the field back to green.

Once again, Fisher battled Lessard for the lead on the restart, but this time Fisher closed the door and drove off with the lead. Pelkey moved in to threaten Lessard for second, but with 25 laps to go, he could not find the opportunity he needed to make the pass.

Lapped traffic eventually created that opportunity, with Pelkey using Jaden Perry as a pick to slip past Lessard for second. A few laps later, Perry went around off Marcel Gravel’s bumper, bringing out the caution and erasing Fisher’s advantage with 14 laps to go.

Fisher kept Pelkey at bay on the restart, but the next time by, Brown spun entering turn one, slapping the turn-one concrete and sliding back into traffic. Brooks Clark and Jimmy Renfrew, Jr. were among those caught up in the aftermath, with Renfrew needing a tow to the paddock.

Pelkey had another shot at Fisher on the restart, but Fisher wasted no time getting ahead of the defending race winner, building a nearly one-second lead over the final 13-lap sprint.

After a slow start to the season, Fisher improved on a career-best third-place finish in late 2023 to earn his first Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour victory.

Pelkey, who raced full-time on the Tour before finding greater success in weekly competition, held on for second. After scoring only one top-five finish in his three-year Tour stint, the South Barre, Vt. racer has picked up four top fives in his ten starts since, including last year’s Community Bank 150 win.

Lessard moved into the points lead with his third-place finish, as the former NASCAR Truck Series race winner embarks on his first full-time Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour title chase with Larue Motorsports.

Jesse Switser came on strong in the closing laps, dicing his way to fourth at the checkered flag. Gravel, the reigning Vermont Milk Bowl champion, was fifth.

Corliss fell to sixth after battling in the top five most of the day. Outside polesitter Sands was seventh. Thunder Road regular Brandon Lanphear, racing for car owner Richard Green, posted an eighth-place finish. Alexendre Tardif wheeled car owner Jason Glaude’s entry to ninth after battling Sands most of the afternoon, while Thunder Road veteran Cody Blake was tenth.

Shaw clawed his way back to 11th, while Brown limped to 18th after his late crash. Derek Gluchacki, who struggled with traffic all day, fell off the pace at the end, finishing 22nd at a track that has been persistently unkind to the Bay Stater.

With Star Speedway winner Brandon Barker and his team absent at Thunder Road, Brown sits tied with Switser for second in points three races in, with Shaw several markers back in fourth.

Sunday’s win was a major course correction for Fisher, though, who vaulted into fifth in the standings.

It was also a milestone day for the fourth-generation racer, whose father “Hurricane” Jamie Fisher is the 2003 “King of the Road” with four ACT Tour wins to his credit, all before Kaiden was born. With Sunday’s checkered flag, “The Tropical Storm” became the youngest ACT Tour feature winner ever, eclipsing fellow multigenerational racer Ryan Moore by a month. The elder Fisher finished on the podium in Moore’s 2001 victory, sporting the same S.D. Ireland Concrete colors as his son does today.

Fisher is also the second legacy driver to win at Thunder Road this year. Bryan Wall, Jr., whose father was a veteran road racer and multi-time NASCAR Busch North Series winner, took the checkers in last week’s Memorial Day Classic. Wall, who refocused on weekly competition this year after two seasons with the Tour, was not in Sunday’s lineup.

Additionally, Fisher is the first driver since Shaw in 2022 and only the second since Rich Dubeau in 2019 to win a Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour feature at Thunder Road while competing full-time with the Tour. Corliss earned a 2023 win, but scaled back his schedule mid-season.

The ACT model is based upon integrating weekly racers into their touring features, but no other track presents the home-field advantage that Thunder Road does. Indeed, six of Sunday’s top-ten finishers are Thunder Road competitors or alumni. Fisher, who turns 18 later this year, is both.

With victory comes confidence. And with eleven more dates on the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour schedule this year, Fisher has plenty of time to build more confidence.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Community Bank, N.A. 150
Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.
1. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
2. (64VT) Christopher Pelkey
3. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
4. (25NH) Jesse Switser
5. (86VT) Marcel Gravel
6. (66VT) Jason Corliss
7. (36NH) Erick Sands
8. (16VT) Brandon Lanphear
9. (31CT) Alexendre Tardif
10. (99VT) Cody Blake
11. (60BH) D.J. Shaw
12. (9VT) Chip Grenier
13. (58VT) Jimmy Hebert
14. (00VT) Brandon Gray
15. (27MA) Chase Curtis
16. (0VT) Scott Dragon
17. (04VT) Justin Prescott
18. (47NH) Gabe Brown
19. (68VT) Brooks Clark
20. (04NH) Shawn Swallow
21. (48K) Kyle Streeter
22. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
23. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
24. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
25. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
26. (92VT) Jaden Perry
27. (46VT) Taylor Hoar
28. (00NH) Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
29. (45NH) Kasey Beattie
30. (03QC) Sébastien Couture
31. (68NH) Tanner Woodard
32. (47MA) Justin Storace

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