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Lessard conquers CAN-AM 200 for second ACT Tour checkers

The former NASCAR prospect and reigning Série ACT champion has two wins with the US-based Tour, both at Montmagny.

Raphaël Lessard extended his dominance on the Quebec-based Série ACT to the ACT Tour's second Canadian visit, winning his second CAN-AM 200 at Autodrome Montmagny. (Photo courtesy ACT Media/Christian Genest)

Autodrome Montmagny is becoming Raphaël Lessard’s home away from home.

The reigning Série ACT LMS champion won his second American-Canadian Tour Late Model race in grand fashion, claiming the CAN-AM 200 and its $10,000 bounty for a second time.

Lessard hails from the Beauce region of Québec, with his hometown of St. Joseph de Beauce a stone’s throw from Autodrome Chaudière. But since returning to Canada to race, Lessard has found more than his share of success at Montmagny, the 3/8-mile oval an hour east of Québec City and just over that from Chaudière.

Indeed, in five Série ACT events leading into the CAN-AM 200, Lessard had won three times, twice at Montmagny.

Lessard’s previous outing with the American-based ACT Tour in 2024, though, ended in an early exit from the Claude Leclerc 150 at Chaudière, giving him extra incentive to perform Saturday night.

Weather had other plans, soaking the region in the late afternoon and forcing officials to start the race under caution to continue track-drying operations well after dark had settled in. The green flag officially flew on lap 30, with Dany Gariépy and William Larue leading the 36-car field to open the feature race.

A lap-101 competition caution was called to allow teams to pit for tires and fuel, with Gariépy holding the point to the break. On the restart, Lessard sprung into action, wresting the lead from Gariépy four laps later.

While the two Quebecers held the point out front, defending ACT Tour champ D.J. Shaw and Gabe Brown carried the torch for the American Tour, with Shaw pressuring Gariépy for second on the restart and hanging with the leaders. Lessard dodged two restarts, keeping Gariépy at bay, but the night’s final caution on lap 195 for Larue’s spin from the top-five battle threatened to throw a wrench into the works.

Unfazed, Lessard shook free of Gariépy and drove to his second win in the annual cross-border challenge.

Gariépy, who has started all but one of his four ACT Tour attempts at Montmagny, came home with a career-first top ten finish with his runner-up result.

Brown, best in class among the American contenders, was third, with Alex Labbé and Louis-Philippe Lauzier rounding out the top five.

Defending CAN-AM 200 winner Derek Gluchacki was sixth, ahead of Shaw, who faded from the top five in the final laps. Patrick Cliche was eighth, with Oxford Plains Speedway winner Jesse Switser ninth and Michael Lavoie closing the top ten.

Tour sophomore Bryan Wall, Jr. was not in action at Montmagny, opting instead to get some needed laps at White Mountain Motorsports Park in anticipation of August’s Midsummer Classic 250. Veteran Patrick Laperle wore Wall’s number in his absence to collect owner’s points.

Without Wall, though, thirteen drivers have made an attempt in every race so far, including four drivers from La Belle Province.

Among those thirteen, Brown leads the standings by eighteen markers over Gluchacki, whose only win so far came after tech-shed review at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Shaw, enduring a lukewarm title defense, sits third in the standings. Neither Brown nor Shaw have recorded a Tour win yet this year.

Lessard, Gariépy and Brown share the podium after the CAN-AM 200. (Photo courtesy ACT Media/Christian Genest)

Lessard, meanwhile, is the seventh different face in the ACT Tour winner’s circle this year and the second Canadian to do so this season. With Alexendre Tardif winning the Claude Leclerc 150 earlier this year, Canadians swept both Canadian Tour dates this year.

The CAN-AM 200 marked the halfway point of the ACT Tour season, with the second half of the year staying south of the international border. The Midsummer Classic 250, with $10,000 promised to the winner, kicks off a leisurely six-race stretch that wraps up in early November at Seekonk Speedway.

But what the schedule lacks in frequency, it makes up for with the 250-lap battle at WMMP, additional 200-lappers at Thunder Road and WMMP in September, and a return to the high-banked Thompson Speedway in Connecticut.

Lessard has two races left on his 2024 Série ACT title chase, one each at Chaudière and Montmagny. But with his measure of dominance so far, he seems well on track to a second straight title.

Whether he adds any of the final American dates to his itinerary as well remains to be seen.

Unofficial Results
ACT Late Model Tour | CAN-AM 200
Autodrome Montmagny, Montmagny, Que.

1. (48QC) Raphaël Lessard
2. (37QC) Dany Gariépy
3. (47NH) Gabe Brown
4. (21L) Alex Labbé
5. (72QC) Louis-Philippe Lauzier
6. (03MA) Derek Gluchacki
7. (04VT) D.J. Shaw
8. (44QC) Patrick Cliche
9. (25NH) Jesse Switser
10. (78QC) Michael Lavoie
11. (7MA) Jeremy Sorel
12. (51QC) Jeff Côté
13. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
14. (45NH) Kasey Beattie
15. (21QC) Alexendre Tardif
16. (45QC) William Larue
17. (19QC) Dany Trepanier
18. (21TN) Jean-François Déry
19. (66QC) Simon Roussin
20. (18QC) Jean-Philippe Bergeron
21. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
22. (57QC) Carl Poulin
23. (15QC) Christopher Bedard
24. (5QC) Patrick Hamel
25. (33QC) Rémi Perreault
26. (11QC) Claude Leclerc
27. (38QC) Martin Goulet, Jr.
28. (92QC) Jonathan Desbiens
29. (17QC) Maxime Gauvreau
30. (69QC) Vincent Rivard
31. (27NH) Cam Huntress
32. (9QC) Mathieu Kingsbury
33. (77NH) Patrick Laperle
34. (83QC) Mathieu Goulet
35. (36NH) Erick Sands
36. (90QC) Zackary Fauteux

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Jeff Brown is a contributor to Short Track Scene. A native of New Hampshire and a long-time fan of New England racing, Brown provides a fan's perspective as he follows New England's regional Late Model touring series.

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