Switser stuns Sweet in ACT Great North Woods 150

For the fans in the stands at Riverside Speedway, the closing laps of the Great North Woods 150 were a lot like the finale of the Pro All Stars Series race that preceded it.

But where Cole Robie made his winning move on the inside, Jesse Switser took to the outside.

The Lyndonville, Vt. veteran outraced Nick Sweet in the closing laps to score his first Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour win of 2026 and the third of his career.

Rescheduled from its original May date due to a rainy forecast, the Great North Woods 150 kicked off an unexpectedly-hectic mid-summer stretch. A rescheduling of July’s CAN-AM 200 at Autodrome Montmagny set up four straight weekends of racing through early September’s Labor Day Classic 200 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl.

Nevertheless, a healthy crop of cars turned out for ACT’s first appearance at Riverside since 2020. Carnage in the first two heats, though, threatened to winnow the field. Championship contender Kaiden Fisher’s engine failure in the first heat turned catastrophic when Jeff Côté hit oil and skidded into Fisher’s stopped car, leaving the Fisher camp scrambling to salvage points from the day. In the second heat, a door-to-door duel between Ryan Olsen and Brenna Humphrey ended with Olsen stuffed in the outside wall and Humphrey with significant sheet metal damage. Jamie Swallow, Jr. and Derek Ming ultimately inherited heat wins while Gabe Brown won a clean third heat.

Cote and Olsen were unable to answer the call for the consi, and only a few laps remained to set the field when Humphrey and Rémi Perreault collided in a battle for third, careering nose-first into the frontstretch wall. Switser, who was leading at the time of the crash, was awarded the win as the rest of the consi was waved off.

Jonathan Bouvrette secured the pole with Riverside regular Jeff Marshall to his outside, but Marshall powered ahead on the opening lap as Bouvrette faded through the top five. Chip Grenier rose to second as Ming, who rolled off seventh, climbed to third in the opening laps.

An early spin on lap 24 bunched the field up for a restart that nearly spelled disaster for championship leader Gabe Brown, as Aaron Fellows took the worst damage in a multi-car spin involving Brown, Ming and Corey Mason. Marshall took off with the lead on the restart, with Bouvrette leading Nick Sweet into the top three.

Sweet, the multi-time Thunder Road track champion and Vermont Milk Bowl winner, slipped by Bouvrette for second but was nearly half a straightaway behind Marshall by halfway. Switser, meanwhile, was at Bouvrette’s bumper looking for third.

Brown went for his second spin of the afternoon on lap 94, with Allen Fellows caught up in the aftermath to draw the caution flag. Marshall continued to lead Sweet, with Switser ahead of Bouvrette and Erick Sands rounding out the top five.

With 50 laps to go, Sweet was gaining on Marshall, finally wresting the point from the race-long leader on lap 107. Switser and a resurgent Brown followed Sweet, with Marshall settling into fourth. On lap 120, though, Marshall peeled off for the pits in turn one with a flat tire, his day over sans fanfare.

Out front, Switser ran down Sweet and looked for a way to end a winless drought stretching back to 2024. Sweet, nursing his own winless streak, held onto the lead as Switser turned up the heat, delivering a warning shot with 17 laps to go.

Sweet defended the inside line even as the two wove through traffic. Switser was relentless, ultimately taking to the high line and finding momentum in the outside groove.

With three laps to go, Switser finally cleared Sweet for the lead, hanging on to win his first Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour feature since the second race of the 2024 season.

In only his fifth ACT start since 2022, Sweet wheeled his own entry to a runner-up finish, echoing the duo’s one-two finish in July’s Keith Morse Memorial 150 at Riverside.

Brown rebounded from both spins with a strong third-place finish, ahead of Erick Sands and Bryan Mason.

Bouvrette, Shawn Swallow, Geoff Rollins, Brandon Lambert and Jason Corliss rounded out a surprising top ten.

Corliss debuted in the Hartwell Motorsports entry that went to victory lane two weeks before at White Mountain Motorsports Park with driver Jake Johnson. The Hartwell team called on Corliss to finish out the season in pursuit of an ACT owner’s championship, citing Johnson’s inability to commit to the remainder of the schedule.

Fisher, meanwhile, made it onto the track with seconds to spare following driver introductions. Racing a car with no front-end body work and a borrowed engine, Fisher made it fifty laps to secure 20th in the field before pulling off the track.

Johnson’s absence and Fisher’s struggles, juxtaposed against Brown’s podium finish and Switser’s win, upended the points standings, handing Brown a strong lead as he seeks a second ACT championship.

The four-week mid-summer stretch run into September, though, poses plenty of opportunity for Fisher and Switser to make up ground.

Unofficial Results
Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour | Great North Woods 150
Riverside Speedway, Groveton, N.H.
1. (25NH) Jesse Switser
2. (88VT) Nick Sweet
3. (47NH) Gabe Brown
4. (36NH) Erick Sands
5. (10MT) Bryan Mason
6. (41QC) Jonathan Bouvrette
7. (04NH) Shawn Swallow
8. (02WP) Geoff Rollins
9. (77AZ) Brandon Lambert
10. (91CT) Jason Corliss
11. (73MA) Cole Littlewood
12. (45VT) Derek Ming
13. (29ME) Allen Fellows
14. (60BH) Brandon Lanphear
15. (32NH) Jeff Marshall
16. (4NH) Jamie Swallow, Jr.
17. (67NH) Jourdan Davis
18. (9VT) Chip Grenier
19. (56VT) Matt Pepin
20. (18VT) Kaiden Fisher
21. (1NH) Corey Mason
22. (29NH) Aaron Fellows
DNS (33QC) Rémi Perreault
DNS (3NH) Brenna Humphrey
DNS (51QC) Jeff Côté
DNS (61NH) Ryan Olsen

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