Story By: CALE KING / AMERICAN-CANADIAN TOUR – MONTMAGNY, QUE – After rain pushed Saturday’s originally scheduled program back to Sunday, July 23rd, twenty-nine American-Canadian Tour Late Model teams made the trip to Montmagny, Quebec, Canada for the CAN-AM 200.
A $10,000 to win special for the touring stars saw eight Americans make the drive north to the 3/8-mile speed plant to battle with twenty-one of Quebec’s best short track stars. The battles were mighty as all twenty-nine pilots chased down the prize at one of the trickiest ovals on the schedule.
Three qualifying heat races started the afternoon with the ACT Plus/Minus handicap hard at work on the very competitive teams present. By virtue of his +3 earned in heat two, local favorite William Larue took down the pole with championship chaser Gabe Brown to his outside with a +2 earned in heat one. Following the full field presentation before the crowd on hand and the fans across the globe on Racing America, the CAN-AM 200 was underway.
While Brown began to fall back, Patrick Laperle was far from keeping the status quo as he started to muscle his way under Michael Lavoie and Mathieu Kingsbury for fifth at the get-go. The first caution would fly on lap 8 as Zackary Fauteaux slapped the frontstretch wall hard across the hood of Christopher Bedard, ending his day early with a destroyed A-Frame. Back underway, Larue faced off against Jonathan Bouvrette at the front with Larue keeping his lead and starting to stretch away from Bouvrette, Kingsbury, Laperle and Erick Sands while teammate Raphael Lessard began a methodical and calculated drive up through the field from his 26th-place starting position.
Lap-traffic began to slow Larue’s advance and allowed Bouvrette to make up real estate enough to steal away the lead on lap 70 before the first caution for a stopped Jean-Francois Dery in turn two. The restart saw Bouvrette ride high in turn one with a loose machine and Larue ducked low to steal back the lead. Following the lap 101 competition caution as teams threw on tires and made adjustments, it was Larue versus Kingsbury out front under the return to green.
After making the slow march from a 10th-place starting position, Derek Gluchacki moved into second on lap 110 to begin stalking Larue. Over the next thirty laps, the two were side-by-side, switching lanes on each other with the occasional door bang or bumper tap until Gluchacki finally edged Larue at the line to lead 148. After a hard slap and go with the front stretch wall out of turn four, Bouvrette’s Duroking Ford lost a right rear tire, sending him spinning into the dirt above turn one to call out the caution with 28 laps remaining.
Gluchacki took on a fierce battle with Kingsbury at the final restart but continued to show the way. In a day that started with a late arrival, an absolutely backwards set-up and a frustrated driver and crew, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts-own Derek Gluchacki took down the $10,000 win in the CAN-AM 200 at Autodrome Montmagny for this third American-Canadian Tour win of the season. Mathieu Kingsbury took down second place followed by Claude Leclerc 150 winner Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
D.J. Shaw also battled an ill-handling car, making late adjustments to come back from the middle of the pack and finish fourth with Patrick Laperle rounding out the top-five. Maxime Gauvreau took sixth with hard-charger Raphael Lessard coming from 26th to claim seventh followed by teammate William Larue, Gabe Brown salvaging a ninth-place finish with rookie Tanner Woodard taking tenth.
The American-Canadian Tour returns to its New Hampshire home for the second $10,000-to-win show of the season at White Mountain Motorsports Park for the 6th annual Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 on Saturday, August 5th. Once again the highlight of the summer season, the Milton CAT Midsummer 250 will feature an all-star line up from New England and Quebec as each driver looks to join the legendary American-Canadian Tour wins list and take the $10,000 check home!
Autodrome Montmagny Speedway – Montmagny, QC
ACT CAN-AM 200
Saturday, July 22, 2023
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
1. 03MA Derek Gluchacki North Dartmouth, MA
2. 9QC Mathieu Kingsbury Blainville, QC
3. 00NH Jimmy Renfrew Jr. Candia, NH
4. 04VT D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
5. 91QC Patrick Laperle St-Denis, QC
6. 17QC Maxime Gauvreau St-Marie de Richelieu, QC
7. 48QC Raphael Lessard St-Joseph-de-Beauce, QC
8. 55QC William Larue Quebec City, QC
9. 60ME Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH
10. 68NH #Tanner Woodard Waterbury Ctr., VT
11. 37QC Dany Gariepy Quebec City, QC
12. 77NH #Bryan Wall Jr. E. Kingston, NH
13. 21QC Alexendre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC
14. 78QC Michael Lavoie Chicoutimi, QC
15. 72QC Louis-Philippe Lauzier St-Pacome, QC
16. 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
17. 66QC Simon Roussin Quebec City, QC
18. 21TN Jean-Francois Dery Quebec, Quebec
19. 44QC Patrick Cliché Levis, QC
20. 41QC Jonathan Bouvrette Blainville, QC
21. 83QC Martin Goulet Montreal, QC
22. 19QC Dany Trepanier St-Edouard,QC
23. 31CT #Andrew Molleur Shelton, CT
24. 33QC Remi Perreault Joliette, QC
25. 31QC Steven Boissoneault Lyster, QC
26. 11QC Claude Leclerc Lanoraie, QC
27. 15QC Christopher Bedard Levis, QC
28. 54QC Dave Coursol Ste-Sophie, QC
29. 90QC Zackary Fauteaux Mascouche, QC