Montmagny, QC — Thirty-seven Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour teams entered the infield pit area of Autodrome Montmagny Saturday morning to, for the third time this season, break a track record in car count for the CAN-AM 200. The last combination event for the US-based Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour and Serie ACT Quebec, the CAN-AM 200 was the race of the season so far with action-a-plenty throughout right to the bitter end.

Starting tenth on the grid, serving his handicap penalty as a former winner in the most recent events of 2025, Raphael Lessard made short work of making his way to the front, passing polesitter Jonathan Bouvrette to nab the lead by lap 30. What came after was complete and total dominance during a 94-lap green flag run as Lessard sliced and diced through lap traffic to maintain a five-to-six car-length lead on his closest competitors. Dany Gariepy’s spin on lap 98 changed the whole complexity of the event as teams jumped pitside for the competition caution with time to add fuel, change tires and make adjustments.

Fans were treated to an all star front row between Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour point leader Lessard on the inside and Serie ACT Quebec point leader Jeff Cote on the outside. The two battled doorhandle-to-doorhandle, lap after lap before Cote managed to sneak away with the lead. The final caution on lap 191 set up a nine-lap shootout that will not soon be forgotten by Quebec’s racing faithful.

Both Beauce drivers again fought door to door at the head of the pack, swapping the lead by thousands of a second again and again in the closing laps. After flying under the white flag, the two youth leaders banged doors, taking into account all 199 laps behind them with a $10,000 check waiting under the checkered flag. The two came across the line side-by-side with the crowd on their feet and electronic scoring initially showing Lessard the winner by 0.005 seconds over Cote.

Officials enlisted the help of several photographers but none had a clear picture across the start/finish line. It wasn’t until Autodrome Montmagny social media personnel shared video from their drone above the frontstretch that the picture came into clear view. Jeff Cote’s black #51QC was first to hit the line under the twin checkered flags, just ahead of Lessard’s white #48QC.

The verified photo finish saw Cote earn his first career Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour victory with the Beauceville driver instantly looking for the big Frechette Ford winner’s check stating “We’ve been trying to earn one of those [checks] for a very long time!” Point leader Raphael Lessard was officially declared second with Gabe Brown coming home third.

Dany Gariepy recovered to finish fourth with Jesse Switser also recovering from a mid-way meeting with the frontstretch wall to round out the top five. Maxime Gauvreau took sixth with Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif in seventh, Dany Trepanier in eighth, Patrick Cliché in ninth and D.J. Shaw rounded out the top ten. Eighth through tenth, along with Gauvreau, all benefited from the Lucky Dog to battle their way to a top ten run.

The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour returns to White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday, August 2 for the $10,000-to-win Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250. The eighth edition of the Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 will once again pit the best of New England against Quebec’s greatest touring teams at a fan-favorite facility in the heart of New Hampshire for all the bragging rights in New England’s newest marquee event!

For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.

For more information about Milton CAT, visit their website at www.miltoncat.com or get updates from their Instagram account at @milton_cat.

CAN-AM 200; Round #2 in the Quebec Challenge Series

Autodrome Montmagny – Montmagny, Quebec, Canada

Saturday, July 19, 2025

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour – CAN-AM 200

1. 51QC Jeff Cote Beauceville, QC

2. 48QC Raphael Lessard St-Joseph, QC

3. 47NH Gabe Brown Center Conway, NH

4. 37QC Dany Gariepy Quebec City, QC

5. 25NH Jesse Switser W. Burke, VT

6. 17QC Maxime Gauvreau St-Marc de Richelieu, QC