'Fireball' Tardif Goes Back-to-Back in Claude Leclerc 150 at Autodrome Chaudiere

Alexendre "Fireball" Tardif scored his second consecutive victory in the Claude Leclerc 150 on Saturday, winning the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour event at Autodrome Chaudiere.

Tardif took the lead from William Larue on a late restart, powering around the outside of Larue to lead the final 29 laps for the victory.

The Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Quebec native earned his first ACT victory one year ago in the Claude Leclerc 150, and has now gone back-to-back in the event. It was an important bounce-back for Tardif on the tour after a 25th-place finish in the last event at White Mountain Motorsports Park.

"We had bad luck last race at White Mountain," said Tardif. "It wasn't good for the points, but today was a good day. We won our heat race and the feature, so we couldn't ask for more than that."

Larue led the first 121 circuits of the Claude Leclerc 150, coming off a third-place finish in the Kancamagus 150 at White Mountain. However, Tardif's ability to get back to the throttle exiting the corners at Autodrome Chaudiere offered the platform to power to the front.

"Both lanes were good," said Tardif. "My car was so good in the middle of the corner, so I could get on the gas earlier than everyone and just get away from them. This race car is very good, I want to thank everyone involved in that."

Larue finished second, with Jeff Cote rounding out the podium. While Larue never ran worse than second in the event, Cote charged from deep in the field to a third-place finish.

D.J. Shaw, Jesse Switser and Gabe Brown, all representing New Hampshire, finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Raphael Lessard, the Kancamagus 150 winner who entered Saturday's race with the ACT points lead, finished seventh. Michael Lavoie, Patrick Laperle and Jonathan Bouvrette rounded out the top 10.

The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour will not have to wait long to get back on track. Wednesday, June 25 is the Spring Green 125 at Seekonk Speedway, the sixth race of the season for the ACT Late Models. The 50th Spring Green 125 also serves as the second race of the Brookside Equipment Sales Triple Crown Series.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

Claude Leclerc 150 Unofficial Results