Gabe Brown Goes Back-to-Back in Fall Foliage 200 at White Mountain

Gabe Brown claimed the win in Saturday's Fall Foliage 200 presented by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust at White Mountain Motorsports Park, giving him back-to-back wins in the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour event.

Last year's winner of the Fall Foliage 200, Brown held off Raphael Lessard for his third win of the ACT season and the fifth of his career. The Center Conway, New Hampshire native dominated the event, calling his No. 47NH the best car he's ever driven at White Mountain.

"It's definitely the best car we've ever had here," Brown told Racing America. "This thing was lights out. We struggled a little bit here during the day. The temperature changed with the track and we struggled a little bit.

"I'm just super thankful for my guys. For as much as we've struggled this year, three wins is pretty incredible for us. Just super thankful for everyone and ready to go to Milk Bowl. Hopefully, we can have some speed up there, too."

Brown had a close eye on Lessard, the ACT points leader, throughout the race. However, Brown knew he was able to set his pace and still maintain an advantage on Lessard.

"I knew I had to set the pace of the race myself," explained Brown. "He was really good. I knew he was riding as much as I was, so the more he backed it up, I backed it up.

"There are the end, we caught lapped traffic. I just went for it all out, just to put as much buffer in between us as I could. This thing was just so good."

Lessard settled for second, echoing that Brown's car was stronger on the long runs.

"He was super fast," said Lessard. "He was a little bit better than us, especially on long run. I was just way too free. I could keep up with him for five laps, but it is what it is. Our first time here being that cold outside, so I think we needed to work on our setup. I was on the chip a lot, and the gear ratio probably hurt us today a bit."

The Fall Foliage 200 was also the final race of the Brookside Sales Equipment Triple Crown series. Derek Gluchacki finished fourth, giving the Kulwicki Driver Development Program the title over D.J. Shaw on a tiebreaker thanks to his win ahead of Shaw at Seekonk.

"That was our goal coming in here, just to do what we had to do," said Gluchacki. "We changed a lot in the car from the [Oxford] 250, and I think it worked. It's just missed the stagger a little bit there. We planned on pitting, but we didn't want to give up the track position there.

"We cant complain. Really good car, 17th to fourth. We'll take it."

Shaw finished third in the race, which wasn't quite enough for the Triple Crown but kept him within striking distance of Lessard for the ACT championship.

"That was a hard-fought third-place for us, there," said Shaw. "Came up a little short in the Brookside there, but all in all, we took it down to a tiebreaker. We came in here with that being the goal for the race and ended up on the podium, and it still wasn't enough.

"All in all, we just podiumed in the Bar Harbor Bank & Trust 200, so can't be happier than that. I get to personally know the trophy girl this week, so it's a pretty good day for the sponsor of the race and the car. I'm proud of everybody on this thing, and we didn't lose too much on Raphael today, so we'll just take the fight to next week."

For ACT teams, the next stop is Thunder Road International Speedbowl for the 63rd Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank on October 4-5. The next points-paying event for the series is the Pine Tree State 125 at Oxford Plains Speedway on October 18, one week before the season finale in the Haunted Hundred at Seekonk Speedway on October 25.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

Fall Foliage 200 presented by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Unofficial Results