Lessard Lifts Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour Title, Sands Wins Haunted Hundred

Raphael Lessard added his name to the prestigious list of Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour champions on Saturday, while Erick Sands took the victory in the Milton CAT Haunted Hundred to end the season at Seekonk Speedway.

It was hardly Lessard's best performance of the season, as the Quebec native finished 11th in the event. However, that finish was just his third result outside the top 10 on the season, a level of consistency that delivered him the prestigious championship.

Lessard joins an exclusive list of American-Canadian Tour champions from Canada. Lessard joins Patrick Laperle on the list of champions from Quebec, and Junior Hanley and Russ Urlin accompany them for the collection of Canadian titlists.

"It's crazy to put my name on that list," said Lessard. "First of all, I want to thank my guys at Larue Motorsports. I don't think anybody expected us to win the championship at the beginning of the season. Even us, we didn't doubt ourselves, but we just knew it was going to be tough. The competition in ACT is pretty amazing."

At just 24 years old, Lessard's resume is already one that will one day stack up alongside some of the Canadian greats in short track racing. The three-time Bacon Bowl winner is also a two-time Serie ACT champion and former CARS Tour Super Late Model champion.

Despite those accomplishments, Lessard believes this title was the most difficult one to claim.

"I'm just very thankful for this opportunity to drive the 48 every year and it's pretty huge. I don't know what to say, honestly. It's my fourth championship ever. I think it's the hardest one I've had to deal with, for sure."

Meanwhile, patience paid off in one of ACT's shortest races of the season for Erick Sands. The 100-lap feature event was over in less than 25 minutes, yet Sands patiently waited for his opportunity to pass William Larue and cruise to victory.

Larue was on the verge of making it a perfect day for Larue Motorsports with a win and Lessard's championship, leading the first 60 laps. Larue also finished second in the Claude Leclerc 150 earlier this year, and led early in the CAN-AM 200 before mechanical issues took him out of contention.

Meanwhile, Sands bided his time until making his move with 40 laps to go. From there, he pulled away for his second consecutive Milton CAT Haunted Hundred victory.

"I don't know what it is about this place," said Sands. "I always try to search for a feeling I'm looking for, and that feeling gets me to victory lane every time.

"I was just trying to save it for as much as I could and let [Larue] wear himself out. I knew I had a pretty good piece. He wore out as much as he could, and I used lapped traffic to my advantage."

Larue finished second, followed by Dave Darling, Jake Johnson and Kaiden Fisher.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

Milton CAT Haunted Hundred Unofficial Results