Raphael Lessard Claims Another White Mountain Triumph, Wins Midsummer Classic 250

Raphael Lessard is now a two-time winner at White Mountain Motorsports Park with the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour in 2025, winning the Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250.

After a fierce battle with Kaiden Fisher with the two drivers nose-to-tail over most of the final 50 laps, Lessard passed Fisher with seven laps to go in the event, then held on to the lead on a late restart for the victory.

"Good car, great team, Larue Motorsports gave me an awesome car," said Lessard. "I'm kind of loving this race track, too. It's so much fun, so much speed.

"it was a hard battle with the 18 [of Fisher], but he was fading there at the end. I was trying hard on the bottom. Finally cleared him, and I knew at that point, I was the fastest car on the racetrack, so I could stay on top."

While Lessard knew he could distance himself from Fisher in the closing laps, it proved a win would not come that easily. Fisher and Jesse Switser made contact battling for second, with Fisher spinning and Switser going to the rear of the field.

This put Lessard side-by-side with two-time series champion D.J. Shaw for a restart with two laps to go. The Quebec native chose the outside for the restart and held off Shaw for the win.

"With the restart there at the end, I knew I had to have a really, really good restart," said Lessard. "Thanks to everybody at ACT for putting on this event every year. It's amazing to put my name on the list."

Shaw considered himself fortunate to score a runner-up finish, benefitting from the contact between Fisher and Switser to move up two spots in the final running order.

"We were really just a fourth-place car there, but caught some good fortune," said Shaw. "Just that long run there, I closed in a lot when they caught lapped traffic. I just used it up too much getting there. I should have known better, to save some for the end for a situation like that, but I was going for broke and just ran out of tire 20 laps too soon. Just glad to hang on for a second there."

Kulwicki Driver Development Program finalist Derek Gluchacki finished third after spending much of the second half of the race in the top five thanks in part to a great pit stop.

"I've got to thank my pit crew, first of all," said Gluchacki. "They absolutely killed the pit stop and put us in a position to have a shot to win. I think we probably had about a third to fifth-place car tonight, and that's where we ended up."

Erick Sands finished fourth, with Nick Sweet rounding out the top five.

Lessard's win added to his points lead with the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour. It also gives him two wins at White Mountain Motorsports Park in 2025, after winning the Kancamagus 150 earlier in the year.

On Sunday, August 17, the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour returns to Circuit Riverside Speedway in Ste-Croix, Quebec for take two of the Yvon Bedard 149, postponed from earlier in the year due to inclement weather.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 Unofficial Results