Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour heat winners Kaiden Fisher and Gabe Brown earned the front row of the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 by each earning a +5 in qualifying action. After suffering with ignition issues all of Friday practice, Fisher made his presence known by leading the early circuits before Jimmy Renfrew Jr. got around him on the lap 7 restart. Renfrew kept pace ahead of the pack while the 32-car field spread out, easing the pressure on their Hoosier Racing Tires against the rough, aged surface of Lee USA Speedway.
A rough outing for rookie Holdyn Sullivan took a turn for the worse, spinning off of turn two and hard into the outside wall. Back under green, former Quebec champion Jonathan Bouvrette made a strong run to the front along with Gabe Brown as Brown took over the lead. With 50 laps remaining, Bouvrette continued to gain on lap times but lap traffic worked in Brown’s favor.
A series of late-race yellows did nothing to slow down Gabe Brown as he took down the return of the New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway Saturday afternoon. Defending Governor’s Cup victor Brandon Barker kept his nose clean to take second with Renfrew holding on for third in the victory lane podium. Jake ‘The Jet’ Johnson made it two top-five finishes in a row with Geoff Rollins taking fifth. Fisher and Bouvrette held on for sixth and seventh, respectively, followed across the line by Alexendre Tardif, Bryan Mason and Jesse Switser rounding out the top-ten.
Brandon Barker quickly found his way to the front of the PASS Super Late Model Strafford County 150 but it was far from a runaway with Gabe Brown, Joey Doiron and Derek Griffith stalking close behind. With the first 45 laps down, Doiron turned up the wick inside the Petit Motorsports #73D just as the left-rear went flat underneath Wayne Helliwell Jr.’s orange machine. Back under green it was the same song and dance out front with Barker pacing the field in the Corvette Parts machine with tire strategy in full effect until the caution flag flew once again for the stopped Jimmy Renfrew Jr. on lap 66. Another green flag run would continue to run until lap 100 as second-place chaser Joey Doiron also lost his left-rear shoe in turn four. No-one could stand in the way of Brandon Barker who drove the race of his career to take his first PASS Super Late Model victory over Gabe Brown and Cole Robie at the line.
After Bill Penfold led the majority of the PASS Modified feature action, a collection of mid-race mishaps re-racked the field again and again with a mixed bag of comers and goers. While fellow veteran Spencer Morse worked his way to the front, so did young rising star Reed Reno to take the point. Reno would take down just his second career PASS Modified victory with Morse and Jacoby Maines rounding out the podium.
The NELCAR Legends started off their season at Lee USA Speedway with Jake Kelley launching off with the lead and took the caution-free 25-lap season opener to kick their season off. David Stone III kept it interesting for his second-place finish over Chase MacKay in third.
The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour is headed home to Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont for the 28th annual Community Bank 150 alongside the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers, rk Miles Street Stocks and Burnett Scrap Metal Road Warriors with a 1:30pm Post Time. Grandstands open at 10:00am with Adult General Admission tickets available for $30, kids 12-6 for $10 and children 5 and under free!
