Barre, VT – In a rare turn of events at the Nation’s Site of Excitement Sunday afternoon, three traveling members of the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour shocked the usually dominant hometown defenders at Thunder Road International Speedbowl with a sweep of the victory lane podium!
Thirty-five Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour drivers entered the Thunder Road pit area vying for starting position in the 28th annual Community Bank, n.a. 150 on Sunday. Three rounds of qualifying events whittled them down to twenty-nine starters on the grid. Current number-two point man Jake ‘The Jet’ Johnson earned the pole position with a ‘+4’ handicap alongside 2025 Serie ACT Quebec champion Jeff Côte in just his first visit to the Barre highbanks.
Côte quickly shot to the top spot from the outside pole with Thunder Road regulars Justin Prescott, Taylor Hoar and front-running ACT point man Gabe Brown riding in the top five. Meanwhile, the two most recent Thunder Road Kings of the Road, Kaiden Fisher and Jason Corliss, waged a side-by-side battle for seventh throughout the early goings.
The Granite State Pro Stock Series is expanding its 2026 Loyalty Program with new sponsors Strange Oval and Velocita by Little Webbs, offering enhanced rewards for competitors. The program now includes a $100 gift certificate from Strange Oval and tiered awards from Velocita, including a custom fire suit package for the series champion.
Strange Oval will distribute a $100 gift certificate via random draw to all registered participants, emphasizing its commitment to grassroots racing. Velocita by Little Webbs will reward the 2026 Series Champion with a custom fire suit package valued at $2,225, the Runner-Up with 50% off any suit, and the Third Place Finisher with a $250 gift certificate toward suits over $750.
Michael Parks of Strange Oval highlighted the program’s focus on supporting racers, stating, ‘Strange Oval brings over 60 years of racing innovation to the oval track world… we’re proud to support grassroots racers.’ Velocita’s addition further elevates the rewards available to competitors in the 2026 season.
White Mountain Motorsports Park (WMMP) and the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour announced a new prize program for local Late Model drivers, offering two Hoosier Race Tires and 5 gallons of Sunoco Race Fuel to the highest-finishing 1764 Sports Bar & Grill Late Model in both the Milton CAT Midsummer Classic 250 (August 1) and Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Fall Foliage 200 (September 19). The R&R Race Parts NH Challenge requires competitors to participate in at least 80% of WMMP events leading up to both races, with at least three eligible drivers in each event.
“This is a great challenge for our weekly Late Models and adds another layer of competitiveness when the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour comes to town,” said ACT General Manager Cale King. “We’re thankful to Jim and Melissa Renfrew for believing in this program and we’re excited to see where it goes from here!”
The 2026 season at WMMP kicks off with HK Powersports Opening Day on May 16, featuring a six-division full card of racing, followed by the Pro All Stars Series Spring Spectacular on May 17. The R&R Race Parts NH Challenge will be featured at both the August 1 Midsummer Classic 250 and September 19 Fall Foliage 200.
NASCAR will host multiple national series events at Phoenix Raceway in early March, with the Cup Series’ Straight Talk Wireless 500 scheduled for March 8 and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ GOVX 200 set for March 7. The Cup Series race will cover 312 laps over 312 miles with a purse of $11.23 million, while the O’Reilly Series event features a 200-mile race with a prize pool of $1.65 million.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will compete at Darlington Raceway on March 20 in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, a 200.8-mile race with a purse of $839,700. Broadcast details for all events are available through NASCAR’s media channels.
The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour has announced a new partnership with California-based Swift Springs for the 2026 season. The performance coil spring manufacturer will award a spring product certificate to the second-place finisher in each Tour event throughout the year, including the non-point Vermont Milk Bowl presented by Northfield Savings Bank on October 4th.
Swift Springs has also awarded the organization four certificates — each good for a pair of springs — to be distributed via blind draw to participating Late Model competitors across the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour, Serie ACT Quebec, Thunder Road Speedbowl, and White Mountain Motorsports Park.
The driver and co-owner of the No. 52 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Halmar Friesen Racing, Friesen is a native of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario – about an eight-hour drive west of the track – and now lives only three hours away. He is well aware of the spirit New England and Canadian fans bring to tracks around the U.S. and southern Canada throughout the racing season.
“We have a lot of great race fans from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick,” said Friesen, who enters this weekend’s Kansas race 11th in the NCTS point standings with one top-five and three top-10s on the season. “We got to race up there last year and meet some of those people, so it’s a great melting pot for the Canadian fans to come down and get their NASCAR fix.”
