(Press Release from American-Canadian Tour)
For the first time since 1999, the American-Canadian Tour returns to Autodrome Montmagny and the Vermont-based Tour is going back in a big way. The CAN-AM 200 features a $54,986 USD purse with a $10,000 check going to the winner as the Quebec racers defend their home turf from American invaders just miles off the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Of the American Invaders, ACT 100% participants D.J. Shaw, Erick Sands and Cody LeBlanc lead the way. Shaw, the current point leader, has yet to finish outside the top-10 at any of the American-Canadian Tour events so far this season. After claiming the $10,000 prize at White Mountain Motorsports Park on July 30th, Shaw is ready to make it back-to-back 10k wins and fully secure his first American-Canadian Tour championship.
Erick Sands has struggled a bit in his sophomore season with the leading Northeast sanctioning body. After turning around his early season woes, including a wreck at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sands was able to post two strong back-to-back 10th-place finishes at Autodrome Chaudiere and Oxford Plains Speedway. Sands is looking to crack a new best-finish for the season on his first ever trip to Autodrome Montmagny this Saturday.
Another American who has faced plenty of woes is rookie Cody LeBlanc. The former touring Mini Stock star has faced plenty of problems in his first year on the American-Canadian Tour circuit, most of them electrical. Both the New Hampshire Motor and Thunder Road runs floundered with electrical and ignition issues while the Berlin, New Hampshire-native put together a full run at White Mountain in June. After earning the outside pole at Autodrome Chaudiere, the 7NH car died early in the 150-lapper from loose battery connections. The hardworking LeBlanc crew is ready to put it all behind them and hope for a little more luck this trip North of the Border.
Among the Canadian contingent is a list of who’s who in the Quebec Late Model scene. Leading the defenders is the only Quebec ACT Late Model Tour champion Patrick Laperle. ‘Le Grande Laperle’ has had his fair share of success at the Montmagny 3/8-mile including 6 ACT sanctioned wins in the former Serie-ACT tour that called Quebec home from 2007 to 2017. No stranger to extra distance or big money wins either, Laperle would love to add the CAN-AM 200 trophy alongside his Thunder Road Labor Day Classic 200, Montmagny 250 and Airborne Speedway Fall Foliage 300 awards.
Not to be outdone, fellow Serie-ACT Champion Jonathan Bouvrette is also ready to duke it out for the winner’s share of the nearly $55,000 USD purse. Bouvrette bounced back from three Did-Not-Starts at the first three events of the season to take the win at Autodrome Chaudiere in June and a 9th-place at Oxford in July. Once again looking to bounce back, this time from a 15th-place finish at the Milton CAT 250 on July 30th, the 2020 Montmagny track champion will certainly be one to keep an eye on this Saturday night.
Leading rookie of the year candidate Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif is also looking for a good finish in his home territory. Tardif earned his first ACT top-5 at Autodrome Chaudiere and followed it up with his first podium at Oxford. After a rough Milton CAT 250 at White Mountain, Tardif is also ready to use the home court advantage and place himself in a better position for the final half of the 2022 season.
Confirmed entries also include ACT 100%er Remi Perreault and Tom Curley 250 winner Mathieu Kingsbury in the Duroking #9QC. Former Serie-ACT Champion and Montmagny winner Jean-Francois Dery has also entered, along with Martin and Zackary Fateaux. Zackary is looking for his second American-Canadian Tour start after his debut at Chaudiere’s Claude Leclerc 150. Rumors and whispers are all around social media, enough so that we’ve heard that the $10,000-to-Win CAN-AM 200 could break the Montmagny Late Model car count record of 30 cars. That magic 30-car number has been achieved twice at the Montmagny oval, most recently in September of 2020 and also at the Montmagny 200, the first American-Canadian Tour race at Montmagny back in 1999.
The American-Canadian Tour returns to Quebec for the seventh event of the 2022 season with the CAN-AM 200 at Autodrome Montmagny on Saturday, August 20th. A huge field of Quebec stars is expected to battle hard against all American invaders for the $10,000 USD top prize. A talent-filled roster of former ACT-sanctioned winners and champions will be on hand for the first American-Canadian Tour event at the Montmagny 3/8-mile in over twenty years. The CAN-AM 200 will also be broadcast live and around the world on Racing America for Monthly and Yearly subscribers to the streaming service.
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
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