N. WOODSTOCK, N.H. – Thirty-seven American-Canadian Tour teams made the trek to New Hampshire’s White Mountain Motorsports Park to contest both the Fall Foliage 200 and crown the Triple Crown champion.
photo by Mark A. Cote
The pit area was packed Saturday afternoon with thirty-seven teams, all vying for one of thirty starting positions through three rounds of qualifying action. Multi-time White Mountain Motorsports Park track champion Quinny Welch, Canadian invader William Larue, Lancaster, N.H.’s Jamie Swallow Jr. and Shelburne, Vt.’s Kaiden Fisher all took heat race qualifying wins with Fisher being the biggest winner of the bunch. Fisher earned a plus-five in the Plus/Minus handicap pool to rocket to the top with the pole position in the Fall Foliage 200 with former Midsummer Classic 250 winner Jesse Switser starting to his outside.
Both drivers were looking for redemption after tough luck in the closing laps of August’s 250 with Fisher showing the early way before Switser took over the top spot on lap five. A pair of single car spins for Jaime Swallow Jr. and Stephen Martin slowed the pace early just before Fisher’s poor luck at White Mountain continued on lap 37 with steam billowing from under the hood, sending him pitside for lengthy repairs before returning later in the race.
photo by Mark A. Cote
Two-time White Mountain winner Raphael Lessard made his case for three-in-a-row on lap 38 by motoring by Switser for the lead and getting the extra points in the Triple Crown. Lessard was on top but faced a rearview mirror full of Gabe Brown leading into the competition caution for fuel only on lap 55. Brown charged to the front on lap 58 and started the most dominant run of the season to lap back to fifth on the grid en-route to his second consecutive Fall Foliage 200, adding the icing to the cake on a happy twenty-third birthday for the Center Conway, N.H., driver.
photo by Mark A. Cote
After losing the lead, Lessard also fell back in the Triple Crown leaving it to D.J. Shaw at the halfway point but as the laps wound down the Triple Crown came to light. Shaw’s third-place finish netted him 210 points on the leaderboard but a fourth-place run for Massachusetts hot-shoe Derek Gluchacki also earned the Bay Stater 210 points. Down to the three Triple Crown finishes to decide the tie-breaker, Gluchacki’s win in the 50th Spring Green held at Seekonk Speedway back in June earned him the Triple Crown Championship after three years of top-three overall finishes.
Jesse Switser held on to round out the top five with Erick Sands taking sixth and invader Joey Doiron took seventh in the Gabe Brown Racing backup car. William Larue took eighth followed by fellow Quebecer Alexendre Tardif and Justin Prescott to round out the top-ten.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (local competitors)
American-Canadian Tour – Fall Foliage 200
12. 45NH, Stephen Martin, Craftsbury Common
