ST-EUSTACHE, Quebec – Patrick Laperle made a thrilling three-wide, up-the-middle move on a lap 83 restart to claim the Serie ACT Quebec win on Saturday night at Autodrome St-Eustache.
The win for the St-Denis, Quebec driver was the 23rd of his Serie ACT Quebec career, which puts him back in a tie with Donald Theetge at the top on the series’ all-time wins list.
Laperle rode in the second spot on a lap 83 restart with race leader Jean-Francois Dery on his inside. After two false starts, however, race control swapped the first two rows and put third place Jonathan Bouvrette on the inside with rookie driver Eric Gagnon, the first car one lap down, on the outside.
On the restart, Laperle would slip underneath Gagnon from the outside of row two and worked up next to Bouvrette. Laperle would clear Gagnon off of turn two as Dery slipped to the inside of Bouvrette, which allowed Laperle to power away down the backstretch and to the lead by turn three.
From there, Laperle was able to open up a gap back to then second place Dany Trepanier, which was enough after Bouvrette ran down Laperle in the closing stages after he got back to the second spot.
Bouvrette settled for second with Trepanier, who went from fifth-to-second on the final restart, finished third. Dery raced home in the fourth spot with Michael Lavooie, piloting the Larue Motorsports car normally driven by Alex Labbe, completed the top-five finishers.
Donald Theetge, Patrick Cliché, Simon Roussin, Martin Goulet Jr., and Gagnon finished sixth through tenth, respectively.
Heat race wins went to Trepanier and Dery. The race took 65 minutes to complete and featured two caution flags.
Serie ACT Quebec will travel back to Autodrome Montmagny for its fourth race of the season on Saturday, July 22.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS – Excellence Peterbilt 100
Serie ACT Quebec
Autodrome St-Eustache, St-Eustache, Quebec
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Pos.-(Start)-Driver-Hometown
(# — denotes rookie)
1. (5) Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, Que.
2. (8) Jonathan Bouvrette, Blainville, Que.
3. (4) Dany Trepanier, St-Edouard, Que.
4. (1) Jean-Francois Dery, Quebec, Que.
5. (7) Michael Lavoie, Chicoutimi, Que.
6. (3) Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Que.
7. (5) Patrick Cliché, Levis, Que.
8. (10) Simon Roussin, Quebec, Que.
9. (2) Martin Goulet Jr., St-Calizte, Que.
10. (18) # Eric Gagnon, Quebec, Que.
11. (17) Claude Leclerc, Lanoarie, Que.
12. (12) Gaetan Gaudreault, Quebec, Que.
13. (11) # Oliver Bedard, Terrebonne, Que.
14. (9) # Mathieu Kingsbury, Blainville, Que.
15. (13) # Jeremy Roy, Napierville, Que.
16. (15) # Carl Poulin, East Broughton, Que.
17. (16) Claude Lepage, Lavaltrie, Que.
18. (14) Alexandre Jeannotte, St-Remi, Que.
PHOTO: Patrick Laperle earned his 23rd career Serie ACT win in thrilling fashion on Saturday night at Autodrome St-Eustache. (Guy Laroche photo)
