It was a tough event for 16-year-old Raphaël Lessard at the Winchester ARCA 200 on Sunday. The St-Joseph-de-Beauce native had a flat on his right front tire during the 49th lap, causing him to hit the wall and damage the right side of the car. He was nevertheless able to get back on track and complete the race in 10th position, having slipped down to 14th place and two laps behind at one point.
It is on the Winchester Speedway, with 31-degree banking turns, that Raphaël took the wheel of the #25 Musselman’s BIG CUP Apple Sauce-Toyota-Camry prepared by Venturini Motorsports. Having fought a great battle with the best drivers for the pole position on Saturday, he hoped for a first-time Top 3 in the ARCA series during Sunday’s race. Sadly, a flat tire put a serious damper on all hopes.
Having qualified 7th on Saturday for the 200-lap race, Lessard climbed into the Top 3 in the early laps of the race. “Everything was going great at the beginning of the race,” says the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver, “I started the race 7th and climbed up to 3rd place. The car was so good that I thought I could win the race. But then the car started pushing in the corners. The team asked me to run along the wall to avoid an accident if ever it was a flat, and sure enough, the next lap I hit the wall when my front right tire exploded!”
Raphaël earned a Lucky Dog on a subsequent yellow flag when he was 2 laps down and in 14th position. This helped him gain back some positions and secure the final Top 10 spot, one lap behind the leader, despite brake issues from his earlier incident.
“It was my third and final race in ARCA this year. I want to thank Toyota-TRD for the races, and giving me the opportunity to race in this series. I also want to thank Venturini Motorsports for providing me with great cars at every race.”
“Raphael was fantastic today in his series return with Venturini Motorsports,” said Venturini Motorsports crew chief Dave Leiner. He’s already proven himself as one of the top tiered super late model drivers in the country and based on what he showed me today it won’t be long before he joins the same conversation in the upper ranks. If he hadn’t blown out his right front tire early in the race I believe he would’ve challenged Benjamin for the win. His maturity and growth behind the wheel has come a long way since his earlier start with us (VMS) in the season. I’d like to see him get more opportunities. He’s got what it takes to win at this level.
Raphaël’s next race will be August 9th at the Kalamazoo Speedway for the Kalamazoo Klash XXV presented by West Michigan Toyota Dealers and ARCA/CRA Super Series. Kyle Busch will be joining this event, it will be the second time Raphaël races against this NASCAR Champion.
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