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Mark Cote Photo
Barre, VT — After introducing the current class of full-time warriors set to take on the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour last week, the time has come to do the same for the incoming rookie class. Three freshman drivers currently entered to travel on the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour are ready to visit new-to-them tracks across New England and Quebec, Canada while digging deep to out-duel each other for the coveted Rookie of the Year title!
First introduced last week, Dover, New Hampshire’s Justin Storace is the son of longtime Southern New Hampshire racer Jim Storace, making a name for himself by competing in multiple divisions on his way up the ladder at Star Speedway in Epping. After several seasons in Street Stock and 350 Supermodified competition, the young Storace jumped up into Star’s Late Model class in 2022 and will be on the road in 2025 with car owner Jimmy Basnar in the James R. Rosencrantz John Deere #47MA.
Maine sends along another driver who got his feet wet last summer during the two 125-lap events at Oxford Plains Speedway. Buxton’s Colby Meserve has already had quite a career, picking up both the NELCAR Legends Rookie of the Year honor and later the 2019 championship for the touring legend circuit. After moving up as a Beech Ridge Motor Speedway regular, Meserve first joined the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour last summer and as an owner/driver will tackle the international tour with his Ridgeline HVAC #92ME.
Rounding out the three rookie candidates is Riverside, Rhode Island’s Connor Souza. This young-gun has driven just about everything on his way to the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour, rising from Go-Karts, Bandoleros and Legend Cars before taking on the Pro Truck Challenge in his first foray in full-sized stock car racing. In 2023 Souza moved to the Late Model class at his Seekonk Speedway home-track, capturing the Rookie of the Year title and taking the Everett’s Auto Parts Triple Crown at the Cement Palace last summer! With two cars in the garage, Souza is ready to take his #38RI family team, with backing from Munroe Dairy, on the road and looks forward to a competitive season.
“It’s always good to see a strong rookie class join on,” said ACT managing partner Cris Michaud. “The rookie battle is always fun to keep an eye on and these three young veterans bring a lot of different racing experiences to the table. It’ll be interesting to watch them adjust and get better as the season gets along.”
The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour championship chase begins in earnest on Sunday, April 13 with the 5th annual Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour Late Models will battle for 50 of the fastest laps of the year on the Magic Mile to kick off the 14-race schedule!
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
For more information about Milton CAT, visit their website at www.miltoncat.com or get updates from their Instagram account at @milton_cat.
