Austin Theriault: ACT Late Model Tour
Lee USA Speedway Race Report

Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, finished eighth in the ACT Late Model Tour season-opening NH Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 17. It was Theriault’s best career finish at Lee USA and it came in his Tour debut with RPM Motorsports. Theriault started 23rd after qualifying for the 30-car field through the consolation round and moved into the Top-10 just after the 100-lap mark. Theriault’s RPM teammate Brian Hoar won the event.

WHO: Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Maine
TEAM: RPM Motorsports No. 57 Varney Insurance Ford

WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour NH Governor’s Cup 150
WHERE: Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H. (.333-mile oval)
STARTED: 23rd
FINISHED: 8th

ACT Late Model Tour
NEXT RACE: May 1, Merchants Bank 150, Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile oval)

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AUSTIN, TALK ABOUT YOUR DEBUT WITH RPM AT LEE USA SPEEDWAY.

Coming out with RPM, I know it’s a great experience to learn a lot from Brian and Rick. My goal was just to come out with a Top-10. Top-10s lead to Top-5s, and Top-5s lead to wins – but we’ll just take it one race at a time. I’m pretty pumped up for the season.

HOW WAS YOUR CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE?

There was a lot of side-by-side racing. I was pretty surprised. There were a lot of wrecks, too.

In the middle of the race, you can’t really judge your car. It will just free right up, and that’s something that we have to learn. Next time we come here, we’ll just have to make sure to start out a lot tighter at the beginning of the race.

DID YOU THINK YOU HAD MORE THAN AN 8th-PLACE FINISH IN THE CAR?

We had a pretty good car. We unloaded (for practice on Saturday) and we were decent. We just kept working on it and working on it.

The car just kept getting stronger and stronger. Toward the middle of the race, I thought we had a Top-5 car. We were coming. We passed quite a few cars. But that final caution came out, and the car just got a little too free.

All in all, I’m not disappointed at all. I think we can learn a lot from this experience.

RICK PAYA, RPM MOTORSPORTS OWNER
RICK, IT WAS A GREAT DAY FOR THE ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE.

It’s very good to win the opener, of course, and to have both of our cars in the Top-8 was pretty awesome. The first time out for Austin, I think he did a helluva job.

We made a lot of progress with Austin and his team, and our guys are spot on right now. We just picked up where we left off from last year. I’m pretty excited about the year.