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

LEE, N.H. – Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, Maine, picked up where he left off last season, finishing third in the ACT Late Model Tour season-opening NH Governor’s Cup 150 at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H., on Sunday, April 15. The finish marked Theriault’s seventh consecutive Top-10 finish in ACT competition dating back to July of 2011, and it was also the best career finish at Lee USA Speedway for the driver of the AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford Ford Fusion. Theriault advanced 16 positions from his starting position of 19th, but a rash of late-race restarts slowed his progress toward the front.

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WHO: Austin Theriault, Fort Kent, Maine
TEAM: AT Racing No. 57 Pelletier Ford Ford Fusion
CREW CHIEF: Mickey Green, South Paris, Maine
WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour NH Governor’s Cup 150
WHERE: Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H. (.375-mile oval)
STARTED: 19th
FINISHED: 3rd
LAPS LED: 0 times for 0 laps
ACT Late Model Tour
NEXT RACE: April 29, Merchants Bank 150, Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (.25-mile oval)

AUSTIN, THIS WAS A SOLID EFFORT TO START THE NEW SEASON.
“Overall, I’m really happy with the day. It’s another weekend that we learned a lot, another weekend we can fill up our notebook, and I think the next time we go back to Lee, we’ll be even better. I think we had one of the best cars in the long run, but that new pit strategy game kind of threw us a curveball.”

WAS THE CAR NOT AS GOOD AFTER THE PIT STOP?
“We took tires when the leaders did, and we made some adjustments. We probably over-adjusted it just a bit, thinking the track would change, and it didn’t. I was on defense at the end, but the guys worked their butts off all day.”

DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR THE TWO LEADERS IN FRONT OF YOU AT THE END OF THE RACE?
“I had a really fast car, maybe the fastest car over long runs. But we had five or six cautions in a row at the end, and that was bad for us. It took us five or six laps – sometimes longer, depending how long the caution was – for the tires to come back in. By the time they did, Brian (Hoar) and Wayne (Helliwell) had put some distance on us.”

HOW GOOD DO YOU FEEL ABOUT 2012 HEADING OUT OF HERE THIS WEEKEND?
“It’ll be tight all year. The way the Top-4 or Top-5 was today, I think it’s going to be a snapshot of how the year’s going to go. It’s going to be really tight (in the standings) and if we can run consistent every week, we’ll be right there.”

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