Back-To-Back Top-10 Finishes Cap Theriault’s Season
BARRE, Vt. – Austin Theriault put the finishing touches on a tremendous second half to the ACT Late Model Tour Season this weekend, posting a fifth-place finish in the Rent-A-Wreck Fall Foliage 200 at Airborne Speedway in the Tour finale on Saturday.
Theriault followed that effort with a ninth-place showing in the 49th annual People’s United Bank Milk Bowl on Sunday.
“Overall, we had a decent weekend,” Theriault said. “Fifth to round out the season at Airborne, that kind of made up for our finish (in the Milk Bowl). The guys worked hard.”
Theriault closed the 2011 ACT season with six straight Top-5 finishes dating all the way back to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway at the end of July. Unoffcially, the late surge put him third in the final standings.
“To be in the Top-5 at every points race since Beech Ridge, that just goes to show how the points add up after a while,” Theriault said. “Winning one’s good, but if you can finish in the Top-5 every week, I think that’s even better. We’ll just keep working hard in the offseason and come back stronger.”
Theriault qualified 10th for the Milk Bowl at Thunder Road International Speedbowl – making his second Milk Bowl in as many tries – and posted a best finish of seventh in the final segment of the three-segment race.
The car never quite handled the way it had in practice, when the No. 57 Varney Insurance Ford was among the Top-5 cars in every session.
“I’m really not sure exactly what happened,” Theriault said. “Off the truck, we were a Top-3 car. I know you can only judge your car so much by how it is on the speed charts, but it was good. When we put the race tires on, it just didn’t respond.
“We tried making changes throughout the day, all three segments, but it just kept getting worse and worse. We’ll have to go back to the shop and see exactly what happened.”