Waterbury, VT – The latest entry in the People’s United Bank Milk Bowl, to be held on Sat-Sun, October 04-05, 2014 at Thunder Road in Barre, VT, is Austin Theriault from Fort Kent, Maine. Theriault began his Late Model racing career with the American Canadian Tour (ACT) in 2010 as a sixteen-year-old rookie. Just like newly crowned 2014 ACT Champion, Joey Polewarczyk, Jr, from Hudson, NH, Theriault helped set the standard for the new younger generation of ACT racers in the Northeast.
Theriault has spent the last two years running in the Super Late Model division in the Southeast and Midwest. He took an opportunity with BKR (NASCAR star Brad Keslowski development program) in 2013, and saw tremendous success. In 2014, Theriault was contracted by JR Motorsports, headed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., to race in the second tier division of NASCAR, the Nationwide Series. He competed at Iowa Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and most recently at the Kentucky Motor Speedway. He had outstanding results with 15th, 21st and 18th place finishes respectively.
He also got to compete with many of the top stars of NASCAR in their second highest premiere division. Also, in his first race with the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), Austin won the race on the two-mile Michigan International Speedway this past summer. He finished third in the season long standings in 2012 on the American Canadian Tour; he won the 150 lap race at the Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in his home state of Maine in August of 2012.
“I really want to win the Milk Bowl at Thunder Road. Ever since my first Milk Bowl race in 2010 it has been a goal of mine. It really was one of the toughest and most fun races during my years with ACT. After being away for a couple of years, I know it will be a challenge, especially at Thunder Road, which is unlike any other track I have been to. I know there are lots of new teams since my days with ACT, but it will still feel like sort of a homecoming for me. I can’t wait,” said Theriault.
Theriault will race the RGR car driven by regular ACT competitor Travis Stearns. He will team up with old crew chief Mickey Green from Crazy Horse Racing in So. Paris, ME. The RGR entry has come off two very strong back-to-back top ten showings, first at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway Bond Auto Invitational on September 20th with an 8th place finish, and last weekend at the Fall Foliage 200, the team finished 4th in a very competitive field. Owner of RGR, Rick Green said, “This is going to be a fun weekend at Thunder Road. When Travis had a wedding to attend over Milk Bowl weekend and Austin was available to drive the 16ME car, there was no question that this weekend will be intense and a lot of fun.”
The weather forecast has begun to improve and officials from Thunder Road are hopeful that qualifying can be done Saturday afternoon. The forecast for Sunday calls for a return to autumn weather with partial sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50’s. “We are looking forward to having Austin with us this weekend. The weather seems to be improving and we feel confident that the 52nd annual Peoples United Bank Milk Bowl will not disappoint our fans. With the added attraction of Speed 51 TV picking the Milk Bowl for its new Pay-per-view program, we are looking forward to people across the country being able to watch what we expect to be one of the best runs for the Milk Bowl ever,” said Thunder Road co-owner Tom Curley.