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| Contributed photo/Tom Hale Placing in the Last Chance Motorsports 150 held Sept. 9 at Spud Speedway were, from left, Mike “Hot Rod” Hopkins from Hermon, second place; Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, race winner; and David Folsom from Skowhegan, third. |
By Tom Hale
Special to the Aroostook Republican
CARIBOU — Once again, the winner of the Last Chance Motorsports 150-lap Late Model Sportsman race held at Spud Speedway is a County native.
Austin Theriault of Fort Kent won the fourth annual event Sept. 9 in front of over 1,500 fans at the Caribou track. Theriault was also the inaugural event winner in 2009 at the tender age of 15.
Despite having to pit during a yellow flag, Theriault fought his way back to front taking the lead for good when he passed Ryan Deane of Winterport. After Deane had troubles and spun off the track, Theriault had to contend with second place Hermon’s Mike “Hot Rod” Hopkins. Hopkins also had to pit after he slid in front of the field in between turns one and two on lap 37 and had to go to the back of the field. Hopkins has been on a tear at his home track — Speedway 95 in Bangor.
“I can’t thank Last Chance Motorsports’ Jere Humphrey enough for putting on this race,” Theriault said. “We had to make a tough choice [Saturday night].” (The American-Canadian Tour (ACT) race at the Autodrome Chaudiere in Quebec was rained out and rescheduled to Sept. 9 at 1 p.m.)
“It’s great to be back in front of the hometown crowd. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. I am sure there were a lot of people who wanted to see us here,” he added.
As far as the race itself, Theriault commented, “It seemed like everyone else was a little better than us for 10 laps. I had to kinda play games in turn four to get a jump on restarts.”
Third place went to Skowhegan’s David Folsom who held off fourth-place finisher Deane Smart and fifth-place finisher and defending champion Shawn Martin, now living in Turner but originally from Frenchville.
Martin led the majority of laps until contact with a back marker, who he was passing, cut down his right rear tire. Martin pitted during a caution returning to the track at the end of the line of lead lap cars with only 40 laps left.
Race winner Theriault raced the Brad Keslowski-owned #29 Super Late Model in Iowa this past weekend.
Race fan Rey Washington of Caribou was not disappointed with the results of the 150-lap race. Before the race he said, “I came to get some good racing for the end of the year. I would like to see a local win like Austin Theriault.”
The Fast Fours 44-lap feature race had plenty of action as the laps wound down. Fred Ashmore Jr. of Hancock was the winner, followed by Speedway 95’s 14-year-old driving sensation, Emma Libby of Glenburn. Tim Collins of Farmingdale placed third, closely followed by Rick Saucier of Wallagrass.
Other results from racing at Spud Speedway:
Northern Lights: first, Donald Rideout of Caribou; second, Garrett Haymon of Milford; and third, Joey Doyon of Winterport, who was driving a car owned by Caribou native Chris Hitchcock.
Street Stock: first, Chris King of Burnham; second, Timmy Card Jr. of Clifton; third, Jeff Willette of Presque Isle
Super Street: first, D.J. Moody of Bucksport; second, Matt Farnham of Mapleton; third, Cris Matchett of Skowhegan.
