LONDON, Ont. – May 17, 2018 – Since the 2017 racing season concluded, a lot of change has taken place inside the walls of the Matt Pritiko Motorsports shop. Pretty well the only thing that hasn’t changed is the driver. After a seven-month layoff, Matt Pritiko is eager to jump behind the wheel of his brand new Global Warranty No.21 Toyota Camry when the APC United Late Model Series takes its first green flag of the season in the Kleen-Flo 100 at Sunset Speedway on Saturday, May 19.
When Pritiko hits the track, it will be on board a brand new McColl Racing Enterprises car with a fresh Ilmor Engineering-prepared motor under the hood of his No.21.
“We’re starting completely fresh,” Pritiko said of his new ride. “I’m very eager. We did two test days – one at Delaware for a shake down and one at Sunset for a full test. It’s a huge improvement from the last car. It was really quick right out of the box with very few adjustments.”
While the steel and tin of Pritiko’s No.21 is new, fans will still recognize the London, Ont. native’s car when it rolls on to the track. Pritiko is maintaining a familiar look and is excited to welcome back all of his marketing partners for the 2018 season, including Global Warranty, NAPA Certified Bodyshops, Burwell Autobody, Cadillac Industrial Cleaning, Glencoe Auto Recyclers, SellToWin.com, Wix Filters, Toyota-Town.com and Palasad of London.
“I’m really thankful that we have all our sponsors on board again this year, especially Global Warranty,” Pritiko said. “They’ve been my main sponsor for the last eight years and supported us from touring cars into Late Models.”
Pritiko is coming off a third-place finish in the APC United Late Model Series point standings last season. It was a successful year with several podium finishes, but it’s certainly not lost on Pritiko that his team went winless in 2017. It’s a stat his group is using as motivation entering 2018.
“We’re extremely hungry,” Pritiko said frankly. “We think this is our year. We have a couple of new team members, so we have the team to do it and we definitely have the car to do it. It’s going to be up to me to accomplish those goals.”
Chasing the championship in the ultra-competitive APC Series is no easy task. The Series has seen three different champions in its three-year history and Pritiko knows that in order to become the fourth, a strong start to the season will go a long way towards achieving his goal.
“It’s very important,” he said. “You want a strong start to the season so that if something happens midway or at the end of the season, you won’t really have to worry about it affecting you too much. You want to be strong out of the box and earn at least a top-five finish, but we’re always going for the win.”
The biggest challenge for Pritiko and his fellow APC Series competitors may be getting a handle on the new Bilstein AS2 shock package that was introduced over the off-season.
“You can’t really do much at the shop sitting there,” Pritiko said. “It’s a new shock, so we’re all going to have to learn the ins and outs of it. It’ll be interesting to see what everybody does.”
The 2018 APC United Late Model Series schedule is composed of nine races at six different Ontario short tracks. Follow Matt Pritiko from the first green flag to the final checkered flag via his website at www.MattPritiko.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattPritiko, on Twitter @MattPritiko and on Intstagram @MattPritiko21.
2018 SEASON STATS
Matt Pritiko – 0 Starts: 0 Wins, 0 Top-5, 0 Top-10s
First Event: May 19, 2018 – Kleen-Flo 100 at Sunset Speedway
MATT PRITIKO MEDIA
Website: www.mattpritiko.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/MattPritiko
Twitter: @MattPritiko
Instagram: @MattPritiko21
PRITIKO’S PARTNERS
Matt Pritiko is proud to partner with several dedicated marketing partners for the 2018 race season, including Global Warranty, NAPA Certified Bodyshops, Burwell Autobody Ltd., Cadillac Industrial Cleaning, Glencoe Auto Recyclers, SellToWin.com, Wix Filters, Toyota-Town.com and Palasad of London.
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