BOWMANVILLE, ON- 25-year old Matt Pritiko fought an under-powered car for much of the Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200. But, thanks to a sound strategy and Pritiko’s trademark smoothness, the NCATS Rookie brought home a 16th place finish in his series debut.
“I don’t think our spot on the final rundown is at all indicative of how good of a car we had today”, opined Pritiko in post-race debriefing. “The car felt great through the first 10 laps. We were able to implement our strategy of just hanging back and letting the tempo of the race come to us”
“Just as we started to settle into a groove, the call was made to pit for fuel at lap-15”, continued Pritiko. “That’s when I started to feel the alternator act up. We stalled the car exiting our pit, and had no power to re-fire. We had to bump start it, which cost us a tonne of track position”
With his car surrendering power with each passing lap, Pritiko refused to submit, battling through the following 40-laps.
“After all of our hard work and planning, there’s no way I was tapping out”, laughed Pritiko. “I would have got out and pushed it if I had to. The car was laying down on me pretty bad as the race wore on. I had to shift around 4000 rpm through each gear. There was just no power getting to the ignition box”
Though his NCATS debut was less than ideal, the ever-upbeat Pritiko is more than content to reflect on the positives of his afternoon at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
“We had a top-10 car before the mechanical issues kicked in”, said the London, ON native. “I felt incredibly comfortable with my car, and incredibly confident in my team. There’s not a doubt in my mind that we’ll be battling within the top-10 when we come back at Trois-Rivieres in August”
Matt Pritiko’s NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Debut was made possible thanks to sponsorship from Global Warranty, Toyota Town, Palasad: London’s Best Entertainment & Eatery, Serengeti Sunglasses, AQUAhydrate, NAPA Certified Body Shop, Cadillac Industrial Cleaning, Driven Steering Wheels, Burwell Auto Body, SellToWin.com, Snap’d London and In2Communications.
Matt will return to the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series on August 10th at Circuit de Trois-Rivieres in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.
Fans can stay up to date with Matt at the brand new MattPritiko.com and by following on Twitter @MattPritiko.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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