LONDON, ON- Matt Pritiko opened up his Delaware Speedway season in impressive fashion, charging from his 8th place starting spot to a runner-up finish in the first Pro Late Model event of 2014.
“We had a great car tonight, this is definitely the way we were hoping to kick off our season”, smiled Pritiko. “This thing was fast right off the hauler, but my team still worked their hearts out to make it better”
Pritiko sat atop the speed charts throughout practice, before logging a pair of top-3 finishes in his qualifying heat races.
“We were fastest in every practice session, which is awesome”, Pritiko explained. “Anytime you can knock down consistent 18.8s here, it’s a good night. Starting mid-pack in our heat races made it tough on us, but we were happy with a pair of third place finishes heading into the feature”
In the feature event, Pritiko rolled from outside the 4th row, and had his work cut out for him in his trek to the front of the field.
“This Late Model division just gets better every season”, said Pritiko. “When you take a look at the starting lineup and realize how many former champions and past feature winners are in front of you, it definitely drives the point home that we’re racing against the cream of the crop”
Pritiko’s Global Warranty No. 21 appeared stout, as the London, ON native worked through traffic, but Pritiko would run out of laps before gaining on leader – and eventual winner – Mark Watson and be forced to settle for second.
“The way this car performed gives us a lot to look forward to, this season”, said the ever-positive Pritiko. “We had a long-run car tonight, and the cautions didn’t quite fall our way late in the going. Mark [Watson] had a fast car and drove a great race, so hats off to him and his team”
“We’ll go back to the shop, do a little fine tuning and be ready for the 100-lapper on June 27th”
Matt will return to competition this Saturday, June 14th at Flamboro Speedway for the opening round of the Grisdale Triple Crown Tournament. Details for the event can be found at www.FlamboroSpeedway.net
Matt Pritiko is proud to carry support 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.
Fans can follow Matt on Twitter @MattPritiko, keep up with him via his Matt Pritiko Motorsports page on Facebook and check out all that’s happening in 2014 at the brand new www.MattPritiko.com
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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