Andrew Priolo was vocal last season about wanting his first feature race win in a Sprintcar, but the honour proved elusive.
With a new season now underway, Priolo has changed his perspective. He believes one victory, even his first, isn’t good enough.
“I was disappointed last year being so close to winning (features),” he said. “This year instead of saying we want our first win, we want more than one win.
“Last season was up and down, challenging, but rewarding in some parts. The podiums were the highlights and we want to build on that.”
Priolo believed it would be a case of right place, right time for being first to the chequered flag. As part of a dynasty of Sprintcar racers, he has plenty of history on his side.
“We had really good car speed at times and other times sort of struggled. I had silly errors that didn’t need to happen and wrong pace at the wrong time and putting myself into positions I didn’t need to be in.”
Priolo finished third in Bunbury recently for his first podium of the current season, and then managed a fifth place at the Scardifields Smash Repairs King of Wings on Saturday, coming back from a relatively poor qualifying performance.
A little bit of superstition may play into Priolo’s chances in events to come, as he has switched race numbers to the family’s famed #8. Some racers avoid changing numbers for fear of bad luck, but for Priolo the number is a badge to wear with pride, having been run by his father Pino and brother David. With new sponsor Sea Doo Sport and Leisure coming on board for the season, the timing was right.
“It has been playing on my mind for a number of years, because I still wasn’t convinced David was done (racing),” Andrew said “Mum and Dad have been on about carrying on the tradition. It was a big decision to make that change, but in the back of my head if I was going to do a rebrand and have a major sponsor I wanted the #8. Fortunately the colours of my new major sponsor are back to the family colours as well; that wasn’t intentional but it worked out.”
Priolo will contest the City of Kwinana Cup this Saturday night at Perth Motorplex. The event is a promotional partnership between the venue and its suburban home. Perth Motorplex speedway manager said it was the first time in the 20 year history of the venue the two administrations had joined forces in this way.
“We have a common goal to get people to visit the City of Kwinana and we are proud to have Australia’s best speedway facility located within the City,” he said.
“The Perth Motorplex team were in the City of Kwinana township last Friday with a display of speedway machines and we have an awesome roster of divisions set to compete including the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series, Carbusters Pro Dirt Late Model Series, Pool Shop Group Speedcars, Red Pepper Promotions Speedcars, Stars of the Future Junior Sedans, plus a demonstration of Australian speedway’s newest class, the West Coast Outlaw Karts.”
Story Credit – Luke Nieuwhof
Photo Credit – Peter Roebuck
