Last nights Grand Opening Showdown at the Perth Motorplex was quite simply the Andrew Priolo show. After winning the opening heat, he then went on to claim his second heat and then the feature race to have a perfect three from three winning record for the night.

After the original Grand Opening Showdown was rained out on Saturday night, the event was shifted to Tuesday night, which saw five competitors forced to drop out, leaving twenty seven machines for the nights action.

The opening heat saw Jason Priolo leading early from Brendan Condren and Brock Nanovich while Andrew Priolo slotted into fourth. Within a lap Andrew went around Nanovich for third, then two laps went underneath Condren into second. He then caught brother Jason and sat on his tail until the last lap when he made his move and took the lead and the win. Heat two then saw Steven Ellement get the jump off the front row and try as he might, Thomas Davies could not get through, while Jeremy Saffin settled into third place, with the order remaining unchanged through to the end.

Heat three saw front row starter Craig Bottrell pull out before the start, allowing Brad Warwick and Trystan Caley to start on the front row together. Andrew Priolo came from nowhere to snatch the lead and raced away while behind him there were a few hairy moments for a few cars. The yellows came on for a stranded Jeff Prentis and at the restart Brock Nanovich grabbed third place, shortly before second placed Brad Warwick ran out of noise and headed infield. This left Andrew Priolo to take the win from Nanovich and Matt Brown.

The final heat of the night saw former Wingless racer Adrian la Macchia and last years Rookie of the Year Troy Johnson sharing the front row. The duo drag raced down the front straight and remained side by side until the entrance of turn three where Johnson broke away. Behind them Peter Blight, Ricky Drew and Jeremy Saffin were three wide for third place in a spectacular display of racing. As the chequers flew it was Johnson who took the win from La Machia and Steven Ellement who passed the trio in the latter stages of the race.

Come feature time and it was the undefeated Priolo and the fast Steven Ellement sharing the front row. The first start saw Jeremy Saffin spin on the back straight with Prentis spinning to avoid him and the field was bought back for a second go. Unfortunately the second attempt was worse, after Ricky Drew tagged the back of Thomas Davies, dug in and rolled. It was at this time that former national champion Matt Brown retried with tyre issues. The field finally got underway but it didn't last long as Prentis was forced to spin to avoid the slowing Chris Dymock. By this point Janssen, Steven Gay and Nanovich had all also headed infield, leaving a slightly depleted field to restart.

The race continued and came under yellow a couple more times before the red lights came on at a restart with just four laps to go after Matt Higgs unloaded his machine in turn one, rolling heavily. Despite all that was going on behind him, Andrew Priolo never wavered and continued on and claimed a strong win ahead of Steven Ellement and Troy Johnson.

The Formula 500 brigade will now have a short break, though there are a few machines that are going to have a run at Narrogin Speedway this Saturday night. Stay tuned for all the latest details on everything Formula 500's to be released soon!

Release and photos by DTN Media.

Official Results
Heat One - 1. Andrew Priolo, 2. Jason Priolo, 3. Brendan Condren, 4. Brock Nanovich, 5. Troy Johnson, 6. Adrian Fogliani. 7. Chris Dymock, 8. Craig Bottrell, 9. Peter Blight, 10. Brad Warwick, 11. Brett Janssen, 12. Jai Dillon, 13. Brooke-Louise Sharpe.

Heat Two - 1. Steven Ellement, 2. Thomas Davies, 3. Jeremy Saffin, 4. Steven Gay, 5. Matt Higgs, 6. Matt Brown, 7. Adrian la Macchia, 8. Glenn Carstairs, 9. Ricky Drew, 10. Gavin Connelly, 11. Jeff Prentis, 12. Tristan Caley, 13. Chanelle Condren. DNF: Jeff Ross.

Heat Three - 1. Andrew Priolo, 2. Brock Nanovich, 3. Matt Brown, 4. Matt Higgs, 5. Steven Gay, 6. Jason Priolo, 7. Thomas Davies, 8. Trystan Caley, 9. Jai Dillon, 10. Brooke-Louise Sharpe, 11. Chanelle Condren. DNF: Brad Warwick, Jeff Prentis, Craig Bottrell.

Heat Four - 1. Troy Johnson, 2. Adrian la Macchia, 3. Steven Ellement, 4. Peter Blight, 5. Ricky Drew, 6. Jeremy Saffin, 7. Chris Dymock, 8. Glenn Carstairs, 9. Gavin Connelly, 10. Adrian Fogliani, 11. Brendan Condren, 12. Brett Janssen, 13. Jeff Ross.

Feature Race - 1. Andrew Priolo, 2. Steven Ellement, 3. Troy Johnson, 4. Thomas Davies, 5. Jason Priolo, 6. Adrian la Macchia, 7. Jeremy Saffin, 8. Adrian Fogliani, 9. Craig Bottrell, 10. Gavin Connelly, 11. Trystan Caley, 12. Glenn Carstairs, 13. Jeff Prentis, 14. Brooke-Louise Sharpe, 15. Chanelle Condren. DNF: Matt Higgs, Jai Dillon, Jeff Ross, Peter Blight, Brad Warwick, Brock Nanovich, Steven Gay, Brett Janssen, Chris Dymock, Brendan Condren, Matt Brown, Ricky Drew.

Andrew Priolo