STAFFORD – For racers, notebooks are like gold.
Leading up to this week’s racing card, Stafford SK Modified driver Cory DiMatteo decided to go digging through his notes and go back in time.
“Me and [crew chief Ed Flemke Jr.] were bouncing ideas of each other and I literally powered up my old cell phone from when I started racing [SK Modifieds at Stafford] and found one of the setups that I ran really well with and I just swung it,” DiMatteo said. “I said ‘Screw it, it’s either going to be good or it can’t get much worse.’”
The big swing got results for DiMatteo.
The Farmington driver was dominant on the way to victory in the 40-lap SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“This is the car that I remember driving in 2018, 2019 and 2020 when I got my first win,” DiMatteo said,. “I’m super proud of my team. We worked our ass off this week and it showed.”
It was the second win of the season for DiMatteo and his fifth overall in the division.
“This thing was ridiculous.” DiMatteo said. “This is the car we’ve been missing the past couple weeks. I’ve really got to thank my dad. We thought we were lacking in performance with the motor and that’s all he needed to hear. He ponied up with a fresh one and it showed tonight.”
Jon Puleo of Branford was second and Steven Chapman of Ellington third.
“I was just a little bit off, but a lot better than we were,” Puleo said. “I guess complaining about second is a good thing.”
Chapman was racing in a car owned by longtime Stafford competitor Tom Bolles.
“I’d like to thank Tom Bolles,” Chapman said. “… We wrecked our car three weeks ago and we gave them a call and he was all on board with it. I cannot thank them enough. I truly appreciate it. The car was on rails tonight. It wasn’t as fast as I would like it, but I’ll take third place any day of the week. It was fun as hell.”
On the initial attempt to start the event, pole-sitter Tyler Hines got spun to the infield coming off turn four to take the green flag after contact from Troy Talman.
On the second attempt to start the race, Mikey Flynn got the jump on Hines at the start with Puleo moving to second.
On lap two Puleo was able to use the outside lane off of turn four to overtake Flynn for the lead.
Michael Gervais Jr. got under Flynn in turn two on lap three and the pair battled side-by-side for second. Gervais was able to clear Flynn for the position off turn two on lap four.
In a battle for fifth position, Keith Rocco and Noah Korner made contact with Rocco getting into the backstretch wall. With Rocco spinning multiple cars piled into the melee with Marcello Rufrano briefly getting airborne after launching off the back of Jimmy Blewett’s car. The wreck also collected David Arute, Tyler Hines, Dylan Kopec and Talman.
After a long delay for cleanup, the race restarted with Puleo holding the top spot. The caution was back out on lap 11 when Talman spun in turn three.
Puleo held the top spot on the restart with DiMatteo making the moves toward the front when the green flag returned. DiMatteo got by Flynn for third on lap 12 and then got by Gervais for second on lap 13.
On lap 18 DiMatteo got under Puleo in a battle for the lead off turn two. The pair came to the line to complete the lap side-by-side with Puleo leading by inches. Of off turn two on lap 19 DiMatteo was able to clear Puleo for the lead. Behind them Steven Chapman was up to third by Gervais.
Caution was back out on lap 27 after Flynn spun while battling Anthony Flannery for sixth place. Flannery was penalized for the incident.
DiMatteo got away from Puleo on the lap 27 restart. By lap 29, Korner, who had been penalized for the early incident with Rocco, was up to fifth. On lap 32 Arute was able to get by Korner to take over fifth.
On lap 40 Arute was able to overtake Todd Owen for fourth place after a five-lap battle for the position.
Chalk up another big win for the bullet proof Owen. While Blewett’s surveying the damage after getting run over concerned about returning in an unsafe car as JJ and the crew work feverishly Owen once dodges a bullet. Blewett again starting in front of Owen and ending behind him.
Have to say at this stage of Owen’s career it appears he’s in his own class as far as the SK’s go. Saying something in that ridiculously competitive division.
ANOTHER DQ for Kopcik!!!
Ken L,
A few people have asked why Kopcik is listed as a DQ on the SK Modified results on the Stafford website. Not sure why. Guessing it’s an issue with how the results come through the system. Was told he signed a car in but never practiced and didn’t go out for the feature.
Heard kopcik got caught playing tire inventory games. This guy shows up to a track now with an sk and there’s like a 50-50 chance he’s going to get disqualified.
The Real Gary,
The designation has been changed to DNS (did not start) on the results. So there was no disqualification.
Well for what ever reason Kopcik took a trip to Jersey and stomped them.