STAFFORD – It’s fair to say the 2025 season at Stafford Speedway hasn’t lived up to expectations for Corey DiMatteo.
Coming into Friday’s event card at Stafford, DiMatteo’s best finish of the season in the SK Modified division was eighth, with just two top-10 finishes over nine events.
Friday the Farmington driver put the frustrations in the rear view, in dramatic style.
DiMatteo held off a charging Mike Christopher Jr. over the final three laps to win the 40-lap SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“I’ve just got to thank all my guys,” DiMatteo said. “We went through a lot of bullshit this year. And to find victory lane is just amazing.”
The victory snapped a 25-race winless streak for DiMatteo dating back to the 2024. DiMatteo won three consecutive events in May of 2024 at Stafford and went winless over the final 16 events of the season.
“It’s been tough,” DiMatteo said. “You kind of think you forget how to drive. I hear people say it all the time when they go through slumps but I’ve never been through one this bad. It’s like, you never really get that down on yourself, but you do, It means a lot to break out of it and get a win.”
It was the ninth career SK Modified victory at Stafford for DiMatteo, who dedicated the victory to his uncle, Jon Manafort, who passed away in December of 2024.
“So I never had a grandfather, so he was like the grandfather me and my brother never had,” DiMatteo said. “No matter how busy the guy was and how much stuff he had going on, he always stopped down at the race shop, he always sent a text at the race track. He was just there. He was always in your corner no matter if you made a mistake or … he just had your back 100 percent. He didn’t have to and that meant a lot to us.”
Christopher, of Wolcott, was second and Marcello Rufrano of North Branford third.
After a lap four caution, DiMatteo and Christopher checked out from the field.
DiMatteo kept Christopher a few car lengths behind for most of the extended green flag run, but lapped traffic forced DiMatteo to slow late and Christopher got to his bumper by lap 37.
Christopher couldn’t find the lane around DiMatteo over the final three laps.
“I got to [Curt Brainard] and he was just where I was running,” DiMatteo said. “Nothing he could do. I don’t think he could go any lower. But the groove is all the way down at the bottom. I lost a bunch of ground there. Then [Christopher] got to me. I know his dad is bitching about me blocking, but he got to me, got into me, which is, whatever. But, if you throw the first punch you’re not just going to roll over and take it. So I held the bottom and I did what I had to do to win. It’s a shame that you can’t race with guys like that and have them be like happy for you.”
Said Mike Christopher Jr.: “He just got slowed up by the lapped car there and it allowed me to get closer and we could fight out those last two, three laps, whatever it was. It was a cat and mouse game. I caught him a bit and then he pulled away. It seemed like anytime I really caught up to him something, just got aero tight. I hate to use that word in short track racing but it happens. So I’m going to do a little adjusting there.”
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