Right Way: Cory DiMatteo Tops SK Modified Feature At Stafford

Cory DiMatteo doesn’t expect perfect, but he knows if there aren’t any hiccups he can be a contender in his SK Modified at Stafford Speedway. 

And that was the case Friday at the historic half-mile oval. 

DiMatteo held off the charges of Jon Puleo of over the closing laps to win the 40-lap SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford. 

It was the second victory of the season for DiMatteo, of Farmington, and his 10th overall in the division. 

“When nothing goes wrong for us we seem to do pretty well,” DiMatteo said. “I had a great car. It wasn’t the best car that I’ve had all year, but it was good enough tonight.” 

Puleo, of Branford, was second after furiously challenging DiMatteo for the win. 

“To my advantage, I’m not racing for points and he is,” DiMatteo said. “I wanted to win and he was going to have to get pretty aggressive to get by me.” 

Mikey Flynn of Hampden, Mass. was third. 

Andrew Molleur went by Michael Gervais for the lead on lap eight. 

Gervais fought back and regained the top spot from Molleur on lap 11 with DiMatteo following to second. 

On lap 12 DiMatteo used a diving move into turn three to overtake Gervais for the lead with Molleur following to second. 

On lap 16 Mike Christopher Jr. went by Gervais for third. Christopher went by Molleur for second a lap later. 

Caution flew on lap 19 for the spinning car of Wesley Prucker. 

Coming to the restart, Molleur got spun off of turn four to bring the caution back out. 

The second attempt at a lap 19 restart was thwarted when Gervais was knocked into the backstretch grass by Christopher. Gervais then came back on the track and collected four more cars in turn three. Christopher was black flagged for the incident. 

On the third attempt at a lap 19 restart it was DiMatteo controlling at the front and Anthony Flannery going by Todd Owen for second. 

On lap 21 caution was back out for a hard wreck for Tyler Chapman into the turn three wall. 

DiMatteo held the top spot on the lap 21 restart with Puleo moving by Flannery for second and Flynn following to third. 

Puleo closed to DiMatteo’s bumper with five laps remaining, but couldn’t find lane to challenge for the lead.