DiMatteo Stars In Weekly Thrills At Stafford

STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Speedway hosted weekly racing on Friday night with open modified cars on hand for the Lincoln Tech Open 80. 

Taking down feature win on the night were Cory DiMatteo in the SK Modified feature, Wayne Coury, Jr. in the late model feature, George Bessette, Jr. in the SK Light feature, Rich Hammann in the Limited Late Model feature and Chris Danielczuk was a first-time feature winner in the street stock feature after a thrilling final lap.

SK Modified Report

In the 40-lap SK Modified feature event, Wesley Prucker spun in turn four at the start while polesitter Tyler Hines took a trip through the infield grass to bring the caution out.  ikey Flynn took the lead on the next start with Jon Puleo to his outside and Michael Gervais, Jr. behind him in third. 

Hines and Anthony Flannery were wheel-to-wheel for fourth while Puleo took the lead. Gervais and Flynn were now battling side-by-side for second on lap four with Flannery fourth and Noah Korner taking fifth from Hines. 

A melee broke out mid pack involving the cars of Keith Rocco, Noah Korner, Dylan Kopec, Tyler Hines, Marcello Rufrano, Troy Talman, David Arute, Curt Brainard and Steven Chapman to bring the caution and red flags out with seven laps complete.

Puleo took the lead back under green with Gervais right behind him in second.  Flynn was third with Cory DiMatteo nearly going three-wide with Flynn and Flannery. Talman spun in turn three to bring the caution back out with 10 laps complete.

Puleo took the lead on the restart with Gervais in second. DiMatteo took third with Todd Owen now on the outside of Flynn in the fight for fourth place. DiMatteo took second from Gervais on lap 13 while Flynn and Owen were still side-by-side for fourth place behind Puleo, DiMatteo and Gervais. 

Owen cleared Flynn on lap 14 to move into fourth but he would lose that spot to Steven Chapman on lap 18. Chapman continued his charge to the front as he took third from Gervais on lap 19 while DiMatteo took the lead from Puleo on the same lap. The caution came back out with 26 laps complete as Flynn spun coming out of turn two.

DiMatteo took the lead back under green with Steven Chapman nearly taking second from Puleo. 

Owen was fourth with Korner and Gervais going wheel-to-wheel for fifth. Just behind Korner and Gervais was Arute and RJ Marcotte.  With six laps to go, the order was DiMatteo followed by Puleo, Chapman, Owen and Arute. 

Arute was hounding Owen for the fourth position and nearly had a pass completed on lap 36 but he fell back into line. Arute worked his way back to the inside of Owen on lap 38 and he took the spot by a nose as the two cars took the white flag. DiMatteo led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the season. 

Puleo finished second with Chapman third and Arute edged out Owen for fourth place. 

Late Model Report

In the 30 lap late model feature event, John Blake took the early lead followed by Wayne Coury, Jr. 

Tom Butler made a three-wide move to take third with Jacob Perry in fourth and Alexandra Fearn in fifth. Coury took the lead from Blake on lap two while the next lap saw Butler spin on the backstretch at the entrance of turn three, which collected the cars of Tom Fearn, PJ Zarrella, Duane Noll and Andrew Durand to bring the caution out with two laps complete. 

Blake was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Butler.

Coury took the lead back under green with Perry right behind him in second. Alexandra Fearn and Zack Robinson were racing door to door for third with Paul Varricchio, Jr. in fifth. Fearn took third on lap five and that move allowed Varricchio to move into fourth and Darrell Keane fifth as Robinson slid back to seventh place before the caution came back out with five laps complete.

Coury charged back into the lead on the restart with Perry taking second. 

Varricchio was third in line with Bobby Stirk, III going door to door with Butler for fourth place. Stirk took fourth on lap nine, but the caution came out with eight laps complete for Duane Noll, who came to a rest against the wall in turn four.

Coury again took the lead on the restart although he had to fend off a challenge from Perry as they raced through turn four. Varricchio was third in line behind the two leaders with Butler in fourth and Michael was up to fifth. The caution came back out with 10 laps complete for a spin in turn two by Adon Burrell.

The restart saw John Blake spin at the entrance of turn three and he rode the wall to a stop in turn three to bring the caution back out before a lap could be completed. Coury took the lead on the next restart with Varricchio pulling alongside Perry in a duel for second. 

Wray and Butler were door to door behind Perry and Varricchio for fourth with Wray taking the position on lap 13. Varricchio edged his way in front of Perry on lap 13 also to take second while Wray took third, Stirk fourth, and Adam Gray fifth as Perry slid back to ninth place. 

Gray made a move to the inside of Stirk on lap 18 and he took fourth place on lap 19. Gray’s move opened the door for Kevin Gambacorta to move into fifth and drop Stirk back to sixth, just in front of Butler.

With 10 laps to go, Coury was still in the lead with Varricchio and Michael Wray giving chase. Gray fell from fourth back to seventh on lap 22 as Gambacorta took fourth, Butler fifth and Keane sixth with Coury, Varricchio and Wray still occupying the top three positions.

Coury led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the season. 

Varricchio finished second with Wray, Gambacorta, and Butler rounding out the top five.

SK Light Report

In the 20 lap SK Light feature event, Tyler Alkas took the lead at the start but Joey Ferrigno and Paul Arcari ended up in the turn one wall to bring the yellow flag out before the first lap could be completed.

Alkas took the lead on the second start with Jason Chapman and Bob Charland going wheel-to-wheel for second. Stephen Kalogiannis was fourth in line with Ron Midford, Jr. in fifth. Midford took fourth from Kalogiannis on lap three and on lap four, he took third from Charland while at the front of the field, Jason Chapman took the lead from Alkas. 

Cassandra Cole was now running in fifth on lap six as Charland slid backwards to ninth place. Chris Matthews took fifth from Cole on lap 11 while Jason Chapman was still leading Alkas, Midford and Kalogiannis.

Midford made a move to take second place from Alkas on lap 13 while Tyler Barry was on the charge, moving into fourth place as Kalogiannis fell back to fifth with Alexander Pearl, Matthews and Meghan Fuller behind him. 

Pearl went to the outside of Kalogiannis on lap 16 to move into fifth as Chapman was starting to stretch out his lead over Midford and Alkas. Kaloginnis spun in turn four to bring the caution out with 17 laps to go.

The restart saw a massive pileup at the front of the field in turn four involving the cars of Midford, Alkas, Matthews, Barry, Brian Sullivan, Norm Sears and several others to bring the yellow flag back out before a lap could be completed.

Jason Chapman and George Bessette, Jr. went wheel to wheel fighting for the lead with Besette getting clear on lap 19. Jason Cjhapman slotted into second with his twin brother Tyler Chapman up to third. Luke Baldwin was fourth with Amanda West in fifth. Jason tried one final move but couldn’t get close enough to Bessette as Bessette took down his third win of the season. 

Jason held on for second with Tyler Chapman, Baldwin and West rounding out the top five.

Limited Late Model Report

In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Gary Patnode took the early lead with Damian Palardy in second. 

Devon Jencik and Adrien Paradis, III were racing  door-to-door for third with Kevin Cormier in fifth. Jencik won the duel with Paradis on lap five to take third while Patnode was starting to stretch out his advantage over Palardy in second. 

At the halfway point of the race, Patnode was still comfortably in command but Paradis and Palardy were dueling hard for second with Rich Hamman making it a three-car duel for second. Hammann came away in second on lap 11 with Paradis third and Palardy fourth while Cormier was still running in the fifth position. 

Hammann slowly reeled Patnode in over the second half of the race and as the leaders took the white flag, Hammann was right on the back bumper of Patnode. Hammann made his move in turns one and two on the final lap to emerge in the lead and while he would lead only the one lap, it was the most important lap as Hammann took down his second consecutive victory with a last-lap pass. 

Patnode finished second with Paradis, Cormier and Palardy rouding out the top five.

Street Stock Report

In the 20-lap Street Stock feature event, Bert Ouellette took the early lead with Marvin Minkler taking second.

Tyler Trott was third in line followed by Jason Rymaond and Jeff Asselin. Trott quickly worked his way past Minkler to move into second with Raymond taking third as Minkler slipped back to fourth while Ouellette continued to hold the lead. Johnny Walker spun coming out of turn two to bring the caution flag out with seven laps complete.

On the restart, Raymond spun to bring the caution right back out and Ryan Waterman was sent to the rear of the field by Stafford officials for making contact with Raymond.

Ouellette took the lead on the restart with Trott in second. Trott was quickly overtaken by Travis Hydar with Aaron Plemons up to fourth and Bill Cote in fifth. Hydar made a move to the inside of Ouellette on lap 11 in turn four to take over the race lead. Trott was still third with Plemons fourth and Cote in fifth. 

Jeff Asselin spun coming out of turn two to bring the caution flag out with 12 laps complete.

The caution came right back out on the restart as Brandon Warren and Bill Cote spun and collected Bill Porter in the middle of turns one and two. Hydar took the lead on the restart while Waterman looked like he was shot out of a cannon to move into second. Trott was third with Ouellette fourth and Walker in fifth. 

Walker was able to take fourth from Ouellette on lap 17 after several laps of applying heavy pressure while Hydar was slowly pulling away from Waterman in second. Trott spun in turn four to bring the caution flag out with 18 laps complete to set up a green-white-checkered finish. 

Under the caution, Trott waited for Walker to come around and they touched doors with each other, resulting in both cars getting parked for the remainder of the feature by Stafford officials.

Hydar and Waterman went door-to-door for the lead with Hydar holding the lead by a nose at the white flag. On the final lap, Ouellette made contact with Hydar, which sent Hydar spinning coming out of turn two. Chris Danielczuk powered his way into the lead and he held the lead through the final two corners to pick up his first career Street Stock feature win. 

Waterman finished second with Minkler, Asselin, and Porter rounding out the top five. 

Ouellette crossed the line in third, but he was sent to the rear of the lead lap by Stafford officials for making contact with Hydar.