DiMatteo wins first SK Lite Championship

All Dana DiMatteo wanted to accomplish during his rookie season in the SK Lite Modified division was to keep his nose clean.

He wound up cleaning up instead.

Despite missing the first race of the year, DiMatteo racked up an impressive resume in 2017 — three wins, three seconds and three thirds. All of his 12 finishes were in the Top 5 or better. As a result, DiMatteo was able to edge Andrew Molleur by two points to win his first Speedbowl SK title and his fourth Bowl overall. He previously has won three Legends championships.

“By missing the first race of the year, we set up one goal,” DiMatteo said. “To learn as much as we could and to gain as much experience as we could. We wanted to finish as many races as we could without tearing up our equipment. The biggest thing was keeping our nose clean and keep getting solid Top 5 finishes.”

It didn’t take long for DiMatteo to start exceeding those expectations. 

He finished second in his first SK Light race. He was a winner in his second. .

“One we got rolling, we set a goal just to keep the four tires on the car,” DiMatteo said. “We probably could have gotten more wins, but the goal was just to stay out of trouble.”

The goal almost hit a dead end in the season finale. After running flawlessly in practice, his motor started breaking up in the heat race and we was forced to pull out. There were some serious issues he and his crew had to deal with.

“I came in and there were mounds of people waiting to help,” DiMatteo said. “Mr. Tom Abele was one of the first to help. John Bergenty gave us a distributor because our distributor popped. We ended up changing the plugs and the wires, and we still had an issue. Because of all the changes we made, we had trouble with the carburetor.”

DiMatteo received some hardship laps to make sure the car was healthy, but things still weren’t right.

“The race director, Chris Forster gave us some practice laps and I can’t thank him enough for that,” DiMatteo said. “We started the feature, and we were still breaking up. We kept on coming to the pits for adjustments, and wee finally adjusted it back to where we had it. Jason Palmer did a great job for us. He provided the magic, He was able to hit on what we needed.”

DiMatteo came alive in the second half of the race, moving from the back to the field to fourth place to wrap up the title.

“We overcame adversity to do it, and that makes it special,” DiMatteo said.

His sponsors include Island Cove Marina, Manafort Brothers, FK Rod Ends, Sign Pro USA, Waddell Communications, CWPM  and Keith Rocco Racing.

His crew consists of Marcus and Eric Fruchtenicht, Cory DiMatteo, Jordan Lamothe and car chief Keith Rocco.

“Honestly, if you told me I would ever win four championships, it would be a shocker,” DiMatteo said. “I’m at a loss for words right now. It’s a very humbling experience.

“If John Manafort didn’t give me the opportunity, I wouldn’t be here.”

He might have missed the opening race, but he sure didn’t miss the opportunity to be a champion.