Galletta's Karting Club - 2009 Season, Week
11: The Gas Flathead Championship Series of
The Planet continued on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Speedway:
I apologize for the poor quality of the
YouTube video (My PC was acting up). The DVD is uncompressed.
The Galletta's Kart Club 2009 Volume #11 DVD:
JAM PACKED!
Two camera angles of the races held on
August
23rd, 2009. Fourteen competitors, two heats, the 1st
"ALL-GALLETTA 30" Feature race and a regular veteran 40-lap feature,
and a second Tower angle from the previous weekend's
45-lapper.
Over 2 hours in highest-quality resolution.
YouTube preview. 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround, and two camera angles of all of the action.
Price $5.
Brian Galletta won the first-ever
"All-Galletta" 30-Lap race at Galletta's Greenhouse Backyard Speedway, and Matt Stevens won
the 45-Lap Veteran feature by catching a fast Russ Hockey in traffic.
The race was essentially Russ, Buddy, Matt and Chris in a fierce
battle for the lead with Matt utilizing lapped traffic to take the
lead with a couple laps to go - much to Russ's frustration.
A special evening of racing was ahead
for August 23rd, 2009, as we had two feature events lined up.
The late John J. Galletta - the founder of Galletta's Greenhouse -
would have been proud, and was surely looking down from heaven as
four of his children looked on as five of his grandchildren and one
great-grandchild raced in the First-ever "ALL-GALLETTA 30!"
After a practice
session, all six contestants - all cousins of Galletta 's Kart Club
founders Chris and Matt Stevens - drew for position. Remember,
the reason that we do not like drawing is that the odds favor the
fastest guys 99 times out of 100, making it an anti-handicap way of
racing. This was no exception, Brian Galletta - the only
competitor who has had any substantial prior experience - drew the
pole, making it very easy for him to use his knowledge of the karts
and track (including a feature win, some heat wins, time-trialing
2nd fastest and and leading a large chunk of
the 2003
Klassic) and dominate all 30 laps unchallenged for the win. His
brother Kevin had 2nd for most of the race, except for a
back-and-forth battle with his cousin Bob. Bob's brother Tim had the
most passes, but also the worst luck, as two karts stalled out under
him. He still managed fourth. Tim's son Justin and brother Gary
rounded out the back of the field. All in all, everybody raced great
and had no wrecks whatsoever, just a couple spins, showing that they
all easily qualified for the veteran event later in the evening.
Here are the competitors:
August 23rd,
2009 "ALL-GALLETTA" 30-Lap Finish: 1st. Brian Galletta
(Galletta's #5)
2nd. Kevin Galletta (Galletta's #0) 3rd. Bob Galletta (Galletta's
#4; ®)
4th. Tim Galletta (Galletta's #9, 7, 2; ®) 5th. Justin Galletta
(Galletta's #1; ®)
6th. Gary Galletta (Galletta's #6; ®) ® = 1st-Time Rookie Driver
Expanded Highlights from the ALL-GALLETTA 30 on August 23rd, 2009:
(I apologize for the poor quality
of the video. I probably need a new PC, as this one is over 6 years old.
The DVD, however, is uncompressed and is full quality.)
Most of the family
was unable to stick around for the Veteran events, although they
were qualified in and are hence being scored in the 2nd feature.
They all had a great time, as did we, and we are hoping that
they race more often (some of them want to build some karts!). Now for the veteran portion of the event.
Now it was time for the
regular veterans to arrive and start phase two of the event. The 1st
heat was dominated by Buddy Cottom after he took the lead on lap 1. He
was followed by Chris Stevens, Dick Dann, and Melissa Gabel.
The 2nd heat again was a
doozy, as after Larry Phillips spun out in the lead, Russ Hockey and
Matt Stevens put on a huge battle for the rest of the race. Matt pulled
along side of him a handful of times, but couldn't get the pass. They
were followed by Larry Phillips and Gary Miller. Although he qualified
in the heat, Gary's mom, Nancy, just passed away and did not feel like racing
the feature. Everyone at Galletta's prayers, thoughts, and well-wishes
are with Gary and his family.
The Veteran Feature
was fast and furious, with only two cautions. Russ Hockey passed
both Dick Dann and Larry Phillips on lap one to take the lead and
own the vast majority of this race. Buddy and Matt were able to
track him down, but Russ was too fast. Buddy pulled along side Russ
on lap 29, but could not get the pass and Matt capitalized. Chris was
able to stay with the group, but everybody was so fast that nobody
was going to make a pass without someone else making a mistake or
gambling for a pass and falling short. That's exactly what happened.
However, Russ's
dominance of the race came to an end on lap 36, when lapped traffic
altered the outcome of the finish. Larry Phillips saw the
passing flag and did what he was supposed to do - got out of the
way, gave plenty of room for a pass and hold a good line. However,
he stayed high and Russ thought he was going low to go. This left
the opening that Matt was looking for, and he used it to pass Russ
and take the lead. He didn't look back for the final four laps and
scored his first feature win since week 2 - which was probably his
longest winless streak since the 2000 season!
(Note
that Matt has flowers for the fruits who watch our website daily and
hate us in jealous fits of rage and insanity getting ready for their
lil' 35-40 lap "Classics." LOL!!)
August
23rd, 2009
40-Lap Finish: 1st. Matthew Stevens (Galletta's #3) 2nd. Russ
Hockey (Hockey #00) 3rd. Buddy Cottom (Galletta's
#5) 4th. Chris Stevens (Galletta's #8) 5th. Melissa Stevens (Stevens #80) 6th. Larry Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04;
DNF) 7th. Dick Dann (Dann #68; DNF) 8th. Gary Miller
(Miller #24; DNS) 9th. Brian Galletta (Galletta's
#5; DNS) 10th. Kevin Galletta (Galletta's #0;
DNS) 11th. Bob Galletta (Galletta's #4; ®; DNS)
12th. Tim Galletta (Galletta's #9, 7, 2; ®; DNS)
13th. Justin Galletta (Galletta's #1; ®; DNS)
14th. Gary Galletta (Galletta's #6; ®; DNS)
15th. RaYzor C. (Galletta's #2; DNS)
Key:
® = 1st-Time Rookie Driver
DNS = Qualified; Did Not Start
DNF = Did Not Finish
MC's dad, Eric
Howell, let a few of us use a GPS tracker to try and get our speeds
calculated, and the fastest time of the night in it was Buddy
Cottom, who wore it in the feature and scored approximately 48.9MPH
at some point during the race. We thought that we were in that
45-50MPH range and the GPS agreed with that approximation. Wow!
Before we shaved heads and used race cams, we were probably
maxing out at 35-40MPH when we were box stock 5hps.
Driver Name
(Go-Karts Piloted)
- Color-framed pictures have profiles -
Years Pro at Galletta's
Total Points (Place)
Average Points Per Event
Events
Features
Heat Wins
Feature Wins
Feature Win %
1
Chris Stevens
(Galletta's #8, 4, 5)
14th
1,637.5
148.86
11
14
0
3
21%
2
Matt Stevens
(Galletta's #3, 33, 1, 7)
14th
1,544.5
140.41
11
14
1
3
21%
3
Buddy Cottom
(Galletta's #5, 6, 4, 1, 2)
3rd
1,485.0
135.00
11
14
2
1
7%
4
Melissa Stevens
(Stevens #80)
3rd
1,457.5
132.50
11
14
2
1
7%
5
Gary Miller Sr.
(Galletta's/Miller #24, 0)
5th
1,360.5
123.68
11
14
0
1
7%
6
Russ
Hockey (Hockey #00, Galletta's #9)
3rd
1,358.0
135.80
10
12
2
1
8%
7
Larry
Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04)
2nd
1,080.0
120.00
9
11
0
1
9%
8
Fred
Collins (Galletta's #9)
5th
939.5
134.21
7
9
1
1
11%
9
Jason
Mills (Galletta's #2) $$
9th
482.5
160.83
3
5
1
1
20%
10
Nick
Dann (Galletta's #7, 4, 0, 1)
4th
460.5
115.13
4
6
0
1
17%
11
Kelly
Miller (Galletta's #7, 4)
3rd
320.5
106.83
3
5
1
0
0%
12
Dick
Dann (Dann #68)
1 = Methanol
4th
241.0
120.50
2
3
0
0
0%
13
Kenny Lindsley III (Galletta's #2,
1)
2nd
240.5
120.25
2
2
0
0
0%
14
Jesse Vivlemore
(Galletta's #5, 0)
2nd
227.5
113.75
2
2
1
0
0%
15
Tony Gonyeau (Galletta's #1, 7, 0)
®
226.0
113.00
2
3
0
0
0%
16
Brian
Galletta
(Galletta's #5)
4th
155.0
155.00
1
2
1
0
50%
17
Kevin
Galletta
(Galletta's #5)
1st
147.0
147.00
1
2
0
0
0%
18
RaYzor
_______
(Last name withheld via paranoia)
(Galletta's #7, 2)
1st
147.0
73.50
2
2
0
0
0%
19
Soliman
Barakat (Galletta's #4, 1)
®
144.0
144.00
1
2
0
0
0%
20
Bob
Galletta
(Galletta's #4)
®
139.0
139.00
1
2
0
0
0%
21
Asaad
Al-Hanini (Galletta's #2, 7, 1)
®
137.0
137.00
1
2
0
0
0%
22
Todd
Sharp (Galletta's #9)
®
135.0
135.00
1
2
1
0
0%
23
Tim
Galletta
(Galletta's #9, 7, 2)
®
131.0
131.00
1
1
0
0
0%
24
Justin Bonacquisti (Galletta's #5)
®
130.0
130.00
1
2
0
0
0%
25
Josh Chetney
(Galletta's #1)
®
124.0
124.00
1
2
0
0
0%
26
Justin
Galletta
(Galletta's #1)
®
123.0
123.00
1
1
0
0
0%
27
Austin
Hicks
(Galletta's #24)
®
118.0
118.00
1
2
0
0
0%
28
Dan Woodard
(Woodard #w5) * = Stock 6.5hp
1st
118.0
118.00
1
1
0
0
0%
29
Gary
Galletta
(Galletta's #6)
®
115.0
115.00
1
1
0
0
0%
30
Andrew
Miller
(Galletta's #0)
®
108.0
108.00
1
1
0
0
0%
31
Nazeha
Al-Hanini (Galletta's #7)
®
108.0
108.00
1
2
1
0
0%
32
Terry
Miller (Galletta's #5)
®
106.0
106.00
1
2
0
0
0%
33
Jesse Newcombe (Galletta's #4)
®
106.0
106.00
1
2
0
0
0%
34
Neaiamh Al-Hanini (Galletta's #1)
®
104.0
104.00
1
2
0
0
0%
35
Zack Sawyer (Galletta's #1)
®
95.0
95.00
1
1
0
0
0%
36
Brian
Paul (Galletta's #1, 7, 2)
®
87.0
87.00
1
1
1
0
0%
37
Ken
Pierce (Galletta's #7)
®
86.0
86.00
1
1
0
0
0%
38
Mike "MFC" Howell (Galletta's #2)
3rd
83.0
83.00
1
1
0
0
0%
NOTES: All karts are 1-WD and all Motors are 1-WD 5hp Gas Flatheads with Stock '90s Carb, shaved head, and select pre-approved Dyno Racing Cams
(different weight requires different ones allowed; 94-SS is the
standard for light/medium weight groups - AKA anybody under 220 lbs.). This means fast, equal speeds and, cheater-free engine-builders, all for low prices.
Two karts so far this season were not gas flatheads (a methanol
flathead with raptor carb and a gas stock 6.5hp OHV), and
although they were allowed to run and scored their full points, but their placement did not penalize anybody else with
the same gas flathead motor, who were scored as if the other
motored kart was not there.
Comments, questions, and additional info with Galletta's Kart Club drivers and officials can be found on our message boards. ->
Our karting club's home track is located in back of: Galletta's Greenhouses 60 County Route 20 Oswego, NY 13126-6512 (315) 343-0879 or (315) 343-4281 Need directions? Here they are!
Please visit Galletta's Speedway racer/co-founder/co-owner Chris "Crusher Comics" Stevens's other websites containing his new graphic novel, children's book, and his old old cartoon strips & comic books:
Galletta's Greenhouse & Karting Team 60 County Route 20 Oswego, NY, USA 13126-6512 Telephone: (315) 343-0879 or (315) 343-4281 (Ask for Matt or Chris only!) Directions