Galletta's Karting Club - 2009 Season, Week
13: The Gas Flathead Karting Championship Series of
The Planet continued on Monday,
September 7th, 2009 at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Speedway:
The Galletta's Kart Club 2009 Volume #13 DVD: Two camera angles of the races held on
September 7th, 2009. Nine competitors, two heats, and
a 45-Lap Feature race.
Over an hour in the highest-quality resolution.
YouTube preview. 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo/Pro-Logic Surround, and two camera angles of all of the action.
Price $5.
"Master" Matty Jo Stevens wins the 45-lap,
9-kart Labor Day 45-Lap Feature on September 9th, 2009 at Galletta's
Backyard Karting Club Speedway. He was able to find the lead early and held
it for most of the race, and although his brother Chris sticking with him,
Matt just had too much to catch. We will have stats & videos within the next
few days. Also, we are tentatively looking at Saturday, September 19th as a
potential date for our 14th Annual Galletta's Klassic Championship
200, which wraps up the Summer Points Series and decides the undisputed
overall World Dirt
Karting Champion of Gas Flatheads. If the date needs to be adjusted by any of the
regulars, then we need to discuss it now. We always select the date where
the most possible drivers (especially the most regular veteran
drivers) can attend.
(ABOVE) Another Freakin' awesome DVD menu,
where every Galletta's Race has been taped since late 2005 and every
Galletta's Klassic since 1998. All pictures below are captures from
the DVD.
(ABOVE) The first 10-Lap
Heat was won by Timothy Galletta. His
first-ever win came in just his 3rd week of karting via by holding
off Russell Hockey and Chris Stevens (who nearly tied for 2nd),
followed by Melissa Stevens in her brand-new #19, rebuilt from a
former backup Larry Phillips Chassis that he never used.
(ABOVE) The second 10-Lap
Heat saw a couple of wacky wrecks. The first one happened when Matt
Stevens, Buddy Cottom, and Kevin Galletta went 3-wide into turn 3,
and Kevin got airborne momentarily when he caught wheels with Buddy,
who did a 360 himself. Then, Jesse Vivlemore was running away from anybody
in the #0 when he had a funny flip in turn 2. Matt wound up winning,
followed by Kevin, Buddy, and Jesse. Jesse Vivlemore and Kevin
Galletta used to race in the 1990s and are getting back into the
swing of things rather quickly, as both have been steady and fast.
(ABOVE) 9 karts lined up
for the Labor Day 45-lap feature. Tim and Kevin Galletta - both
cousins of founders Chris and Matt - held their own in the early
going, as the regular veterans battled to get by but were all
unable. Adjustments are being made to the #7 which are helping out
Tim, who is well over 6 foot and 200 lbs. What separates the
Galletta's Karting class from other karting organizations, is that
we allow gearing, header, and cam advantages to guys over the
minimum weight limit until they are as close to the same speed as
everybody else as humanly possible. This while weighing down anybody
under the minimum weight. It makes for extremely close racing when
the adjustments are perfect, and avoids the most annoying (and
boring) thing about most kart leagues (and the reason nobody outside
of friends and family enjoys watching them) - the dreaded ten
divisions with 2-9 karts per race, with many mini-winners and
without any true champions being decided. Our rules are flexible
enough to be inclusive and affordable instead of exclusive and
costly, and one of the reasons we have such close racing and so many
different winners even this season alone (the lightest winner weighed 155 lbs., the
heaviest winner weighed over 250 lbs.), and avoid one guy just being
unbeatable because he priced himself superior to the competition.
Experience means more than money, which makes our class so exciting
and fair. Just look at the points
standings below to see. I know this baffles some arrogant
methanol/WKA karter types, but try it sometime and see how good our
drivers are.
Early on, Tim and
Kevin held 1st and 2nd until Kevin spun and took Gary Miller out of
the race early with a broken tie-rod. Gary used a time-out to make
repairs and get back in the race. [NOTE ON TIMEOUTS: every regular
driver gets 2 timeouts per regular season, and 1 for the Klassic,
with carry-overs into the Klassic if they still have them. Timeouts
can be used under most circumstances, unless it gets too late.] When the race resumed, Matt was able to sneak his
little Galletta's #3 into the lead, and when Russ Hockey went too
high and hit the grass patch in Turn 4, Chris used a well-timed
slingshot to pass both he and Buddy, then followed Matt by Tim to
set up the main battle of the evening.
A few times a year, Matt and Chris
both find their way up to the front and put on a battle that has
happened sine the early 1990s, where it was just the two brothers
dueling for endless laps. Matt tried running away and hiding from
everyone else, but Chris stayed with him, only losing ground if his
fast-but-loose #4 kart slipped out of the fast groove. Chris tracked down Matt
late in traffic, and nearly caught him when Matt hit his wife
Melissa (call 911, ha!), but the crafty "Master Matt" was able to sneak into the clear and
hold on for his 4th feature win of the season, and gain a good chunk
of points on his point-leading brother (damn, him!).
September 7th, 2009 45-Lap
Feature Finish: 1st. Matthew Stevens
(Galletta's #3)
2nd. Christopher Stevens (Galletta's #4) 3rd.
Russ Hockey (Hockey #00) 4th. Buddy Cottom
(Galletta's #5) 5th. Timothy Galletta
(Galletta's #7; ®) 6th. Kevin Galletta (Galletta's #9; ®)
7th. Melissa Stevens (Stevens #19) 8th. Jesse
Vivlemore (Galletta's #0; DNF) 9th. Gary Miller
(Miller #24; DNF)
Key: ® = Rookie Driver DNF = Did Not Finish
Now for the updated points....
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
1,974.5
151.88
13
17
0
3
18%
2
Matt Stevens
(Galletta's #3, 33, 1, 7)
14th
1,907.5
146.73
13
17
2
4
31%
3
Buddy Cottom
(Galletta's #5, 6, 4, 1, 2)
3rd
1,808.0
139.08
13
17
2
1
6%
4
Melissa Stevens
(Stevens #80, 19)
3rd
1,728.5
132.96
13
17
2
1
6%
5
Russ
Hockey (Hockey #00, Galletta's #9)
3rd
1,706.5
142.21
12
15
2
2
13%
6
Gary Miller Sr.
(Galletta's/Miller #24, 0)
5th
1,588.0
122.15
13
17
0
1
6%
7
Larry
Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04)
2nd
1,225.0
122.50
10
13
0
1
9%
8
Fred
Collins (Galletta's #9)
5th
1,117.0
139.63
8
11
1
2
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
Tim
Galletta (Galletta's #7, 9, 2)
®
394.5
131.55
3
4
1
0
0%
12
Jesse
Vivlemore
(Galletta's #0, 5)
2nd
329.5
109.83
3
3
1
0
0%
13
Kelly
Miller (Galletta's #7, 4)
3rd
320.5
106.83
3
5
1
0
0%
14
Kevin
Galletta (Galletta's #9, 5)
1st
264.5
132.25
2
2
0
0
0%
15
Dick
Dann (Dann #68)
1 = Methanol
4th
241.0
120.50
2
3
0
0
0%
16
Kenny
Lindsley III (Galletta's #2, 1)
2nd
240.5
120.25
2
2
0
0
0%
17
Tony Gonyeau (Galletta's #1, 7, 0)
®
226.0
113.00
2
3
0
0
0%
18
Brian
Galletta (Galletta's #5)
4th
155.0
155.00
1
1
1
0
100%
19
RaYzor
_______ (Last name
withheld via paranoia)
(Galletta's #7, 2)
1st
147.0
73.50
2
2
0
0
0%
20
Soliman
Barakat (Galletta's #4, 1)
®
144.0
144.00
1
2
0
0
0%
21
Bob
Galletta (Galletta's #4)
®
139.0
139.00
1
1
0
0
0%
22
George
Russell (Galletta's #2)
1st
139.0
139.00
1
2
1
0
0%
23
Asaad
Al-Hanini (Galletta's #2, 7, 1)
®
137.0
137.00
1
2
0
0
0%
24
Todd
Sharp (Galletta's #9)
®
135.0
135.00
1
2
1
0
0%
25
Jeff
Tetro (Galletta's #6)
1st
132.0
132.00
1
2
0
0
0%
26
Justin
Bonacquisti
(Galletta's #5)
®
130.0
130.00
1
2
0
0
0%
27
Josh
Chetney
(Galletta's #1)
®
124.0
124.00
1
2
0
0
0%
28
Justin
Galletta (Galletta's #1)
®
123.0
123.00
1
1
0
0
0%
29
Austin
Hicks (Galletta's #24)
®
118.0
118.00
1
2
0
0
0%
30
Dan
Woodard
(Woodard #w5) * =
Stock 6.5hp
1st
118.0
118.00
1
1
0
0
0%
31
Gary
Galletta (Galletta's #6)
®
115.0
115.00
1
1
0
0
0%
32
Shadoe
Russell (Galletta's #1)
1st
111.0
111.00
1
2
0
0
0%
33
Andrew
Miller
(Galletta's #0)
®
108.0
108.00
1
1
0
0
0%
34
Nazeha
Al-Hanini (Galletta's #7)
®
108.0
108.00
1
2
1
0
0%
35
Terry
Miller (Galletta's #5)
®
106.0
106.00
1
2
0
0
0%
36
Jesse
Newcombe (Galletta's #4)
®
106.0
106.00
1
2
0
0
0%
37
Neaiamh
Al-Hanini (Galletta's #1)
®
104.0
104.00
1
2
0
0
0%
38
Josh
Herscha (Galletta's #0)
1st
100.0
100.00
1
2
0
0
0%
39
Zack
Sawyer
(Galletta's #1)
®
95.0
95.00
1
1
0
0
0%
40
Brian
Paul (Galletta's #1, 7, 2)
®
87.0
87.00
1
1
1
0
0%
41
Ken
Pierce (Galletta's #7)
®
86.0
86.00
1
1
0
0
0%
42
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