Galletta's Karting Club - 2010 Season, Event #12 - Tuesday, August 24th, 2010:

2010 Season, Event #12- Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 - Sunday and Monday got rained out, so an almost perfect track awaited us on Tuesday for a 55-Lap Feature Event. This one was dominated by 2009 defending Track Champion Chris Stevens in the Galletta's Greenhouse #4 kart, long overdue for a win due to the fact that it was his 1st feature win since last summer at Galletta's Greenhouse Speedway. His lovely wife Rungnapha, and cat Carlee posed with the handsome, talented, ingenious and powerful triumphant expert victor (also the webmaster, haha!). More details/points/pics/vids forthcoming.

Per usual, other than posing pictures, all in-action race snapshots are screen captures directly from our weekly race DVDs, which document the entire race from usually two camera angles, usually are anywhere between 1 - 2 & 1/2 hours, and are only $5 each, in higher quality resolution than our YouTube vids which they are made from. Just like the donations that run all of the karts, all proceeds go back into the club (in this case the DVDRs and the website). Every regular season race has been videotaped since mid-2005-and-up, and every Galletta's Karting Klassic has been videotaped since 1998-and-up. Order any DVD directly from Chris (email, phone, in-person, mail) anytime.

55-LAP FEATURE EVENT:
We knew it would be the case, but after Sunday and Monday both saw several extended bouts of rain mixed with a rather autumn-feeling chill in the air, the track was just too sloppy and cold to even think about racing on. However, when a beautiful sunny Tuesday rolled around, the track cured perfectly, and the race was on. Again, predictably, due to the mid-week rain-date, only 8 drivers could make it. Usually, being the longest-running and largest karting division in the area, we usually prefer to only run with 10+ drivers and two cameras, but absolute minimum is 8 drivers and one camera, so this race made the cut. However, due to only 8 competitors (all experienced veterans), we cut the heats and added 10-laps to the standard 45-lap feature. We also only had one camera due to the odd date. Usually, Summer Sundays and Fall Saturdays are best for our attendance.

Shadoe Russell was pumped all week about his new motor, rebuilt kart, and points handicapping leading to his pole starting position all coming together. Doe-boy fresh was indeed fast, pulling away from Chris Stevens -- starting usually up front due to not yet winning this season and so few drivers making it -- in the straights.

However, Doe's #26 slipped just enough on the 4th turn on 2nd circuit for Chris Stevens (Galletta's #4), Russell Bartlett (Galletta's #9), and Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey #54) to all get the pass on the outside.

 Chris, in his first lead laps since the 2009 regular season, then slowly pulled away for the remainder of the event. Late in the race, Shadoe Russell lost a clutch in the Doe #26 and then piloted the Galletta's #6, while Matt developed a tire leak in the Galletta's #3 and then piloted the #33. A kart change is a 5-point deduction.

A controversy erupted when the passing flag did not come out when leader Chris Stevens approached Melissa Stevens, who then proceeded to block the track on the leader. For this, we will review the meanings of each flag below the finalized point standings.

The only other major position changes where Russ Bartlett spinning the #9 while steadily running in 2nd for most of the race, and Matt Stevens passing Randy "Bambi-Killin'-Bobandi" Platt at the finish line for 4th, pumping his fist as triumphantly as he had won the Klassic. Chris gained a large amount of points and closed the gap between he and his brother as the regular season nears an end and the Klassic Championship -- the 200 lapper that finalizes the annual summer point standings at Galletta's -- approaches. The racing was very competitive with only two cautions in what was supposed to be 55 laps. However, in review of the footage, we went 60 laps, which upped the points bracket for the race.

55-Lap Feature Handicap Start: 1st. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26) 2nd. Chris Stevens (Galletta's #4) 3rd. Russell Bartlett (Galletta's #9) 4th. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey's #54) 5th. Melissa Stevens (SNF #19) 6th. George Russell (Galletta's #7) 7th. Randy Platt (Platt #187) 8th. Matt Stevens (Galletta's #3)

55-Lap Feature Order-of-Finish: 1st. Chris Stevens (Galletta's #4) 2nd. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey's #54) 3rd. George Russell (Galletta's #7) 4th. Matt Stevens (Galletta's #3, 33) 5th. Randy Platt (Platt #187) 6th. Russell Bartlett (Galletta's #9) 7th. Melissa Stevens (SNF #19) 8th. Shadoe Russell (#26, Galletta's #6) Retcon Make-Up Race Point Credits: 9th. AJ Nason (#35) from 8/29/2010 10th. Russ Hockey (#00) from 9/12/2010

DVDs are available of every single Galletta's Karting Club race held since mid-2005 at Galletta's (including every Galletta's Klassic since 1998, and every Oswego Kartway race between 2007-2008) and are of DVD-Quality (far superior to the YouTube videos, which are edited and compressed for time) for $5 per disc. Each disc contains between 1-2 hours of racing action, usually from two camera angles, complete and unedited. Most of the pictures on this website are lo-res screen captures from the DVDs. Contact Chris for your copy today, and he can make any copy from our archives, just ask. Here is the menu of this week's DVD volume:

This DVD is even more of a value than usual. It not only contains the single-camera recording of this entire 8/24/2010 race (55-Lap Feature), but also the complete, 2-camera view of the following 8/29/2010 racing action (2 heats, B-Main Make-up race & 45-Lap Feature). Now for...