Galletta’s Karting Club – 2010 Season, Event #11 – Sunday, August 15th, 2010:

Matt Stevens wins the Oswego Dirt Karting Feature on Sunday, 8/15/2010
2010 Season, Event #11- Sunday, August 15th, 2010  A 12-competitor, 45-Lap Feature Event was won by the points-leader, and Matt Stevens became the 2nd two-feature winner of the season when he put his Galletta’s Greenhouse #3 kart into victory lane at Galletta’s Backyard Karting Speedway. This means he lengthens his lead in the points when he passed the entire field in the low groove and led most of the race. Yes, his wife gave him a victory kiss, and yes, a Canadian Goose did invade the victory proceedings. Only at Galletta’s, folks. It’s how we roll. Details/points/pics/vids forthcoming, sirs and ma’ams.

[COMPLETE RACE YOUTUBE VIDEO IS FORTHCOMING ABOVE! HIGHLIGHT REEL IS BELOW]

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.

1ST HEAT:

1st 10-Lap Heat Handicap Start:
1st. Larry Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04)
2nd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
3rd. Michael “MC” Howell (Galletta’s #9)
4th. Randy Platt (Platt #87)
5th. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey’s #54)
6th. Collin Miller (Galletta’s #0)

1st 10-Lap Heat Order-of-Finish:
1st. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
2nd. Michael “MC” Howell (Galletta’s #9)
3rd. Randy Platt (Platt #87)
4th. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey’s #54)
5th. Collin Miller (Galletta’s #0)
6th. Larry Phillips (L&K #04) *

*DNF = Did Not Finish

2ND HEAT:

2nd 10-Lap Heat Handicap Start:
1st. Russell Hockey (Hockey #00)
2nd. Melissa Stevens (Scissors #19)
3rd. George Russell (Galletta’s #2)
4th. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
5th. Gary Miller Sr. (L&K #04)
6th. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26)

2nd 10-Lap Heat Order-of-Finish:
1st. Russell Hockey (Hockey #00)
2nd. Melissa Stevens (Scissors #19)
3rd. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
4th. Gary Miller Sr. (L&K #04)
5th. George Russell (Galletta’s #2)
6th. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26)

45-LAP FEATURE EVENT:
Per usual, every regular, non-Klassic race at Galletta’s begins with a handicap start. Over the years we developed a system that often seems to give everyone the best opportunity for a good, competitive race, and it rarely disappoints. I occasionally re-post it to those that are sometimes bewildered by it. This is how it works: (A) Up front contains a group of regular drivers who have never won a feature event at Galletta’s, inverted via their established points-per-race this season. After that, it is (B) regular drivers who have won a feature event in prior seasons but not yet this year, inverted via their established points-per-race this season. Next is (C) regular drivers who have won at least one time this season, inverted via their established points-per-race this season. They are followed by (D) drivers who have competed in prior seasons at Galletta’s, but not yet this season until they are worked into the current seasons handicap (and their order is determined on inverting weight or prior wins). In the very back are (F) novice rookies learning the ropes until they prove that they are competitively ready to be handicapped up front (run a solid line, not spin or be too easily wreck-prone), and/or drivers who has waived his/her handicap and wants to start in the back (not comfortable, trying new kart, ect.).

The battle of the night saw Matt Stevens attempt to pass 8 competitors in the slower low-groove via attempting to trap them all behind early-leader Larry Phillips, whose motor was a little off but he was holding a good groove from his pole starting position.

The battle was very impressive with Chris, Mike Howell, and Matt all passing each other back and forth side-by-side (and even at one point 3-wide) for several laps.

3-Wide with Chis Stevens, MC Howell, and Matt Stevens. Only clean, respectful, talented racers can perform this move and not have a wreck. Other tracks, there would be a pileup, accusations, and a fight!

Well… as seen above, this was a good battle. That was until Matt showed a wheel to Larry in the back stretch, and then it was over, as Larry backed off and Matt was able to take off leaving everybody else way behind. After this point, the only thing worthy of note was the excellent, closely contested battle for 2nd after Larry Phillips retired from 2nd place: Russ Hockey, Mike “MC” Howell, and Chris Stevens put on a huge battle for that spot. Russ had nothing for Matt, but he did a good job holding the duo of Chris and MC as they passed each other back and forth a few times behind him. But late in the game, with Russ 2nd and Mike holding a strong 3rd, the trio came upon lapped traffic on the very last lap when MC chose to take a lapped kart low which enabled Chris to get outside of him and MC spun the #9 in between turns 3 & 4 after Matt already crossed the checker, meaning that he dropped from 3rd to 7th on the final turn of the race! Bad luck for MC, who ran good enough all day to possibly even win the feature if not for a few chance happenings, primarily Matt sneaking by the fast-groove train and never looking back en route to his 2nd victory of the season.

45-Lap Feature Handicap Start:
1st. Larry Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04) 2nd. Russell Hockey (Hockey #00)
3rd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
4th. Michael “MC” Howell (Galletta’s #9) 5th. Randy Platt (Platt #187)
6th. Melissa Stevens (Scissors #19)
7th. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey’s #54
8th. George Russell (Galletta’s #2)
9th. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
10th. Gary Miller Sr. (Galletta’s #0)
11th. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26)
12th. Collin Miller (Miller #24) DNS
DNS = Did Not Start

45-Lap Feature Order-of-Finish:
1st.  Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
2nd. Russell Hockey (Hockey #00)
3rd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
4th. Gary Miller Sr. (Galletta’s #0)
5th. Melissa Stevens (Scissors #19)
6th. Shadoe Russell (Doe #26)
7th. Michael “MC” Howell (Galletta’s #9)
8th. Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey’s #54)
9th. George Russell (Galletta’s #2)
10th. Larry Phillips (L&K #04) DNF
11th. Randy Platt (Platt #187) DNF
12th. Collin Miller (Miller #24) DNS

DNS = Did Not Start
DNF = Did Not Finish

Also deserving mention was Shadoe Russell, who passed a few competitors late in the action and showing weekly improvement. Everybody was happy to see the Doe-man making great strides all season and now pulling off passes, something that in previous years many thought was impossible due to Doe’s nerves and his struggles in finding the fast groove and staying in line. He has a new motor built by Matt and finally upgraded from the standard box stock cam to our standard Dyno 94-SS race cam, giving him equal power as everybody in the 200-lbs.-and-under category.* He is also being temporarily allowed to run around 30-40lbs. light in that category — which is why he hadn’t upgraded sooner — until he can get a better handle on things. Due to his two passes, Doe-boy is now boldly predicting a Klassic Victory in his Doe “Rubbin’ Is Racin'” #26!

(At Galletta’s, in order to make our races more exciting and meaningful [we do not like most how tracks have countless weight classes that means winning means little to nothing, as there can be 6-10 winners on any given night, meaning no true champion is ever resolved] we do allow different weights and gears based on a progressive power-for-weight scale. And this season, it has clearly proved to be better than ever showing the amount of different winners and the bumper-to-bumper closeness of the races thus far, and making wins and high point scoring more meaningful in a weekly 10-15 kart class than a weekly 2-8 kart class. It also proves our philosophy correct, as our class was barred from a track because our rules aren’t the same exact cut-and-dried distinctions that are found in most other pay racetracks.)

Mother Goose X0X0X0 Matty-Joey! Whoo-whoo!

Oddly enough, and only at Galletta’s — since we are surrounded by countless acres of woodland, ponds, streams, and even a few farms — wildlife comes out to visit. In addition to the usual suspects — squirrels, bats, deer, chipmunks, frogs, turkeys, coy-dogs, foxes, turtles, field mice, toads, cats, the occasional racing sasquatches, TrOgres, and – everybody’s favorite – tens of thousands of mosquitoes — a lost Canadian Goose was attracted to the racing header pipe on the Sid Harvey #54. It also seemed to take on a special affection for Matt, whom it watched testing the #54 after the feature race.

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:

DVD menu to this week's volume. Buy it son. It's the best racing most people will ever see, and undisputedly the most professional racing for the lowest price in the world. Let us know if you can match it!

2010 Galletta’s Gas Flathead Dirt Karting World Championship Point Standings:

After 11 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Go-Kart Speedway  from 6/7/2010
-thru- 8/15/2010. Our complete All-Time Points Standings from 2000-2009 are found on this webpage.

Position

Name (Go-Karts Piloted)
[Hyperlinked Borders have Driver Profile]

Years Pro at Galletta’s

2010
Total Points (Place)

2010
Average Points Per Feature

2010
Events
Entered

2010
Features
Raced

2010
Heat Wins

2010
Feature Wins

All-Time Galletta’s Feature Wins

1st

Matt Stevens ProfileMatt Stevens
(Galletta’s #3, 33) t

15th

1,632.0

125.54

11

13

3

2

96

2nd

Chris StevensChris Stevens
(Galletta’s #8, 4, 5)

15th

1,540.5

118.50

11

13

3

0

53

3rd

Melissa Gabel Stevens profileMelissa Stevens
(Scissors n’ Fur #19, 80)

4th

1,351.5

103.96

11

13

1

1

4

4th 

Timmy Galletta (in Galletta's #9)Tim Galletta
(Sid Harvey’s #54, Galletta’s #7)
@

2nd

1,334.5

102.65

10

13

0

2

2

5th

George Russell in Galletta's #2George Russell
(Galletta’s #2, 6, Doe #26) @ t

2nd

1,215.0

110.45

9

11

0

1

1

6th

AJ Nason in #89Arnold “AJ” Nason
(Hammerd #35, Galletta’s #6, 9) @

®

1,171.5

97.63

9

12

2

0

0

7th

Michael A. Howell (AKA MC) in Galletta's #0 KartMichael “mc” Howell
(Galletta’s #0, 9) @@

3rd

1,114.5

92.88

8

12

1

1

1

8th

Randy Platt in Galletta's #5Randy Platt
(Galletta’s #2, 5, 6, Platt #187) @@

2nd

1,057.5

117.50

6

9

2

1

1

9th

Russ Hockey profileRuss Hockey
(Hockey Racing #00) @@@t

4th

1,055.0

95.91

8

11

1

0

3

10th

Shadoe Russell in Galletta's #1Shadoe Russell
(Doe Racing #26, Galletta’s #6) @

3rd

880.0

80.00

9

11

0

0

0

Points sponsored by: 

11th

Jeff Tetro (in Galletta's #1)Jeff Tetro
(Galletta’s #9, 1, 0 ) @@

2nd

863.0

95.89

6

9

0

1

0

12th

Russ Bartlett
(Galletta’s #9, 6, Doe #26) @@@

1st

840.5

84.05

6

10

0

1

1

13th

Dick Dann profileDick Dann
(Dann #86) @

5th

512.0

85.33

4

6

0

0

4

14th

Kelly Miller driving the Galletta's Greenhouse #7 kart (7/2010)Kelly Miller
(Galletta’s #7, 9) @ t

6th

429.9

107.48

3

4

0

1

1

15th

Jared Halstead
(Galletta’s #0, 9) @

®

400.0

133.33

2

3

0

1

0

16th

Gary MillerGary Miller Sr.
(Galletta’s #0, #4) L

6th

357.5

119.17

3

3

1

1

6

17th

Chad Leroy (in Galletta's #2)Chad Leroy
(Galletta’s #5, 2, 1)

2nd

282.5

94.17

3

3

0

0

0

18th

Rob Clarke in Galletta's #1Rob Clarke
(Galletta’s #1) @ t

2nd

265.0

66.25

2

4

1

0

0

19th

Larry PhillipsLarry Phillips
(L&K Small Engine #04)

3rd

193.5

96.75

2

2

0

0

1

20th

Gary Miller Jr. in his dad's #24Gary Miller Jr.
(Miller #24, Galletta’s #5)

5th

192.0

96.00

2

2

0

0

1

21st

Jesse Vivlemore (Galletta's #5)Jesse Vivlemore
(Galletta’s #0, 5) @

3rd

184.0

61.33

1

3

0

0

0

22nd

Pace Kart Driver - Collin Miller - Galletta's #0 (Time Trialed 7th!)Collin Miller
(Miller #24, Doe #26, Galletta’s #0)

1st

183.0

61.00

3

3

0

0

0

23rd

Chris Carroll
(Galletta’s #9) @

®

181.0

90.50

1

2

0

0

0

24th

Todd Halstead
(Galletta’s #1) @

®

174.0

87.00

1

2

1

0

0

25th

Kenny Lindsley in the Galletta's #5Kenny Lindsley III
(Galletta’s #5) @

2nd

163.0

81.50

1

2

0

0

0

26th

David Latulip (in Galletta's #5)Dave Latulip
(Galletta’s #5)

®

104.0

104.00

1

1

1

0

0

27th

Justin Lamb (in Galletta's #6)Justin Lamb
(Galletta’s #6, 1)

®

85.0

85.00

1

1

0

0

0

28th

Kyle Reuter in the Galletta's #7Kyle Reuter
(Galletta’s #7)

3rd

76.0

76.00

1

1

0

0

3

  

Key:
@ = Used Make-Up Races
T = Used Time-Outs (3 per driver)
L = Raced Light in handicap kart
® = Rookie

Notes:
Scoring: Point scoring scale is found on our rules page, heats are bonus points, and more bonus points are awarded for each lap run in 1st place (1 point per lap) and 2nd & 3rd place (0.5 points per lap).
Starts: Regular season race starts are handicapped via inverting (a) feature wins and (b) points-per-race. 2nd of a Twin-30 start is inverted from the 1st finish. Klassic is started via time-trials.


VISIT THE 2000-2009 GALLETTA’S WINS & POINTS STANDINGS, TALLIED AFTER EACH COMPLETED SEASON