7/5/2020 – A Rocky 25th Annual Independence Day 45 Leads to BIG Crash & Matt Stevens Getting an Easy Win! [+YouTube]

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Sunday, July 5th, 2020 – Matt Stevens survived to win his 2nd feature of 2020. Even he had to admit, this one kind of fell into his lap, as early leaders Greg Blanchard (spin), Travis Bartlett (lost header pipe) and Chris Stevens (crash with Steve Sixberry) all ran into problems that led to him inheriting a win. But sometimes that’s how she goes and a win is still a win. Read more below!

We started early this week to allow time for drivers to get to the Oswego fireworks, and we were able to do so. However, even after an hour of watering, the track was on the dry side, which leads to the potential of potholes, rocks, and dust problems… and that’s exactly what wound up happening, which is why Matt usually prefers racing closer to dusk when the track is dry.

7/5/2020 – 45-Lap Feature Lineup

1. Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #33c)
2. Nic Olivares (Galletta’s #1)
3. Travis Bartlett (Galletta’s #5)
4. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s/Chrusher.com/OswegoSushi.com #8)
5. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
6. Steve Sixberry (Galletta’s #7)
7. Tony Hemingway (Galletta’s #28)
8. Mel Stevens (Galletta’s/SNF #80)

Enjoy the Tower camera and Helmet-cam angles of our Independence Day 45 Lapper, seen here!

Tower Camera Only

Here is the raw, unedited, un-narrated video from the Tower angle, as usual by Rung “Aou” Stevens. She was able to get some turn 1 angle into the video as well, as she had to drop the kids off with their grandma mid-race.

Greg Blanchard led the early going in the Galletta’s #33c. As karts passed each other left and right behind him, the #33c got loose in the rocks in turns 3 & 4 and spun. The rocks were difficult for everyone to navigate, as the dry conditions led to MANY being kicked up, which makes for extremely difficult cornering.

This put the Galletta’s #5 of Travis Bartlett into the lead, where he dominated the race until the #5’s header fell off. This slowed the kart down considerably, and Chris Stevens (in the Galletta’s #8) was able to get by him on a restart because of it.

The video starts with a sneak peek of the big wreck of the night with only two laps to go, when Steve Sixberry’s left-front bumper on the Galletta’s #7 became lodged into leader Chris Stevens’ the right-rear bumper on the #8, taking the two out of 1st and 2nd place and also collecting the #1 of Nic Olivares, enabling Matt Stevens to inherit the lead with two to go and take the win. Matt didn’t even feel like he earned it, yet still got the win.

Of note, while lap counting, we went 2 extra green flag laps. If the lap counter correctly counted, Chris and Steve would not have wrecked, finished 1st and 2nd, and Nic wouldn’t have gotten collected as well, making for two less broken karts and two less sore bodies the next day. It’s weird to see how whenever starter Wes Stevens makes a mistake or judgement call, it favors his younger son and hurts his oldest one… and pretty much everyone else, too. And no, he doesn’t do it on purpose, as he has Parkinson’s on top of being a master of odd decision-making and bungling decades BEFORE he was ever diagnosed… it’s just an uncanny anomaly. Matt seems to always get the windfall of any error he does.

Helmet Camera (Chris Stevens View) Only

Here is the entire event, again largely unedited, from Chris Stevens’ R & C Sushi LLC GoPro camera. Again, the only edit was starting the video with a sneak peek at the above mentioned crash of the night. You can see and hear Chris’s reaction as he was unable to steer (due to having the #7 lodged into his right rear), and see him crash directly into a pile of Supermodified tires in turn 2.

7/5/2020 – 45-Lap Feature Finish

1. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
2. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s/Chrusher.com/OswegoSushi.com #8)
3. Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #33c; #0)
4. Nic Olivares (Galletta’s #1)
5. Steve Sixberry (Galletta’s #7) DNF -3L
6. Tony Hemingway (Galletta’s #28) DNF -3L
7. Travis Bartlett (Galletta’s #5; #28) -4L
8. Mel Stevens (Galletta’s/SNF #80) DNF -45L
7/19/2020 – MAKEUP HEAT RACE POINTS
9. Kevin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #43)
10. Steve Perez (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
7/26/2020 – MAKEUP B-MAIN RACE POINTS
11. 1st in B-Main – Devon Tonkin (Galletta’s #5)
12. 2nd in B-Main – Logan Crisafulli (Galletta’s #2)
13. 3rd in B-Main – Thomas Montgomery (Galletta’s #33c)
14. 4th in B-Main – Tyler Henry (Galletta’s #6)
15. 5th in B-Main – Captain Kenneth Ruszkiewicz (Galletta’s #7)
16. 6th in B-Main – Alex Vescio (Galletta’s #78)
17. 7th in B-Main – Dave LaFlamme (Galletta’s #0)
18. 8th in B-Main – Jon LaFlamme (Galletta’s #1)

Galletta’s Greenhouse Speedway 2020 Point Standings

All races from 6/14/2020 – 7/5/2020:


Scoring sheet is also included under the points.

HANDICAP FOR NEXT RACE
Dennis Richmond
Tony Hemingway
Steve Perez
Andrew Hook
Zachary Blanchard
Steve Sixberry
Greg Blanchard
Nicolas Olivares
Travis Bartlett
Kevin Galletta
Eric Woolworth
Kelly Miller
Chris Stevens
Matt Stevens
Greg Kalkowski
Returning Vets (Win Invert)
Newbies (Weight Invert)
Melissa Stevens

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