Galletta's Karting Club

THE 14th ANNUAL GALLETTA’S GO-KART KLASSIC 200-LAP CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
on Saturday afternoon, October 3rd, 2009:

Galletta’s Karting Club – 2009 Season, Race 16:
The World Championship of Gas Flathead Karting Points Series continued on
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Speedway
The 14th Annual Galletta’s Go-Kart Klassic 200:

The 2009 Galletta’s Klassic Time Trial Results & Starting Order:

Starting 1st: Russ Hockey – Hockey #00 16.56, 16.22 (3 timeouts earned)* 3rd Galletta’s Klassic.	Starting 2nd: Chris Stevens – Galletta’s #4 16.45, 16.47 (3 timeouts earned) Also timed 16.60 in the #8* 14th Galletta’s Klassic (3 prior wins).
Starting 3rd: Matt Stevens – Galletta’s #33 16.59, 16:47 (3 timeouts earned) Also timed 16.58 in the #3 * 14th Galletta’s Klassic (9 prior wins).	Starting 4th: George Russell – Galletta’s #2 16.64, 16.94 (1 timeout earned)* 1st Galletta’s Klassic.
Starting 5th: Melissa Stevens – Stevens #19 16.93, 17.03 (3 timeouts earned) Also timed 16.94 in the #80* 3rd Galletta’s Klassic.	Starting 6th: JD Davis – Miller #24 17.22, 17.09 (1 timeout earned.)* 1st Galletta’s Klassic.
Starting 7th: Tim Galletta – Galletta’s #9 17.29, 17.26 (2 timeouts earned.)* 1st Galletta’s Klassic.	Starting 8th: Jesse Vivlemore – Galletta’s #0 17.53, 17.33 (2 timeouts earned) Also timed a 17.60 in the #6* 1st Galletta’s Klassic.
Starting 9th: Shadoe Russell – Russell #26 18.91, 18.70 (1 timeout earned)* 1st Galletta’s Klassic.	WTF?!: CM Bigfoot – N/A N/A (100 timeouts earned, none used.)

One of the best Klassic races in Galletta’s Backyard Speedway’s history was held on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009! The 14th Annual Klassic was started at 5:30pm. Originally scheduled for around 4pm, we waited a over an hour for four regular drivers that were scheduled but didn’t make it; Buddy Cottom, Larry Phillips, Jason Mills, and Brian Galletta – all of whom were prior feature winners this season and projected to do very well in the Klassic. Plus, Gary Miller missed the Klassic due to being out of town (although he hand-picked a replacement driver for his kart, 1st-timer JD Davis). This meant that instead of the projected 14 driver race, we only got 9. Although only a 9 kart race was underwhelming  in total drivers, it did not take away from the racing itself, which was excellent, with no major wrecks and very clean racing. Hopefully next season, we can have another 14-16 kart Klassic, which were totals that we had in the 2005-06 seasons.

DVD (and above Playlist) MENU

Russ Hockey scored the pole with a 16.22 and set a very fast pace while dominating the vast majority of the race, pulling away from everybody during the first half of the event. Although he received some challenges by George Russell and Jesse Vivlemore, he led 152 of the first 162 laps of the race, with only Jesse catching both Russ and Chris sleeping on a restart and leading 10 laps in the 40s. Chris Stevens–this year driving the Galletta’s #4 in a Klassic for the first time since 1997 because of the bad luck of the #8 in every Klassic since it’s creation in 2004–stayed in the top 3 for the first, knowing that it is crucial to both stay ahead of Matt and also score as many top-3 bonus points as he possibly could to maintain his lead in the point standings, not to mention being in range for a win as the race progressed. Russ put a couple people down one lap in his quest. Matt, per usual, used his 9-time-Klassic-Winning formula: fade to the back early, save his kart and come on strong during the latter stages of the marathon event, hoping that the front-runners would burn more fuel and also tire their motors out. JD Davis retired the Miller #24 kart on lap 41 after the front wheel bearings broke for the 2nd time (he had already used a timeout on lap 21 to repair them once).

At the first caution after 130 lap point, each kart was given the choice of refueling. If you refuel, you go to the rear of the pack, so people in the rear had nothing to lose and refueled. However, there was a gamble at this point, as starter Mike “mc” Howell instructed that if you ran out of gas, he would not throw the caution for you, and you’d have to pit and gas up ASAP. The top-4 at this point–Russ, Chris, George, and Matt–all declined and decided to go for all 200 laps off 1 tank of gas. Matt started the decision, gambling that he saved more gas than the top 3. With around more than a third or so to go, Chris started to work on Russ for the lead until a nut fell of his drive-wheel on the #4, and Chris had to go to the rear, wondering when his Klassic bad luck would ever end. That set up a battle between Matt Stevens and Russ Hockey, and with Russ’ #00 getting loose on lap 162, Matt again put his #33 in the lead in the latter stages again, putting himself in prime position for his 10th Klassic victory. Chris, steadily worked his way back to the front, and moved up to 4th, and battled impressive rookie George Russell for countless laps, until George and his son Shadoe (by then multi-time lapped traffic) wrecked together in turn two, moving Chris back up to 3rd. Russ then ran out of fuel on lap 191, which took him out of the lead lap (going down 2 laps before he made it back out in time to save himself from going down a third. The decision was made by flagman Mike “mc” Howell, to not throw the caution for any driver that ran out of fuel. This was the only controversial moment in the Klassic, as Russ could have called a “pit stop timeout” and refueled without losing a lap. Russ had earned 3 timeouts during the regular season (depending on how many races attended, unused, and carried over, and had 3 to burn.). This set up a battle between Matt and Chris for the same epic battle that has occurred throughout the early days of Klassic history. Per usual, between the equally-matched competitors in speed and experience, the edge will usually go to the one ahead of the other; this time Matt. Although Chris stuck with his brother, there was no way around, and Matt inched away slightly every lap as the checkered flag approached. Finally, after successfully holding off his brother after a couple of late caution restarts, Matt emerged in victory lane for his 10th Galletta’s Klassic win — only Chris (3) and Wes Stevens (1) have won the four others. George Russell was extremely impressive in only his 3rd time ever in a Galletta’s go-kart, scoring 3rd and racing with the leaders nearly from start to finish in the Galletta’s #2, a kart that went unused in the last handful of Klassics. George proved how all Galletta karts are fast, it’s just a problem of finding good drivers to fill the machines on a weekly basis.

The opening lap of the 200!

 Matt becomes the first driver to win a Klassic without a refuel in the modern era. This race now sets a new standard and instantly became legendary for the fact that the top three karts did not pit and went all 200+ laps on one tank of pump gasoline! Yes, that is 200 laps, over 20+ miles of racing on one 5hp gas tank! With the fastest times ranging between 45-50mph, this is extraordinary, to say the least, and again points to how our brand of racing – though occasionally looked down upon by more conventional, organized WKA-type methanol karters – is second to none in terms of pure racing skill and value for the money. The race finished precisely at 8:00 pm, and that was after three driver timeouts used (JD, Jesse, and Chris). Thank you to all who have raced with us this year, and check back periodically with us (via phone or email) to see if we will have any Fall races (weather, track conditions and driver interest, as always, determine any races after the Klassic; anywhere between 0-3 could be raced).

The ’09 Klassic Highlight Reel

(In low resolution. To see higher resolution, view the above YouTube video playlist, or buy the DVDs)

Notes: The Galletta’s #1, 3, 5, 6, 7 (a handicap kart for drivers over 200 lbs.), 8, and 80 all went initially unused at race’s beginning, although the #5 was used by Jesse after the #0’s rear axle bolt broke, and Melissa used her #80 after the head on the #19 cracked. Chris’ backup, the #8, sat out of its first Klassic since it was built right after the 2003 Klassic. Matt’s backup, the #3 – which he drove for most of the ’09 season and won 7 Klassics in – went unused as well.

However, despite Matt’s Klassic triumph, Chris did break his 8-year-straight Track Championship winning streak by consistently racing in and finishing in the top-3 all year long, despite Matt having more total wins. In fact, in this 8-year period (2002-2008), Matt won 8-straight Galletta’s Track Titles, and 3-straight Oswego Speedway’s Dirt Kartway Gas Division track titles (a record that will forever stand as unbeaten, as the track operator swore Matt would never win again on his track again and stuck to his word as he banned the entire class from competition, and it will take years of the replacement ‘Gas Clone/Pro Stock’ classes to match Matt’s win total in his 3 years there, particularly impressive as Matt even defeated bigger motors, an obstacle that the current clones don’t have to work around). This is Chris’ first track championship since 2001, where he won 3-straight himself. He now has won four overall. Still, Matt wins, as he is the head mechanic on all Galletta’s karts, and everybody knows that when Matt gives your kart a tune-up, it is usually the fastest on the track that very next race. The fact is, he hurts himself when he tunes his competition’s karts to be faster than his own, which happens a lot. Many times,  our backups can be time-trialed faster than his two karts!

Chris Stevens may not have won the 200 (and is now 8 years without one), but he wins his 4th track points championship, breaking is little brother Matt’s 7-year deathgrip reign as track champion. But, Matt still won his 11th (out of the 1st 14 and 6th out of the last 7) Klassic Championship and total Feature wins, which he is more concerned with.

Final Order of Finish for the 14th Annual Galletta’s Klassic 200 of 2009:

CM BIGFOOT (played in an Oscar-winning performance by DJ Mike Howell) Attacks (and slips)!

Meanwhile, Professor Speedmonkey’s appearance, victory, and vicious smack-talk last race lured his arch nemesis, “CM Bigfoot” to the track, seeking to destroy him. CM did not have very nice things to say about Speedmonkey in general. In fact, all of the karters were upset with Speedmonkey’s “Soupy $#it trap” that he left in the middle of the back stretch. However, Professor did get the last laugh, as seen below. Damn, that Speedmonkey.

This concludes the 2009 Points Season at Galletta’s Backyard Karting Speedway, the biggest and most rewarding race at Galletta’s every single year. Fall races (if any) will count as a separate series and also be added to the all-time totals. Here is the order:

2009 Gas Flathead Dirt Karting World Championship Point Standings:  
After 16 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Go-Kart Speedway from 6/8/2009 -thru- 10/3/2009.
Our complete Points Standings from the prior eight seasons are found on this webpage.

Rank	Name (Go-Karts Piloted)  ~ Colored Border Pics have Profiles ~	Years Pro on Track	Total Points (Place)	Average Points Per Event	Events Raced	Features Entered	Heat Wins	Feature Wins	Klassic Win | In	Feature Win %
1	Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #4, 8, 5)	14th	2,821.5	176.34	16	20	0	3	0|1	15%
2	Matt Stevens  (Galletta’s #33, 3, 1, 7)	14th	2,770.5	173.16	16	20	2	7	1|1	35%
3	Russ Hockey (Hockey #00, Galletta’s #9)	3rd	2,571.0	171.40	15	18	4	2	0|1	11%
4	Melissa Stevens (Stevens #19, 80)	3rd	2,369.0	148.06	16	20	2	1	0|1	5%
5	Buddy Cottom (Galletta’s #5, 6, 4, 1, 2)	3rd	1,934.0	138.14	14	18	2	1	0|0	6%
6	Gary Miller Sr. (Galletta’s/Miller #24, 0)	5th	1,711.5	122.25	14	18	1	1	0|0	6%
7	Larry Phillips (L&K Small Engine #04)	2nd	1,225.0	122.50	10	13	0	1	0|0	9%
8	Fred Collins (Galletta’s #9)	5th	1,117.0	139.63	8	11	1	2	0|0	11%
9	Tim Galletta  (Galletta’s #7, 9, 2)	1st	1,096.0	182.67	6	7	1	0	0|1	0%
10	Jesse Vivlemore (Galletta’s #0, 5)	3rd	773.0	193.25	4	4	1	0	0|1	0%
11	George Russell(Galletta’s #2)	1st	726.0	363.00	2	3	1	0	0|1	0%
12	Shadoe Russell (Russell #26, Galletta’s #1)	1st	539.0	269.50	2	3	0	0	0|1	0%
13	Jason Mills (Galletta’s #2)	9th	482.5	160.83	3	5	1	1	0|0	20%
14	Nick Dann (Galletta’s #7, 4, 0, 1)	4th	460.5	115.13	4	6	0	1	0|0	17%
15	Mike “MC” Howell(Galletta’s #2, Russell #26, Hockey #00)	3rd	443.0	221.50	2	2	0	0	0|0	0%
16	JD Davis  (Miller #24)	®	390.0	390.00	1	1	0	0	0|1	0%
17	Kevin Galletta (Galletta’s #9, 0)	1st	370.0	123.33	3	3	0	0	0|0	0%
18	“CM Bigfoot”  (Galletta’s N/A)	N/A	360.0	360.00	1	1	0	0	0|1	0%
19	Kelly Miller (Galletta’s #7, 4)	3rd	320.5	106.83	3	5	1	0	0|0	0%
20	Brian Galletta (Galletta’s #5, 4)	4th	277.5	138.75	2	2	1	1	0|0	50%
21	Dick Dann (Dann #68) 1 = Methanol	4th	241.0	120.50	2	3	0	0	0|0	0%
22	Kenny Lindsley III (Galletta’s #2, 1)	2nd	240.5	120.25	2	2	0	0	0|0	0%
23	Tony Gonyeau (Galletta’s #1, 7, 0)	®	226.0	113.00	2	3	0	0	0|0	0%
24	RaYzor _______ (Last name withheld via paranoia)  (Galletta’s #7, 2)	1st	147.0	73.50	2	2	0	0	0|0	0%
25	Soliman Barakat (Galletta’s #4, 1)	®	144.0	144.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
26	Bob Galletta (Galletta’s #4)	®	139.0	139.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
27	Asaad Al-Hanini (Galletta’s #2, 7, 1)	®	137.0	137.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
28	Todd Sharp (Galletta’s #9)	®	135.0	135.00	1	2	1	0	0|0	0%
29	Jeff Tetro (Galletta’s #6)	1st	132.0	132.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
30	Justin Bonacquisti (Galletta’s #5)	®	130.0	130.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
31	Josh Chetney (Galletta’s #1)	®	124.0	124.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
32	Justin Galletta (Galletta’s #1)	®	123.0	123.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
33	Austin Hicks (Galletta’s #24)	®	118.0	118.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
34	Dan Woodard (Woodard #w5) * = Stock 6.5hp	1st	118.0	118.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
35	Gary Galletta (Galletta’s #6)	®	115.0	115.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
36	Andrew Miller (Galletta’s #0)	®	108.0	108.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
37	Nazeha Al-Hanini (Galletta’s #7)	®	108.0	108.00	1	2	1	0	0|0	0%
38	Terry Miller (Galletta’s #5)	®	106.0	106.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
39	Jesse Newcombe (Galletta’s #4)	®	106.0	106.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
40	Neaiamh Al-Hanini (Galletta’s #1)	®	104.0	104.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
41	Ron Rowe (Galletta’s #2)	®	101.0	101.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
42	Josh Herscha (Galletta’s #0)	1st	100.0	100.00	1	2	0	0	0|0	0%
43	Zack Sawyer (Galletta’s #1)	®	95.0	95.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
44	Eddie Scruton (Galletta’s #6)	1st	93.0	93.00	1	1	1	0	0|0	0%
45	Brian Paul (Galletta’s #1, 7, 2)	®	87.0	87.00	1	1	1	0	0|0	0%
46	Ken Pierce (Galletta’s #7)	®	86.0	86.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
47	Brandon Matott (Galletta’s #0)	®	84.0	84.00	1	1	0	0	0|0	0%
48	“Professor Speedmonkey” (Galletta’s #1)	N/A	73.0	73.00	1	1	0	1	0|0	100%

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.