Galletta's Karting Club

7/25/2014 – Har-bored-mess Race is Tonight (…or Sunday)!

FRIDAY, JULY 25th, 2014, OSWEGO, NY –  We are planning a race Friday, July 25th, 2014 at 6:30pm (newbies) and 7pm (vets). However, a long-standing rule in our class is 8-is-enough. 8-or-less is a heat race – we aren’t organized kiddie karts where a couple of karts and kids make a class, we are an adult racing class that need competition to warrant the effort of putting on a race, beating up track and karts, video-recording it, scoring it and counting it for points on the website (all manually). So if we do not have 8 karts on track, we may postpone the race until Sunday, July 27th, 2014, or hold a small race. Come up, call or write to find out!

Nevermind. It happened already.

7/25/2014 – 19th Annual Har-bored-Fest Avoidance 50 won by Kyle Reuter in Galletta’s Greenhouse #5!

FRIDAY, JULY 25th, 2014, OSWEGO, NY –  Every late July comes
Oswego’s Harborfest, which is great for fireworks and a few places deep in the
heart of Oswego, but some (many?) of its citizens prefer to stay out of the city
because it makes it extremely FAR more difficult to traverse through than usual.
What’s better than having a race in the fairly car-free roads in the Town of
Oswego, then? Well, our 19th Annual “HAR-BORE-MESS AVOIDANCE RACE” went
down and it was a 9-kart extravaganza. Let me be quite clear. A clinic of driving
skill was displayed for the lead between two of the winningest karters in the
Oswego area – Matt Stevens and Kyle Reuter. It was a torrid race with Kyle holding
off a hard-charging Matt for the win! But it was not without controversy, as
a few feathers did get ruffled along the way, including one threat of a helmet
throw! In the end, the same kart won 3 weeks in a row WITH A DIFFERENT DRIVER!
Two of which come back for their 1st race in over a year! A kart that usually
sits idle and sat unused during the last Galletta’s Greenhouse Klassic 200! Now
everyone’s going to be fighting over racing it every week! More details below!

We decided to skip heats due to the fact that there were no inexperienced newbies
and we got out to a late start than we preferred.

50-Lap Feature

50-LAP FEATURE START:

1. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88)
2. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c) – *DNS (Mechanical issues)
3. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
4. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/R&C Sushi/Chrusher.com #4)
5. Kevin Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #28)
6. Eric Woolworth (Woolworth-Ruggio #78)
7. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3) 
8. Tumor Matott (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1)
9. Kyle Reuter (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)

Notes – * Adam Lytle was scheduled to start, but mechanical issues took him out during warmups and before the green flag of the feature dropped. At Galletta’s, if you run warm-ups, you qualify to start. If you can’t start, you are still scored in last place.

During the early going, Keith Raymond set a very fast pace in the former Eric Woolworth #88-which won the 1st two races of the year with Eric before his back forced him to take a break, Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3) and Kyle Reuter (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5) battle through traffic, here both trying to pass the Platt-num/Galletta #28 of Kevin Galletta.

Keith Raymond blew a clutch while leading – Literally, it blew up. Melissa Stevens (Scissors-n-Fur #19) then inherited the lead with the injured Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/R&C Sushi/Crusher.com #4) holding on for dear life to 2nd. Kyle Reuter and Matt Stevens were in hot pursuit, but Melissa was setting a fast pace.

Again, a good chunk of the early race was Melissa, Chris, Kyle and Matt, racing extremely close and bumper-to-bumper. But Chris’ injuries from the prior weekend’s accident were starting to take their toll, and he started slowing down.

Kyle sensed Chris was slowing and used the speed of the Galletta’s Greenhouse #5 to pull alongside the #4 and nudge him out of the fast groove. Matt Stevens also followed Kyle by. Chris had to pull out of the race, as he was feeling every bump in his ribs, shin, and also arm (tetanus shot a day earlier – he needed it anyways as his wife is about to give birth). This makes only the 5th race that Chris pulled out of early in the past 19 years of racing. And oddly enough, it was the 20th anniversary of his last tetanus shot, which he had to take from road rash from falling off the #3 kart wearing shorts in this same turn 20 years earlier. Those days are long gone as you can see with all the armor he has on. He was a race-time decision to race anways, and was originally going to take one ap and pull, but staryed out as long as his body could tolerate to score points, and he did get many top-3 bonus point laps before pulling.

However, on the following restart – that starter Wesley “Ogre” Stevens threw for no reason – Melissa got sideways in turn 2, Reuter climbed her kart and Matt Stevens climbed his! The top 3 wreck, putting Kevin Galletta in the lead, with Eric Woolworth in the Woolworth/Ruggio #78 – who is recovering from back problems – following him. Eric then pulled out as well, much like Chris he took as many laps as his body could take before he started to feel it. Reuter used a timeout to repair the Galletta’s #5, Matt changed karts – from the Galletta’s #3 to Galletta’s #2, and Melissa from her #19 to her #80.


The following part of the race had Matt and Kyle again trying to get up front. On one restart, Kyle Reuter used an aggressive banzai pass attempt to pass Kevin Galletta for the lead and Kev then got into his right rear, spinning Kyle out. On another restart, Matt got up front, but the caution came out momentarily, Matt slowed and didn’t get to keep his spot. He was pretty pissed. The third restart saw Kyle Reuter again close Kevin Galletta in a close fashion, which sent Kev off the track in turn 4. Kevin was pretty miffed about it, and gestured that he was going to throw his helmet at Kyle. Reuter denies making any contact, and our lack of a cameraman in tthe back turn leaves us without the ability to check on every wreck.


Reuter then had command of the lead in the Galletta’s #5  until Matt Stevens moved into 2nd in the Galletta’s #2. We have documented how Matt relishes proving that EVERY Galletta’s kart is capable of winning a feature race, and he challenged Kyle every single lap in it, showing him a wheel on several occasions. Chris was sad he was too injured to race these guys, as they are two of the best karters in the area and put on a clinic of pure racing skill – bar none. Yes, that includes the Oswego Kartway, where these two dominated and won many a feature race on when they raced there. Look it up. Reuter held onto the win, but admitted the #5 was loose after the wreck and Matt was faster, so he was glad to hold him off, as he knows many people have been caught in the last laps by Matt, himself included.

50-LAP FEATURE FINISH:

1. Kyle Reuter (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
2. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3, #2) 
3. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88, Galletta’s Greenhouse #1) )
4. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19, #80)
5. Kevin Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #28) = DNF (Mechanical issues)
6. Eric Woolworth (Woolworth-Ruggio #78) = DNF (Injury)
7. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/R&C Sushi/Chrusher.com #4) = DNF (Injury)
8. Tumor Matott (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1) = DNF (Gave up ride to Keith Raymond)
9. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c) = DNS (Mechanical issues)

      RETCON MAKEUP CREDITS:
10. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s #7) – earned via 8/10/2014 Makeup (2nd Heat).

This adds more to an unprecedented streak in Galletta’s Karting Club & Speedway history, one kart has won three feature races in a row with three different drivers at the helm –  Matt Stevens (7/12/2014), Randy Platt (7/19/2014), and now Kyle Reuter (7/25/2014) become the trio to do it! Who will drive it next weekend and try for four-in-a-row? Considering the #5 kart has been fast for a few years and was basically abandoned by its semi-regular driver (Joe Sereno) last year, sat idle for the majority of the past couple of seasons (including the Klassic 200), it is just one of those things about Galletta’s Karting that no point series scoring weekly competitive pay track in the area can duplicate – all of our Galletta’s Greenhouse Team karts are fast and capable of winning feature wins. But it isn’t easy to win here.  the competition is equal and fierce, and the races are long on a big track, so you must be a talented, experienced,  determined, resilient, and persistent driver with a little luck on your side as well. If you win at Galletta’s, you’ve earned it by being a good driver who sticks at it. You can’t buy a win with a better kart than everyone else at Galletta’s, and since we have hated cheaters since day one in our club and handicap starts based on wins and points-per-race, if you win, you’ve won it fair and square. You earned it with some good driving. Good drivers come back. Whiners, quitters and arrogant drivers with over-inflated egos that vastly surpass their driving skills and just need to put money into a kart to make it better than their competition stay away.

Now to the 19th Annual Season Gas Flathead Karting World Championship at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Speedway Points!

2014 Gas Flathead National Championship / 2014 Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Speedway Point Standings

(As of completion of 7/25/2014’s race event.; MAKEUPS ADDED, except Quitty-N00bs, who will likely never cash the points in)

Position	Name (Go-Karts Piloted)  [Hyperlinked Borders have Driver Profile] ®=Rookie *=Makeup T =Timeout (*$ makup not cashed)	Total Points (Place)	Average Points Per Feature	Features	Feature Wins	Win %	Heats Won/Entered	Years Pro at Galletta’s	All-Time Feature Wins
1st	Matt Stevens  (Galletta’s #3, 74, 33, 6, 5, 2)	1,067.50	133.44	8	3	38%	0/5	19th	122
2nd	Chris Stevens  (Galletta’s / Chrusher.com / R&C Sushi #4, 8, 0, 5)	952.50	119.06	8	0	0%	1/5	19th	70
3rd	Melissa Stevens  (Scissors ‘n Fur #19, 80)	918.50	114.81	8	0	0%	2/5	8th	7
4th	Adam Lytle  (Lytle #33c)	775.50	96.94	8	0	0%	1/4	3rd	1
5th	Kelly Miller  (Galletta’s #7, 9)	734.50	104.93	7	0	0%	0/4	7th	2
6th	Keith Raymond  (Galletta’s #1, Raymond #88) ® **	713.50	89.19	8	0	0%	1/4	®	0
7th	Kevin Galletta   (Galletta / Platt-Num #28) * ##	713.00	101.86	7	1	14%	1/3	2nd	2
8th	Eric Woolworth (The Raven #88, 78/02)	680.50	113.42	6	2	33%	0/3	3rd	4
9th	Brian Galletta  (Galletta / Platt-Num #42) *, #	493.00	82.17	6	0	0%	0/4	8th	6
10th	David Turner  (Plattnum-Turner #43, Galletta’s #9) ®, *, #	478.50	95.70	5	0	0%	1/2	®	0
11th	Kyle Reuter  (Galletta’s #5)	170.50	170.50	1	1	100%	0/0	6th	5
12th	Alex Bennett (Galletta’s #9, 2) ® (*$)	159.00	79.50	2	0	0%	0/0	®	0
13th	Randy Platt  (Galletta’s #5)	152.50	152.50	1	1	100%	0/0	5th	7
14th	Cliff Crowe  (Galletta’s #1) ® (*$)	143.00	71.50	2	0	0%	0/0	®	0
15th	Grover Sixberry Jr.  (Galletta’s #2) ® *	120.00	60.00	2	0	0%	0/1	®	0
16th	Chad Combs  (Galletta’s #9, 2) ® (*$)	112.00	112.00	1	0	0%	0/1	®	0
17th	Branden Tumor Matott  (Galletta’s #1)	101.00	101.00	1	0	0%	0/0	2nd	1
18th	Matthew Daniels  (Galletta’s #1)	91.00	91.00	1	0	0%	0/1	®	0

Handicap Starting Grid to next race:

NEXT RACE: 8/3/2014->