Galletta's Karting Club

7/30/2017 – 22nd Annual Harborfest Championship… Cancelled.

Sunday, July 30th, 2017 – Due to a lack of available drivers, we were forced to cancel our 22nd Annual Harborfest weekend race. Every week we request more drivers — old veteran racers, newbie rookies, and everything between. Around 20 arrive-and-drive karts with most of them sitting idle without drivers and only $25 to race them for 50-70 laps a week. Come on up!

8/5/2017 – Twin-30s! [Unedited Video Playlist]

Saturday, August 5th, 2017 – Another set of Twin 30-lap features weres was set, along with the return of an all-time vet, another cousin Tim Galletta, who is up from North Carolina for two weekends and getting two races in. And would a 1st-time winner emerge in victory lane by the end of the night? It certainly looked like it would. Watch the above playlist to find out!

Spoiler alert…

8/5/2017 – Twin-30s won by Kevin Galletta & Matt Stevens!

Full-sized Victory Photo

Tim Galletta’s Return! Pus, he finally got to meet Faith and Lilybeth (not pictured).

In Tim Galletta’s 2-weekend return for the 1st time in 4 years, Kevin Galletta led every lap of the 1st 30-Lapper to take his 2nd feature win of 2017. Matt Stevens then led zero laps and just stole Lee Gleason’s 1st victory away from him by sneaking the front bumper past the stripe on the final lap of the night. The funny thing was Lee’s kart has had terrible motor sputtering issues and lack of power for a while now, and Matt put around a week of work testing and fixing the motor until it got up to par. And if not for Matt’s craftiness on the final lap, Lee would have put the #29 (the former Thunder Island/Larry Phillips/Kenny Lindsley III/Eric Woolworth/Billy Ruggio/Eric Woolworth/Keith Raymond/David Hall/Lee Gleason ride) in victory lane for the 1st time in a long time.

FEATURE #1

Due to a lack of drivers of late, past feature winners keep starting on the pole, and points leaders starting close to the front which is usually a recipe for repeat feature winners AND the points leaders getting bonus points right off the bat. Kevin Galletta did his best to keep this trend going.

FEATURE #1 START:

1. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
2. Chris Stevens (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #8)
3. Josh Arnold (Arnie #93)
4. Matt Stevens  (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #74)
5. Tim Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9)
6. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
7. DNS – Lee Gleason (Gleason #29)

The entire race was close from start to finish, and although there were a few passes, Kevin Galletta held off Chris Stevens for the win. 3rd in points Josh Arnold’s bad luck with breaking down #93 put him in a hole.

FEATURE #1 FINISH

1. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
2. Chris Stevens (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #8)
3. Matt Stevens  (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #74)
4. Tim Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9)
5. Josh Arnold (Arnie #93)
6. DNF – Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
7. DNS – Lee Gleason (Gleason #29)

FEATURE #2:

Lee Gleason — who has not yet won a feature at Galletta’s — starts on the pole with the returning Timmy Galletta in 2nd (Tim last drove over 4 years ago due to his move down south). Again… this race was close and competitive with passing at a premium, as the video shows.

FEATURE #2 START:

1. Lee Gleason (Gleason #29)
2. Tim Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9)
3. Josh Arnold (Arnie #93)
4. Chris Stevens (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #43)
5. Matt Stevens  (Galletta’s Greenhouse.com #33)
6. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
7. DNS – Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)

As stated above, Lee Gleason has not had much good luck in his kart since he started racing occasionally in the last year or so, and Matt gave the #29 machine some overdue TLC all week and it showed. Lee was holding off the competitive pack (facing challenges from Tim Galletta, Josh Arnold and Chris Stevens) until Matt Stevens somehow made it up to 2nd after his #33 dropped out sputtering for the 2nd week in a row (Tim dropped the #9 due to sputtering and Chris dropped the #43 out when the right rear fell off). Matt nipped Lee in the most NARROW of margins, nearly a dead heat (see picture). Damn that Matty-Joe, he giveth and he taketh away!!! And 3rd in points Josh did NOT have a good race, twice finishing last on track with the #93 breaking down in both features.

FEATURE #2 FINISH:

1. Matt Stevens (GallettasGreenhouse.com #33; #74)
2. Lee Gleason (Gleason #29)
3. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
4. Tim Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9; #7)
5. Chris Stevens (Chrusher.com/GallettasGreenhouse.com/OswegoSushi.com #43; #8)
6. Josh Arnold (Arnie #93; Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
7. DNS – Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)

SCORING:

SCORING NOTES: 
Starter Brian Galletta went one lap over in the 1st feature and three laps over in the 2nd. Lee Gleason may have theoretically won his 1st feature if not for the error, however, Matt Stevens usually does bide his time and waits to try to time a passing attempt on the last lap (so that if it fails, he won’t get passed trying to get back in line because it’s the last lap), so it may not have made a difference in outcome. As always, extra laps completed are scored as bonus points. I have long insisted that two people are needed to flip laps and run the flags, but we can’t get Brian and his uncle Wes on the same page! 🙂 Matt, Chris, Josh and Tim all used kart-change timeouts in the 2nd feature.

2017 World 1-WD Gas Flathead Backyard Karting Championship Point Standings

After the 8/5/2016 Race Event:

NEXT WEEK’S HANDICAP:

The handicap is getting difficult to keep fresh due to a lack of drivers, especially drivers who have either never won a feature event at Galletta’s, or haven’t won one yet this year. As one could see, a Randy Platt or Kelly Miller would start either on the pole or close to it if they simply came out to race, which is for a veteran, the place you want to be. In addition, with so few drivers, yet most of them winning at least one time, a feature winner has either been starting on the pole or close to it all season. Chris Stevens has led the points for most of the summer despite only winning one race this season, but with his brother Matt getting a couple extra laps by Brian Galletta to secure his 3rd win of the year, he now passed Chris in the points. Due to the Gary Miller rule of using wins as the 1st handicap instead of points and points-per-feature (named after the man who would quit if he didn’t win, so he would have low points and start up front, so he’d either win or quit and come in last place if he couldn’t win to keep starting up front every week), Chris is still 2nd in points yet should start relatively close to the front, and people not in the top three (like Keith and Kevin) picking up more wins than 2nd in points Chris. But this is only an anomaly because we don’t have enough drivers. If this continues, we may alter a starting grid rule a bit like we did a few years ago and alternate between PPR and wins. With many drivers, the handicap system works great. When there isn’t enough drivers, vets start up front with their only real challenge is to hold off competitors and not break down.

Next race is set for Saturday, August 12th, 2017 at 6pm (drivers arrival and/or deadline of saying if they are making it), 6:30pm start for either rookie race, heats, or 1st feature (depending on track/weather conditions and driver attendance), 7pm deadline for a less-than-7-driver field.