Galletta's Karting Club

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13th, 2024, OSWEGO, N.Y. – A rainy Sunday led to a raindate of Monday, which led to another rainout, which led to Tuesday — which happens to be Faith Stevens’s 10th birthday! Unfortunately, we only had 2 visiting drivers make it, but we decided to force the show with only 5 drivers (technically only 3, because 2 of whom took laps for points and pulled off) as we may not race for at least another weekend or two: Matt Stevens has a family vacation to Florida all next week, and upon his return, we may be dealing with Chris and his wife (who is our heroic camera-woman that around 99.9% of the tower race videos are by) getting busy with work. Not to mention our alarming lack of competitors. It has been so bad that we threw out our old rule of at least 5 because we like racing a good driver like AJ (whom we cheer for in the SBS Division at Oswego Speedway and enjoy watching his steady improvement) and… well, we wouldn’t race at all if we stuck to our 5 driver minimum anyway.

ALL RAW FOOTAGE – TOWER AND TWO GO-PROS

One of the reasons we like so many drivers is that the handicap is useless with so few drivers on the track. The handicap favored Chris on the pole, as the only one of the three drivers who had not yet won a feature this season. Chris elected to drive one of his 1st karts — the Galletta’s #2 — instead of one his primary karts (the #4 and #8). This is the 1st race he remembers starting in since he won in it in the 2013 season opener.

1st Feature Start:
1st. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #2)
2nd. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #33)
3rd. AJ Larkin (Galletta’s #9)
4th. Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #83)
5th. Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s #19)

With a single file race and only three drivers, all of whom are experienced and in fairly equal machines, the outcome was predictable. No passes, no cautions, and the polesitter won. Chris remarked how the #2 is a good kart and nobody should ever complain about it being slow, as Chris won the last two races he raced it in. His daughter Faith was happy that Daddy won on her 10th Birthday (her BD Party was put off until next weekend).

1st Feature Finale:
1st. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #2)
2nd. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #33)
3rd. AJ Larkin (Galletta’s #9)
4th. DNF – Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #83)
5th. DNF – Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s #19)

LIVESTREAM FROM TURN THREE

2nd feature is inverted the finish of the 1st, minus Greg and Mel doing the  ‘1-lap for points’

2nd Feature Start:
1st. AJ Larkin (Galletta’s #9)
2nd. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #6)
3rd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #78)
4th. Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #83)
5th. DNS – Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s #19)

AJ Larkin looked like the man to beat in this one starting on the pole. However, bad luck struck Larkin en route to what looked to be another won for his young career at Galletta’s. The drive tire on the #9 developed a slow leak and as the laps went on he got slower and slower. This enabled Matt to take the lead and pull away in the #6 (a backup rental kart that many think is junk and Matt unassumingly just wins races in whenever he tries it). Chris, who was struggling in the VERY loose Galletta’s #78 and fell WAY behind initially, almost got him as well, but Starter Wesley Stevens was late throwing the white flag. Chris badly mistimed a last-lap pass attempt, securing AJ 2nd thus retaining a slim lead in the tight points title after 4 features.

2nd Feature Finale:
1st. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #6)
2nd. AJ Larkin (Galletta’s #9)
3rd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #78)
4th. DNF – Greg Blanchard (Galletta’s #83)
5th. DNS – Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s #19)

Again, not a single yellow flag all night, showing what good drivers can do when given the track.

2024 Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Karting Point Standings
(as of 8/13/2024)