Galletta’s Go-Kart 

Racing Association – 2005 | Our 10th Season of Dirt Karting Points Racing in Oswego, NY!

2005 Season at Galletta’s Greenhouse Motorsport Speedway – our 10th, but 1st season with MIXED MOTORS – Box Stock Briggs 5hps vs. Box Stock Briggs 5.5hps. Or… so we thought…

7/10/2005 –   Mark Miller (in his #007) won his third race in five attended events as he passed Chris Stevens (who debuted a brand-new 5.5hp engine on his Galletta’s #8 today). But it was a fairly long story to get to that point in the fifty-lap event.

    Mike Billion (in his #57) inherited the lead after Matt Stevens (in his Galletta’s #3) blew a piston rod and the engine leading laps four through nineteen in a newly restored older model Briggs 5hp engine (the problem was determined that newer stock Briggs 5hps came with cheaper oil dippers that break under racing conditions, which is why racing oil dippers-vinyl or racing raptor-are the only 100% allowed “racing” part in a Galletta’s Go-Kart stock motor, but old stock ones will also do). Mike allowed his teammate Mark to pass him for 2nd and try to track down Matt. But a bit of controversy occurred after this point. On the next restart, a few racers, spectators, and track officials initially believed that Mark bumped Matt which caused the #3’s engine to fail. But after a long deliberation, track officials later decided against punishing Mark after he strongly protested any wrongdoing, claiming that he didn’t touch the #3 until it was already failing, which was probably the case. The rule at Galletta’s Speedway has traditionally that if you make contact and crash causing a caution or a change of position, you go to the rear, and this case was a borderline, either/or decision.

    On the following restart that found Matt climbing into the Galletta’s #1, Mark penalized himself by allowing Mike and Chris by him when he didn’t have to. But Billion’s lead was short-lived as the #57 spun out with a blown tire on lap twenty-three, handing Chris the lead. Mark followed Chris for nineteen laps until a restart on lap forty-one when the #8 hit two massive ruts in turns one and two which sent him out of the main groove and allowed Mark all the space he needed to claim the victory. Chris and other observers noted how Chris’ brand-new box stock 5.5hp OHV motor CLEARLY had less power than Miller’s #007, as Miller was with him every lap and pulled away when he took the lead, despite a massive weight differential between Mark on the #007 and Chris on the #8. More suspicions arise that some in the OHV gang are not playing by the same box stock rules that the rest of the group is playing by.

    Jason Mills drove the Galletta’s #0 to a third place finish although many spectators felt that he was the fastest kart on the track. This wasn’t too surprising to Matt, because he broke the previous track record time trial in the #0 by shattering the previously unbreakable 17.00 second barrier in post-repair practice a few days prior to the event. Jason used this speed to his advantage, as he almost had the win at one point after passing #8 for second after Chris again hit the dreaded ruts in turns one and two. Mills then quickly began to track down the #007 for the lead. However, Jason also hit those very same potholes and it unfortunately sent the #0 hurling out of control and violently flipping off of turn two. Jason fortunately recovered, and somehow managed to cruise his way past (#18) Ed Meynes, (#1) Matt Stevens, (#5) Rob Jimenez to still finish third. The bumps have started becoming so bad that track officials are considering limiting practice time, especially for drivers with a lot of experience and bigger motors.

    Even though they had been lapped more than a few times, (#6) Shawn McKeown and (#7), Ken Pitsley benefited points-wise by just finishing the high-scoring fifty-lap event, as five other karts DNF-ed with less completed laps. Shawn in particular, scoring 111 points.

7/10/05 50-Lap results:

1. #007^ Mark Miller
2. #8^ Chris Stevens
3. #0 Jason Mills
4. #18 Ed Meynes
5. #3/#1 Matt Stevens
6. #5 Rob Jimenez
—Lapped Karts—
7. #6 Shawn McKeown
8. #7 Ken Pitsley
—DNF—
9. #2 Freddy Collins
10. #57^ Mike Billion
11. #20 Kenny Meynes
12. #4 Ogre Stevens
13. #1 Dave “Zombie” Philips

^ = 5.5hp motor
DNF = Did not finish race

Galletta’s Speedway 2005 points Standings
(6 races from 06/05/2005 thru 07/10/2005)

In addition, the points are exceedingly odd this season, as we are ordering by Points-Per-Race instead of Total points. This makes drivers with incomplete attendance and scattered one or two good finishes sorely defeat people who are there every week and have higher point tallies. We may switch back to total points if someone who finished in 6th place (1 lap down) in ONE race is ranked 3rd place overall – which is higher than ELEVEN drivers who have more total points than him! We may also have a minimum, but that’s crazy. Not to mention drivers who have missed one or two races ranked higher than those who have made every show.

If the points are done conventionally, by TOTAL points, then they are as follows:

TOTAL POINTS AFTER 7/10/2005 RACE

(6 Events, 200 points minimum).

What order makes more sense? One where a man who raced once, finished 1 lap down ranks above several drivers that have raced a full season, finished well in every race and even won some? Yeah, I like the total, too.