Galletta's Karting Club

Galletta’s Go-Kart Speedway 2006 Event #13 results:
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 (50-lap Feature)
We had a rainy weekend here at Galletta’s due to Hurricane Ernesto’s aftermath. Originally, with Oswego Speedway’s Classic weekend a staple of our Labor Day weekend (and the Classic 200 scheduled on Sunday), we were planning on racing Monday, September 4th. However, due to the Classic raining out Sunday and being moved to Monday, we realized that our only chance to get it in this weekend was to hold it Sunday night, after the showers broke enough for us to race. It was a little late, and a little slick, and but nowhere near as late or as slick as we have raced in the past, so the green flag dropped!  But keep in mind, everybody… we will now race on every Saturday from here on out in the Fall. The reasons are multiple: (1) We attend Supermodified racing nearly every Saturday during the Summer and have done so since we were kids, (2) We watch NFL football every Sunday during the Fall, (3) Kids start going back to school, (4) If Saturday rains, we still have Sunday as a fail-safe rain-date. It has been a tradition to change the date from every Sunday before Labor Day to every Saturday after Labor Day for years here at Galletta’s Backyard Karting Speedway, as well as holding our Annual Karting Klassic race in mid-to-late September. So… everybody take note and get ready! Now…

 
(LEFT) Early leader Jason Mills (#38) followed closely by Robbie Jimenez (#5) and Chris ChrusherComix (#8).
(RIGHT) However Jason’s chain broke (as his kart’s builder Ed Maynes looks on in grief), handing the lead to Robbie. Ed Maynes continued to field fast karts that couldn’t complete the race, as all three of his karts (his own, his son Kenny’s, and his friend Jason’s) all got DNFs. Kenny hopped into a few backups and did something that we have never seen; He spun out, did a 360 and kept going FOUR times, not bringing out a caution for any one of them!

 
(LEFT) Rapid Robbie set a fast pace for the rest of the event. Here he is shown blistering the track (see the sparks?) and challenged by Chris “ChrusherComix” (#8) but Chris couldn’t catch his old #5 kart (that he won the 2000 & 2001 Classics in), and motor problems soon developed in his seemingly cursed #8 which led to Chris dropping out and to hopping into a backup, the #2 (which Chris also drove to a Classic win in 1999). Chris said, “The deuce don’t drive like it used to. Cameron Rowe, Crashin’ Tom Culeton and Flippin’ Freddy Collins (the three drivers who have driven it the most since 1999) demolished that sucker wrecking it so much!, Ha-ha!” Fast Freddy missed his first show of 2006 because his phone number was disconnected. (RIGHT) Here is Robbie pumping his fist for his first career victory, one long overdue as he was in his second year with countless top 5 finishes. We also believe that he may be the youngest driver to win a feature at Galletta’s.

 
(LEFT) What is it with all the ties this year? After Rob won, Matt (who started the race in the #7, then hopped out running in third place to hop into his #3 just because he wanted to “have more fun.”) and Dick Dann tied for 2nd. Although everybody paying attention thought that Matt nipped him, we scored it a tie (“besides… Matt’s lead in the points is already too big to overcome anyway” adds Chris). (RIGHT) Rob taking his victory lap. In an odd coincidence, Robbie won without his mother, step-father, or grandfather in attendance, as Kris was serving the 1st week of her indefinite suspension (for fighting; explained last week). Several people have noticed that his family seems to give him bad luck, as the last time they were late, he led many laps until he crashed shortly after they arrived and with just a handful of laps to go. But at least his expecting girlfriend Amanda, got to witness his triumph!

September 3rd, 2006 50-lap Feature Final order or finish:

DNF = Did Not Finish Feature.
DNS = Did Not Start Feature (though qualified in Heat).
Updated point standings beneath the “rant” section…

Now onto the updated points…

2006 Galletta’s Go-Karts Point Standings
After 13 feature events from 6/11/2006 thru 9/3/2006:

POINTS SCORING SYSTEM IS IN RULES SECTION!
Each heat and feature is started in a handicap order, reversed from points-per-event (low-to-high).
Inexperienced drivers with less than 10 races and wreck-prone drivers start in the back regardless of points.
Points are scored based on finishing positions in heats and features (with bonus points for each feature lap in the top 3 spots).
(A”*” in win category means a shared tie, a “*” in name category means track championships.)

Oswego Speedway Dirt Track Go-Kart Exhibition:
At the Oswego Speedway‘s dirt track, there were no races due to Classic Weekend (which wound up being a truly great one as I had predicted), which we have been attending for decades. However, as I described before, we were against going back there because the track officials were (1) forcing us to run in an open class with bigger motors, (2) not penalizing wreckers, (3) having a nonsensical starting order, and (4) not allowing us to go in for payouts (we wouldn’t because of reasons #1, 2 and 3; though we wanted to). We spoke to “Lawnmower-Man” Wayne Degroff, who told us that he was going to be in command down there, and he said that if we have enough karts to run our own class then we can race on our own as we wish, so we may very well be back (as long as they don’t run their races at the same time that we do, which may be a problem if they run theirs on Saturdays as rumored. We actually prefer Fridays there – or early Saturday afternoons… maybe… only if everybody there would also come back here too, a problem as a few [like Brian Bortel for example] have not raced both in a long time since Oswego started their track). Stay tuned and we’ll see if we can straighten everything out.

IMPORTANT NOTICES:
(1) This is a reminder that we always race Saturdays in the Fall (when Oswego Supers stop Saturdays and NFL football starts on Sundays). (2) Also, several drivers have been pulling IOUs of late, and the broken parts have exceeding the rental money, so unless people start paying up, then Matt will have to take money out of the Points Fund like he did last year. So people who owe… pay up… or the top-10 drivers will all get screwed out of year-end prizes. (3) We will be having payouts for the Classic Championship Race (held in mid-September every year)… and for the top drivers at the end of our racing season, so see Matt or Chris about how much money we should put into a pot and race-to-win! It should be fun, but everybody has to agree and go in or we can’t do it, and also people who stole the 50/50 money should give it back too! (Note that only stock-part 5hp flatheads can compete for winnings. Your kart must be approved by Matt). See Matt and/or Chris and discuss the details!

2006 Volume #12 DVD:
Contains a higher-resolution version of the September 3rd, 2006 and the September 10th, 2006  races at Galletta’s. Two camera angles of each race.  Price $5.