Galletta's Karting Club

This website covers the Galletta’s Karting club, which is a group of racing-modified yard karts founded in in the early 1990s. We race exclusively box-stock 5hp flathead Briggs & Stratton 90’s-and-up style motors without any racing parts, shaved heads, and run on pump gas-only. We are also staggered to turn right instead of left due to the single-wheel drive system found on most yard karts, different from the live axle 2-wheel-drive setups found on most made-for-racing chassis. This enables us to corner faster without using a live axle like found on WKA-style karting leagues. So while people initially wonder why we turn the “wrong way”, they see to not pay attention to the fact that we corner very good and have speeds less than a second slower than the methanol racing classes, yet TOTAL cost roughly a 1/3rd or 1/4th of what they spend to put their karts out on the track.

Oswego Kartway – Clockwise Gas Stocker Heat 2008/6/5 photo 200806050736.jpg

Joining us at the Oswego Kartway for the 2006-2008 seasons are a similar group of clock-wise racers who dubbed themselves the “OHV Outlaws”. Their main difference is they have Briggs & Stratton 6.5hp OHV motors with stock Animal parts, shaved heads, and overall bigger chassis. The constant debate is “You have too much horsepower!” vs. “You’re too light!”. It makes for interesting races, but never satisfies either group or the track operator, since the weight and horsepower ratio is never agreed upon between the two groups that race together. While the competition is appreciated, the very lax rules creates some controversy between the squads.

We document our race descriptions, points standings, and video captures from our DVDs. When we venture to Oswego Kartway, we also record the other karting divisions as seen in the below pictures and also include them in our DVDs:

Oswego Kartway Gas Stockers (June 5th-12th, 2008):

On 6/5 heat, #83 Eric Raponi won the Clockwise Gas Stocker heat in his 6.5hp OHV handicap motor after drawing the pole for a FOURTH STRAIGHT TIME!  This led to the whole class agreeing to just race via handicap for every race.

 
Eric was followed by Joe Hayden (#5) who used his powerful OHV 6.5hp motor to pass Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #33) on the difficult outside groove at the checker. They were followed by Dave Melfi (#22 w/ OHV), Russ Hockey (#00 FH), Oscar Berry (#11 FH) and last was Chris Stevens (#4 FH) with a DNF after Oscar Berry spun out in front of him and wrecked his chain.

The June 5th show rained out after the heat races for every class.

The following Thursday’s race has TWO features and one heat per karting class, opening with the postponed 6/5 show, then the regular full night of racing. See you there!