9/7/2009 – Matt Stevens survives intense bumper-to-bumper battle with bro Chris in 9-kart/45-lapper! (+YouTube)
Galletta’s Karting Club – 2009 Season, Week 13:
The Gas Flathead Karting Championship Series of The Planet continued on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Speedway:
“Master” Matty Jo Stevens wins the 45-lap, 9-kart Labor Day 45-Lap Feature on September 9th, 2009 at Galletta’s Backyard Karting Club Speedway. He was able to find the lead early and held it for most of the race, and although his brother Chris was closely sticking with him, Matt just had too much to catch and pass. We will have stats & videos within the next few days. Also, we are tentatively looking at Saturday, September 19th as a potential date for our 14th Annual Galletta’s Klassic Championship 200, which wraps up the Summer Points Series and decides the undisputed overall World Dirt Karting Champion of Gas Flatheads. If the date needs to be adjusted by any of the regulars, then we need to discuss it now. We always select the date where the most possible drivers (especially the most regular veteran drivers) can attend.
(ABOVE) Another Freakin’ awesome DVD menu, where every Galletta’s Race has been taped since late 2005 and every Galletta’s Klassic since 1998. All pictures below are captures from the DVD.
(ABOVE) The first 10-Lap Heat was won by Timothy Galletta. His first-ever win came in just his 3rd week of karting via by holding off Russell Hockey and Chris Stevens (who nearly tied for 2nd), followed by Melissa Stevens in her brand-new #19, rebuilt from a former backup Larry Phillips Chassis that he never used.
(ABOVE) The second 10-Lap Heat saw a couple of wacky wrecks. The first one happened when Matt Stevens, Buddy Cottom, and Kevin Galletta went 3-wide into turn 3, and Kevin got airborne momentarily when he caught wheels with Buddy, who did a 360 himself. Then, Jesse Vivlemore was running away from anybody in the #0 when he had a funny flip in turn 2. Matt wound up winning, followed by Kevin, Buddy, and Jesse. Jesse Vivlemore and Kevin Galletta used to race in the 1990s and are getting back into the swing of things rather quickly, as both have been steady and fast.
(ABOVE) 9 karts lined up for the Labor Day 45-lap feature. Tim and Kevin Galletta – both cousins of founders Chris and Matt – held their own in the early going, as the regular veterans battled to get by but were all unable. Adjustments are being made to the #7 which are helping out Tim, who is well over 6 foot and 200 lbs. What separates the Galletta’s Karting class from other karting organizations, is that we allow gearing, header, and cam advantages to guys over the minimum weight limit until they are as close to the same speed as everybody else as humanly possible. This while weighing down anybody under the minimum weight. It makes for extremely close racing when the adjustments are perfect, and avoids the most annoying (and boring) thing about most kart leagues (and the reason nobody outside of friends and family enjoys watching them) – the dreaded ten divisions with 2-9 karts per race, with many mini-winners and without any true champions being decided. Our rules are flexible enough to be inclusive and affordable instead of exclusive and costly, and one of the reasons we have such close racing and so many different winners even this season alone (the lightest winner weighed 155 lbs., the heaviest winner weighed over 250 lbs.), and avoid one guy just being unbeatable because he priced himself superior to the competition. Experience means more than money, which makes our class so exciting and fair. Just look at the points standings below to see. I know this baffles some arrogant methanol/WKA karter types, but try it sometime and see how good our drivers are.
Early on, Tim and Kevin held 1st and 2nd until Kevin spun and took Gary Miller out of the race early with a broken tie-rod. Gary used a time-out to make repairs and get back in the race. [NOTE ON TIMEOUTS: every regular driver gets 2 timeouts per regular season, and 1 for the Klassic, with carry-overs into the Klassic if they still have them. Timeouts can be used under most circumstances, unless it gets too late.] When the race resumed, Matt was able to sneak his little Galletta’s #3 into the lead, and when Russ Hockey went too high and hit the grass patch in Turn 4, Chris used a well-timed slingshot to pass both he and Buddy, then followed Matt by Tim to set up the main battle of the evening.
A few times a year, Matt and Chris both find their way up to the front and put on a battle that has happened sine the early 1990s, where it was just the two brothers dueling for endless laps. Matt tried running away and hiding from everyone else, but Chris stayed with him, only losing ground if his fast-but-loose #4 kart slipped out of the fast groove. Chris tracked down Matt late in traffic, and nearly caught him when Matt hit his wife Melissa (call 911, ha!), but the crafty “Master Matt” was able to sneak into the clear and hold on for his 4th feature win of the season, and gain a good chunk of points on his point-leading brother (damn, him!).
September 7th, 2009 45-Lap Feature Finish:
1st. Matthew Stevens (Galletta’s #3)
2nd. Christopher Stevens (Galletta’s #4)
3rd. Russ Hockey (Hockey #00)
4th. Buddy Cottom (Galletta’s #5)
5th. Timothy Galletta (Galletta’s #7; ®)
6th. Kevin Galletta (Galletta’s #9; ®)
7th. Melissa Stevens (Stevens #19)
8th. Jesse Vivlemore (Galletta’s #0; DNF)
9th. Gary Miller (Miller #24; DNF)
Key:
® = Rookie Driver
DNF = Did Not Finish
Now for the updated points….
2009 Gas Flathead Dirt Karting Championship of America Point Standings:
After 13 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Go-Kart Speedway from 6/8/2009 -thru- 9/7/2009.
Our complete Points Standings from the prior eight seasons are found on this webpage.
|
Rank |
Driver Name |
Years Pro at Galletta’s |
Total Points (Place) |
Average Points Per Event |
Events |
Features |
Heat Wins |
Feature Wins |
Feature Win % |
|
1 |
|
14th |
1,974.5 |
151.88 |
13 |
17 |
0 |
3 |
18% |
|
2 |
|
14th |
1,907.5 |
146.73 |
13 |
17 |
2 |
4 |
31% |
|
3 |
|
3rd |
1,808.0 |
139.08 |
13 |
17 |
2 |
1 |
6% |
|
4 |
|
3rd |
1,728.5 |
132.96 |
13 |
17 |
2 |
1 |
6% |
|
5 |
|
3rd |
1,706.5 |
142.21 |
12 |
15 |
2 |
2 |
13% |
|
6 |
|
5th |
1,588.0 |
122.15 |
13 |
17 |
0 |
1 |
6% |
|
7 |
 Larry Phillips(L&K Small Engine #04) |
2nd |
1,225.0 |
122.50 |
10 |
13 |
0 |
1 |
9% |
|
8 |
 Fred Collins(Galletta’s #9) |
5th |
1,117.0 |
139.63 |
8 |
11 |
1 |
2 |
11% |
|
9 |
|
9th |
482.5 |
160.83 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
20% |
|
10 |
|
4th |
460.5 |
115.13 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
17% |
|
11 |
|
® |
394.5 |
131.55 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
12 |
|
2nd |
329.5 |
109.83 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
13 |
|
3rd |
320.5 |
106.83 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
14 |
|
1st |
264.5 |
132.25 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
15 |
1 = Methanol |
4th |
241.0 |
120.50 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
16 |
|
2nd |
240.5 |
120.25 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
17 |
Tony Gonyeau |
® |
226.0 |
113.00 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
18 |
|
4th |
155.0 |
155.00 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
100% |
|
19 |
|
1st |
147.0 |
73.50 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
20 |
|
® |
144.0 |
144.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
21 |
|
® |
139.0 |
139.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
22 |
|
1st |
139.0 |
139.00 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
23 |
 Asaad Al-Hanini (Galletta’s #2, 7, 1) |
® |
137.0 |
137.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
24 |
 Todd Sharp(Galletta’s #9) |
® |
135.0 |
135.00 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
25 |
|
1st |
132.0 |
132.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
26 |
|
® |
130.0 |
130.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
27 |
|
® |
124.0 |
124.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
28 |
|
® |
123.0 |
123.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
29 |
 Austin Hicks(Galletta’s #24) |
® |
118.0 |
118.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
30 |
|
1st |
118.0 |
118.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
31 |
|
® |
115.0 |
115.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
32 |
 Shadoe Russell (Galletta’s #1) |
1st |
111.0 |
111.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
33 |
|
® |
108.0 |
108.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
34 |
|
® |
108.0 |
108.00 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
35 |
|
® |
106.0 |
106.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
36 |
|
® |
106.0 |
106.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
37 |
|
® |
104.0 |
104.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
38 |
|
1st |
100.0 |
100.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
39 |
 Zack Sawyer(Galletta’s #1) |
® |
95.0 |
95.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
40 |
|
® |
87.0 |
87.00 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
41 |
|
® |
86.0 |
86.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
42 |
|
3rd |
83.0 |
83.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
Jesse Vivlemore
Soliman Barakat
Jeff Tetro
Justin Bonacquisti
Josh Chetney
Andrew Miller
Neaiamh Al-Hanini (Galletta’s #1)
Brian Paul
Ken Pierce
NOTES: All karts are 1-WD and all Motors are 1-WD 5hp Gas Flatheads with Stock ’90s Carb, shaved head, and select pre-approved Dyno Racing Cams (different weight requires different ones allowed; 94-SS is the standard for light/medium weight groups – AKA anybody under 220 lbs.). This means fast, equal speeds and, cheater-free engine-builders, all for low prices. Two karts so far this season were not gas flatheads (a methanol flathead with raptor carb and a gas stock 6.5hp OHV), and although they were allowed to run and scored their full points, but their placement did not penalize anybody else with the same gas flathead motor, who were scored as if the other motored kart was not there…
LOW-RES HIGHLIGHTS (FULL RACES ON TOP OF PAGE)
The Galletta’s Kart Club 2009 Volume #13 DVD:
Two camera angles of the races held on September 7th, 2009. Nine competitors, two heats, and a 45-Lap Feature race. Over an hour in the highest-quality resolution. YouTube preview. 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo/Pro-Logic Surround, and two camera angles of all of the action. Price $5.
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