9/13/2009 – Matt Stevens wins 12-kart/45-Lap Feature as 200-Lap Klassic Approaches (+YouTube)
Galletta’s Karting Club – 2009 Season, Week 14:
The World Championship of Gas Flathead Karting Points Series continued on
Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Speedway:
Matt Stevens is on a roll as the 14th Annual Galletta’s Klassic 200 approaches. He wins a tough, 12-kart, 45-lap gas flathead karting feature in his Galletta’s Greenhouse #33 kart, surviving two wrecks between 4 karts in front of him. First Tim Galletta and Russ Hockey came together battling for the lead, then Gary Miller and Buddy Cottom came together battling for the lead after that, leaving Matt clear sailing for his 5th feature win of the season. (“Damn him! Damn him all to heck!” says points leader and webmaster Chris Stevens as his leads shrinks weekly.) And no, come together is not a dirty term on this website, you filthy, gutter-minded animals! 🙂
Also, we looking for 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. The date has to line up with all of the following: (1) All of the regular drivers – especially those in the the top 8-10 or so – need to be there, with top points guys being a priority; (2) weather has to cooperate, (3) preferably a Saturday, and Sunday only if absolutely unavoidable; (4) needs to start in the early afternoon. We will likely have a bring food to enter. 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) This week’s DVD menu, Every Galletta’s Race has been taped since late 2005 and every Galletta’s Klassic since 1998, and all are on DVD (request any race). All pictures below are captures from the DVD.
(LEFT) The first 10-Lap Heat was won by Gary Miller, who was followed by Buddy Cottom, Chris Stevens, and Kevin Galletta. (RIGHT) The second heat was a rookie/refresher heat race, which saw the return of Eddie Scruton, who hadn’t raced since the 2005 season. He beat out first-time rookie racers Brandon Matott and Ron Rowe. We always like when rookies enjoy it, return and get the hang of the action. The first time out is always difficult, but with patience and persistence, any of these rookies can be competing for wins with experience. Thanks to Matt’s hard work, all of the karts are very close in top speed, and it’s all about learning the fast grooves and the feel of how each kart handles.
(LEFT) The third 10-Lap Heat went to Russell Hockey, followed by Tim Galletta. Third was a tie between Matt Stevens and his wife Melissa (Matt said he thought he may have got her but said give it to Melissa won, Melissa said she won, Ogre said he hated to admit it but Matt won, and Chris – the official tape-reviewer and scorer – said the tape shows an absolute dead heat at the line), with Brian Galletta trailing. (RIGHT) The 12-kart, 45-lap Feature started with Tim Galletta on the pole, Kevin Galletta in 2nd, and Brian Galletta in 3rd. The hot shoes early was Russ Hockey, who pulled up to Tim and started a fierce battle for the lead. The photo shows just how close the top 6 were before the below accident.
(ABOVE) With the top six bumper to bumper, Russ, Tim, and Gary pulled 3-wide going into turn 3, and Russ and Tim came together. Gary and Matt went off the track to avoid and preserved their position, but unfortunately, Russ and Tim had to go to the back after having such a close battle for the top spot for several laps.
(LEFT) After the above accident, Gary Miller inherited the lead and had Buddy Cottom and Matt Stevens working on him. In fact, Buddy was able to pass Matt when Matt was unable to get Gary coming out of a turn. But bad luck for Gary and Buddy happened when the front bumper of the #5 became lodged in the back bumper of the #24, which brought out a caution. Gary, so upset at another close win escaping him, retired. After the wreck, Matt just walked away from everybody else. Chris, in 2nd, had a sputtering carb and a stiff, ill-handling kart, just tried his best to hold onto 2nd. (RIGHT) Russ actually got the pass on Chris, but then oddly let Chris back by, which he probably shouldn’t have done. Russ felt that he bumped Chris out of the spot and wanted to let him back by to pass him clean, but a little brushing (as long as it doesn’t cause a wreck) is a part of racing and the real reason for the pass is that Chris’ motor was sputtering to a near-stall in the turn, which caused the brushing to happen, so Russ should have kept the spot. Although Chris then held Russ off for 2nd at the checker, he gave Russ 2nd-place points anyway, as he deserved the spot. Chris is so fed up with his Galletta’s #8 kart’s unbelievably bad habit of having problems in and around Galletta’s Klassic time, that he actually makes an announcement below the points standings.
September 13th, 2009 45-Lap Feature Finish:
1st. Matthew Stevens (Galletta’s #33)
2nd. Christopher Stevens (Galletta’s #8)
3rd. Russ Hockey (Hockey #00)
4th. Brian Galletta (Galletta’s #4)
5th. Melissa Stevens (Stevens #19)
6th. Buddy Cottom (Galletta’s #5)
7th. Timothy Galletta (Galletta’s #7; ®)
8th. Kevin Galletta (Galletta’s #9; ®)
9th. Ron Rowe (Galletta’s #2; ®)
10th. Gary Miller (Miller #24; DNF)
11th. Eddie Scruton (Galletta’s #6; DNF)
12th. Brandon Matott (Galletta’s #0; ®; DNF)
Key:
® = Rookie Driver
DNF = Did Not Finish
Now for the updated points….
2009 Gas Flathead Dirt Karting World Championship Point Standings:
After 14 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Go-Kart Speedway from 6/8/2009 -thru- 9/13/2009.
Our complete Points Standings from the prior eight seasons are found on this webpage.
|
Pos. |
Name (Go-Karts Piloted) |
Years Pro at Galletta’s |
Total Points (Place) |
Average Points Per Event |
Events |
Features |
Heat Wins |
Feature Wins |
Feature Win % |
|
1 |
|
14th |
2,114.0 |
151.00 |
14 |
18 |
0 |
3 |
17% |
|
2 |
|
14th |
2,067.0 |
147.64 |
14 |
18 |
2 |
5 |
28% |
|
3 |
|
3rd |
1,934.0 |
138.14 |
14 |
18 |
2 |
1 |
6% |
|
4 |
 Russ Hockey(Hockey #00, Galletta’s #9) |
3rd |
1,856.0 |
142.77 |
13 |
16 |
3 |
2 |
13% |
|
5 |
|
3rd |
1,846.5 |
131.89 |
14 |
18 |
2 |
1 |
6% |
|
6 |
|
5th |
1,711.5 |
122.25 |
14 |
18 |
1 |
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 |
 Tim Galletta(Galletta’s #7, 9, 2) |
® |
522.5 |
130.63 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
10 |
|
9th |
482.5 |
160.83 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
20% |
|
11 |
|
4th |
460.5 |
115.13 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
17% |
|
12 |
|
1st |
370.0 |
123.33 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
13 |
|
2nd |
329.5 |
109.83 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
14 |
|
3rd |
320.5 |
106.83 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
15 |
|
4th |
277.5 |
138.75 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
50% |
|
16 |
1 = Methanol |
4th |
241.0 |
120.50 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
17 |
|
2nd |
240.5 |
120.25 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
18 |
Tony Gonyeau |
® |
226.0 |
113.00 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
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 |
|
® |
101.0 |
101.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
39 |
|
1st |
100.0 |
100.00 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
40 |
 Zack Sawyer(Galletta’s #1) |
® |
95.0 |
95.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
41 |
|
1st |
93.0 |
93.00 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
42 |
|
® |
87.0 |
87.00 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0% |
|
43 |
|
® |
86.0 |
86.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
44 |
|
® |
84.0 |
84.00 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
45 |
|
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)
Ron Rowe
Eddie Scruton
Brian Paul
Ken Pierce
Brandon Matott
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.
CHRIS’ PRE-GALLETTA’S KLASSIC ANNOUNCEMENT: Chris is so fed up with his Galletta’s #8’s pathetic lousy luck of sputtering and stalling around Galletta’s Klassic championship time, and has made an announcement. The facts that weighed on the decision: The #8 sputtering before and sputtering to a stall in the 2004 Galletta’s Klassic due to a faulty valve guide; blown chain while in a close 2nd in the 2005 Galletta’s Klassic; sputtering to a stall with a clogged carb while leading in the 2006 Galletta’s Klassic; sputtering to a distant 3rd place finish in the 2007 Galletta’s Klassic with a leaking head gasket; and sputtering to another distant 3rd place finish in the 2008 Galletta’s Klassic with yet another carb or head gasket problem after coming back from being taken out of 2nd in a wreck from behind on the first lap and blowing a tire on it! All this despite having a different motor on it each year! To quote the late pro-wrestler Owen Hart, “Enough is enough! And it’s time for a change!”). Hence, Chris has announced that he will be driving the Galletta’s #4 in the 2009 Klassic. This will be the first Klassic that Chris has driven the #4 since the mid-1990s, as Wesley “Ogre” Stevens drove it as his main kart until his retirement, and took the 2006 Klassic Championship 150 with the ride.
LOW-RES HIGHLIGHT REEL (HIGHER RESOLUTION AND COMPLETE VIDEOS AT TOP OF PAGE)
The Galletta’s Kart Club 2009 Volume #14 DVD:
Two camera angles of the races held on September 7th, 2009. Twelve competitors, three heats, and a 45-Lap Feature race. Over an hour & 1/2 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.
