Galletta's Karting Club

Galletta’s Karting Club – ’10 Season, Event #18 – Saturday, Oct. 2nd, 2010
THE 15TH ANNUAL GALLETTA’S KARTING KLASSIC 200:

2010 Season, Event #18 – Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 – A 14-competitor 200-lapper was in store for the 15th Annual Galletta’s Karting Klassic 200-Lap Championship, which also doubles as the season Points Finale (points will be tallied during the week) and again did not disappoint as a close, competitive, fiery race with a lot of drama. In the end, however, it was intrepid- Kyle Reuter, racing his 1st Feature at Galletta’s since the 2007 Klassic, emerged from the marathon race on top in the Galletta’s Greenhouse #0 kart. He became 1st visiting driver to ever win a Galletta’s Go-Kart Klassic (Matt Stevens won 10, Chris won 3, and Wes won 1)! Point-leaders Chris and Matt — while running 2nd and 3rd late — tangled together and had to go to the rear, and then-leader Gary Miller Sr. started slowing down, which led Kyle – who did lead over 100 laps early before having to change karts due to a sputtering motor – to take the lead late and not look back. There were many battles and tremendous racing from 1st lap to last. Everyone at Galletta’s would like to thank everyone who was at the cookout and all of the drivers, and also congratulate Kyle on a great race. Points & pics up within the next few days and videos are forthcoming as I get caught up.

YOUTUBE HIGHLIGHT COMPLETE VIDEO PLAYLIST:
200-LAP KARTING CHAMPIONSHIP
– 15th Annual Galletta’s Klassic – 10/2/2010 –

Before the festivities began, Ogie observed all in attendance and was less than impressed.

PRE-KLASSIC FESTIVITIES

Per usual, before Klassic we have a get-together where drivers, friends, and family bring some food out and we have a cookout. Some damn good (and gre-ee-ee-easy) food was available to fuel the drivers in their 200-lap marathon race in addition to satisfying the race-watchers. Thank you to all who donated to make the cookout possible!

The 2010 Galletta’s Klassic Time Trial Results & Starting Order:

The time trials run via the order of that year’s point standings going into the Klassic (found on the prior page). This is done because the track (we are just a backyard speedway) does get a bit looser the more laps run, so we reward the highest seasonal point earners with a fresher track. Drivers may qualify for more than one kart if they (1) own one, and (2) have qualified for at least one feature during the regular season and one is available (also, as there is a limited amount of backup karts available, if there is a dispute, the highest point scorer for the regular season is awarded the ride). Each driver that qualifies for Klassic is granted 1 time-out. However, each regular driver (that races in a majority of races during the season) is awarded the rollover timeouts that they did not use during the regular season (each regular driver has 3 time-outs). Now to the starting lineup:

Starting 1st: Matt Stevens – Galletta’s #33 16.60, 16.62 (3 timeouts earned, 1 used.) Also qualified Galletta’s #3 17.36, 17.51	Starting 2nd: Melissa Stevens – Scissors N’ Fur #19 16.60, 16.77 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.) Also qualified Scissors N’ Fur #80 17.55, 17.40
Starting 3rd: Chris Stevens – Galletta’s #4 16.67, DNF (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.) Also qualified Galletta’s #8; Also qualified Chrusher.com #74 17.84, 18.00	Starting 4th: Kyle Reuter – Galletta’s #1 17.55, 17.11 (1 timeout earned.)
Starting 5th: Gary Miller Sr. – Miller #24 17.12, 17.17 (2 timeouts earned, 0 used.)	Starting 6th: George Russell – Galletta’s #6 17.16, 17.13 (3 timeouts earned, 1 used.)
Starting 7th: Tim Galletta – Sid Harvey’s #54 17.23, 17.43 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.)	Starting 8th: Randy Platt – Murder #187 17.90, 17.31 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.)Also qualified Galletta’s #2 17.12, 17.48
Starting 9th: Jeff Tetro – Galletta’s #9 17.37, 17.67 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.)	Starting 10th: Shadoe Russell – Russell #26 17.44, 17.67 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.)
Starting 11th: AJ Nason – Hammerd #35 18.34, 17.48 (3 timeouts earned, 0 used.)	Starting 12th: Jeff Johnson – Galletta’s #7 18.34, 17.48 (2 timeouts earned, 0 used.)
The Pace Kart: Collin Miller – Chrusher.com #74 DNF, DNF (1 timeout earned, 0 used.)Also qualified Galletta’s #0 17.70, 17.80	Qualified, but elected to flag: Mike “MC” Howell – Galletta’s #5 17.56, 17.56 (2 timeouts earned, 0 used.)
Unused karts! Arrive-and-drive karts OPEN FOR ANY AND ALL DRIVERS. At Galletta’s, we allow for drivers to have a backup if they (1) own the kart and (2) qualify the kart. Whenever a backup is available, any regular driver can claim it for a points penalty if their starter kart breaks. For this Klassic, the penalty is 4xs regular (10 pt. x’s 4 = 40 pts.) Galletta’s #0 = Open Backup for claim (Qualified by Nobody) Galletta’s #2 = Open Backup (Qualified by Randy) Galletta’s #3 = Qualified/Claimed as Matt’s Backup Galletta’s #5 = Open Backup for claim (Qualified by MC) Galletta’s #8 = Qualified/Claimed as Chris’ Backup Chrusher.com #74 = Open Backup for claim (Qualified by Chris) Scissors-n-Fur #80 = Qualified/Claimed as Melissa’s Backup	Point Rewards for Klassic: Lap Led = +1 pt. Lap in 2nd/3rd Place = +0.5 pt. Finish 200 laps with no timeouts/kart-changes = +20 pts.Point penalties for Klassic (4x’s regular season penalty): Refuse going to rear = -40 pts. Refusing Passing Flag/Black Flag = -40 Pts. Kart Change = -40 pts. Pass During Caution = -40 pts. Entering pits unsafely = -40 pts.

The largest Galletta’s Klassic field in 3 years, and also the closest and most competitive from first to last ever.

The pace kart and all eleven competitors wave to the camera tower. The top 3 point scorers (Chris, Matt, and Melissa Stevens) scored the 3 fastest time trials, proving that having a higher point total and getting an initial shot at the track helps, as the track was dry (amazingly considering the rain that we had during the week, but the tarps did their job TOO well) did get slower as the time trials went on. Matt and Melissa actually had the same exact time in their 1st time, and had to use the 2nd for a tie-breaker, while Chris actually only got one time due to crashing into the tower, in turn one on his second time due t the said dry track. Kyle Reuter, racing his 1st Galletta’s feature since the 2007 Galletta’s Klassic, qualified 4th. The track was properly watered for the start of the 200-lapper.

On the very 1st lap, we had an odd crash involving Melissa Stevens dropping immediately to the rear and Shadoe Russell crashing into her, hopping a tire, and then flipping when he hit the inside wall. It was a rather funny flip that Doe boy requested, and here it is above.

For most of the 200-lap race, fuel consumption is a key unless one if planning to refuel (which was only allowed after the 1st caution flag after lap 130). The pace of the first few laps was very slow, as polesitter Matt Stevens was taking it very easy, followed by his brother Chris in 2nd. In the fifteen year history of the event, Matt traditionally falls to the rear of the field, and over the past five or so seasons, Chris traditionally hangs out in the top 3 whereas he used to drop to the rear with his brother.

Kyle Reuter took advantage of this and charged into the lead early. Gary Miller Sr., also decided that it would be wiser to charge into the lead and forced Kyle to set a faster pace than all the rest of the competitors.

George Russell, the most pleasantly surprising driver in the 2009 Klassic 200, took a major turn for the worse in the 2010 edition of the event. Here he is in one of his several wrecks on the day — spinning out all by himself and clobbering the inside wall — often blaming it on other drivers and, “too many obstacles off of the track.” Wait… wha… Huh?

The race also went over 100 laps without a caution, and during this period, Gary, recovering from an early stall, came from the back and pushed Kyle and himself to a half-track lead over 3rd-running Chris Stevens. Kyle and Gary also put Jeff Johnson, Shadoe Russell, and George Russell a lap down (which George was very angry about… but somehow didn’t blame the drivers who put him a lap down. Nope, He blamed… Chris? Huh?).

A small controversy erupted when the lapped blocker kart of George Russell got loose in turn two and came out a bit high. When this happened, he fell off the track and was also tapped by Tim Galletta while he was already off the track. George was upset believing Tim should have gone to the rear, however, George was a lapped kart (down 1 lap and running 9th) and Tim was on the lead lap (running 4th at the time), and it was incidental contact, not causational. That is a BIG difference, but yet Chris was again blamed by George. Wait… huh?

After a restart, Kyle Reuter started developing a problem in the Galletta’s #1, and it appeared that the throttle cable at some point slipped, as he quickly dropped from 1st to the rear and then stalled. Kyle then chose to use a time-out, accept a kart-change point penalty and change karts into the Galletta’s #0.

This was the ultimate battle. Race leader Gary Miller was developing fuel pickup trouble and starting to show signs of slowing. Chris Stevens, with a healthier tank of gas, was challenging Gary and waiting for an opportunity to get the pass and lead his first Klassic lap since the 2006 Klassic. Matt Stevens had slowly worked his way to the front and began challenging Chris, while Kyle Reuter also was able to make his way back from the rear with the Galletta’s #0 and catch the leaders putting him in position to be a factor in the outcome.

This animation shows the fateful incident that ultimately decided the outcome of the race. With Gary Miller in 1st, and Chris Stevens challenging him for several laps waiting for an opportunity to pass, Chris’ #4 came out of turn 4 a little high and Matt Stevens decided to make his move and pull his #33 alongside his brother (and the only other active previous winner of the Klassic). In turn 1, Matt kicked out the rear of the #33 into Chris and they brushed wheels. Oddly enough 10-Time Klassic winning Matt and 3-Time Klassic-winning Chris BOTH STALLED after the contact (later discovered to likely be the #33’s head gasket started leaking and the #4’s kill switch frayed and shorted out).

Meanwhile, Kyle Reuter — who simply could not believe his good luck — had just caught up to the top-3 and was able to take 2nd place after the brothers stalled in front of him. This put the odds heavily in favor towards an all-new 1st-time Klassic winner, as there was less than 25 laps remaining with a full field and both Chris and Matt had to go to the rear. What a climactic incident and the reason why you never, ever give up in a Galletta’s race, especially the 200-lapper!

Meanwhile, Kyle Reuter, now in the Galletta’s #0, made short work of the slowing leader, and blew by Gary Miller after a couple laps in the back stretch and turn. Chris also decided to accept a points penalty and jump into his backup, the fast but seemingly unlucky Galletta’s #8, while Matt used his 2nd and final time-out in an attempt to try and figure out what was wrong with the #33. The race resumed with him believing it was either a dirty carb (which he cleaned) or an electrical problem (shorting kill switch like the #4), but the following day he discovered the true culprit, a leaking head gasket losing him tons of compression. Despite this, he felt that his backup, The Galletta’s #3 was not up to the challenge of coming from the back with around 20 laps remaining, so he again tried is #33 after a carb cleaning. This was his final time-out, but if anybody ever deserved the time-outs, it’s Matt, who is the man responsible for all of the karts and the track. Some mildly retarded people refer to the use of time-outs and kart changes (in addition to turning right instead of left) as Gayletta’s, but we refer to such people as cowardly simpleton rednecks who don’t realize that this is a sport where we place fun and competition 1st, so we take the idea of time-outs from every sport outside of racing, and kart changes as a way to keep good competitors on the track.

Matt and Chris had little time to lose and made it through competitors at an alarming rate. They bobbed and weaved, picking off competitors one by one. The battle intensified however, around the lapped traffic #6 kart of George Russell, and the lead-lap #9 kart of Jeff Tetro. Matt, Chris and Jeff passed each other repeatedly – with some very exciting bumping and grinding racing – behind George.

However, Matt emerged past George first, and then had limited time to track down Gary and Kyle. This set up another needless controversy that erupted late as Matt Stevens passed Gary very closely in turns 3 & 4, and a light tire rubbing (much lighter than Gary has done many times to many people) set Gary Miller off into one of his patented tirades, where he abruptly left the track, angrily pointing, screaming and yelling at the man who stored (for free) and repaired (for minimal cost) his kart for a full 3 years. Chris and Tetro battled back and forth, but the lapped #6 of George Russell prevented Chris and Tetro from coming even close to catching the leaders by blocking them both exceptionally well by driving very dirty.

George cut off every pass attempt that lead-lap Chris and Jeff attempted on him, despite the fact that he was a lapped kart. Starter Michael “MC” Howell had warned George so many times (and George and Shadoe had both threatened to punch both MC and his dad Eric in the face earlier in the season both publicly and via facebook), so at this point MC just gave up and let him do whatever he wanted, letting the scorer settle the score via the videotape. (Problem guys… that’s Chris… the guy you’ve blamed for all of your problems today AND intentionally crashed into.)

Chris did eventually get a good run and passed first get Jeff and then George (who intentionally hooked Chris’ tire to prevent the pass and failed — which at the time was nonsensical, but seems intentional now after what happened the prior weekend between George and Chris) and make it up to third place, but a caution thrown on lap 196 saw George and Jeff go back in front of Chris. This was a most difficult portion of the race to score because of George Russell’s angry refusal to allow lead-lap drivers past him when he clearly did have enough to stay with any of the leaders.

Again… this is where it gets even more nonsensical.  Jeff, unfortunately was caught in the storm and accidentally passed under green in the confusion of what George was causing, and unknowingly did an illegal pass under caution because of George’s angry and disrespectful disobedience of the flagger. As a result, George and Jeff had to be docked -20 points for passing under the yellow/not obeying the starter, and unfortunately, Jeff was not intentionally of fault, but received the penalty because of George. It was either give Jeff a -20 pt. penalty and let him keep 3rd place, or score him in 4th. We went with giving him 3rd with the points dock. And Chris? He legally made it to 3rd place, but finished 4th. How? 

Chris got passed by two karts in caution (the 1-lap George and lead-lap Tetro), both of whom Chris had passed right before an inadvertent caution was thrown (after #6 apparently purposefully hooked the #8’s tires as #8 passed him, then the #6 bounced between the #8 and #9. All three karts kept going, but George Russell’s tirade made starter Mike Howell believe he brought out the caution) which further convoluted the finish. Chris initially thought that since the caution was thrown due to the #6, 8, and 9 brushing tires, that all three would be placed in the back of the pack. However, when Chris was the only one that went to the back, he asked starter Mike Howell, he said that the caution was accidental and everyone should get their spots back. Chris was not allowed back in line by the #6 and 9, with George in particular was belligerent. It was determined that the only way to count this without fully disqualifying the #6 and #9 was to give #8 and #9 both 3rd-place point credit and penalize the #6 and #9 the traditional penalty for passing under caution. Tetro was then able to get George late, but Chris was stuck behind him for the remainder of the race.

It appears as if the erratic behavior by our friends/co-racers is due to Matt’s mother-in-law, a lunatic who makes up stories in her mind about you, calls friends and relatives to make up lies and out-of-context exaggerations about you to alienate people from you… and even calls employers and authorities to try and get you fired.

We simply cannot explain George Russell’s actions and are at a loss for words at his actions. George was the surprise of the 2009 Klassic running strong and (mostly) clean in the top-5 all day and finishing 3rd, while this year he was involved in several cautions with a handful of different drivers (and some all by himself), going a lap down and blaming everybody around him except himself. He was apparently angry that he got lapped (nobody’s fault but his own, as his kart is fast, timed well, and he just won a few features with it before the Klassic!), and then further angered that Kyle Reuter and Gary Miller would not let him by to get his lead lap back, then his anger was topped-off by falling off the track in turn 2 and believing that lead-lap Tim Galletta pushed him (which the tape proved that he did NOT, that George was off the track and Tim brushed him after George was already crashed). We are saddened by George Russell’s activity, as he almost single-handedly ruined a great race. We’re used to Gary Miller Sr.’s angry and verbally abusive tirades, but not George. What surprised us further is that the following weekend, George and Doe did not make the trip up for the final race of 2010 (a Fall Bonus Point race) on the following Sunday, but the very next day, George demanded to make the trip up to pick up his motor (that was on the Galletta’s #6) and his son’s #26 kart, both of which we stored for no charge to make things easier for our racers (something we always do). SInce we’ve known the Russells, we’ve always known them to be fun and friendly people. But something changed. We had noticed him being very angry, and complained of someone having road rage and crashing into his truck en route to us. What happened after this was simply amazing to us, and quite hurtful to us – his family believed the lies of Matt’s mentally unstable mother-in-law, who has nothing better to do but gossip half-truths and fabricated conclusions all day to anybody within her orbit. And it is all documented on this webpage.

Meanwhile, 10-time Galletta’s Klassic champion Matt Stevens had one restart with four laps to go to try and catch Kyle (who had the 2006 and 2007 Galletta’s Klassic 200 experiences under his belt), but Reuter got a tremendous start with the Galletta’s #0 and was unchallenged the rest of the way!

And so it was that Kyle Reuter was able to restart extremely well and maintain a 2 kart advantage on 10-Time Klassic-Winner Matt off to win his 1st Galletta’s Klassic – again, becoming the 1st non-founding winner of the annual championship event AND the first time a driver successfully came back from a broken kart into a 2nd kart for a win. Kyle was both in shock and disbelief, yet joy as he knows just how difficult it is to win a feature at Galletta’s, especially the biggest one of the year! His 3rd Galletta’s Klassic and first in three years paid off with an exciting and hard-earned win, one of the most fun races of Kyle’s entire racing career! Both Matt and Chris figured that someone someday was eventually going to snap their then 14-year Galletta’s founders undefeated Klassic streak, and if anybody was going to do it, Kyle is a talented enough driver to show to all of the onlookers that it can be done.

Kyle Reuter becomes the 1st driver other than the Galletta’s Karting Club Founders — Matt Stevens (10 Wins from 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009), Chris Stevens (3 Wins from 1999, 2000 and 2001) and Wes Stevens (1 Win from 2006) — to win the Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Klassic 200 Lap race. In addition, he also became the 1st driver to come back from the rear using a backup kart to win (started the race with the Galletta’s #1 kart and finished the race in the Galletta’s #0 kart), and the 1st driver to ever win a Klassic with the Galletta’s #0 (The kart’s highest previous finishes were Chris Stevens [2nd in 2002] and Mike “MC” Howell [2nd in 2007]). It was his third Galletta’s Klassic (he previously scored 8th place in 2006 and a 5th place finish in 2007). Congratulations to Kyle on winning one of the most exciting races in Galletta’s history and becoming the 1st visiting (non-founding) driver to win our biggest single race of our season! Our only wish is that he races more with us, as he is one of the most talented and cleanest racers to run against!

2010 Galletta’s Gas Flathead Dirt Karting World Championship FINAL Point Standings:
After 18 combined events at John J. Galletta Memorial Backyard Go-Kart Speedway  from 6/7/2010
-thru- 10/2/2010. Our complete All-Time Points Standings from 2000-2009 are found on this webpage.