Galletta's Karting Club

7/28/2013: Chris Stevens wins the 10-kart “Chris’ Declaration of Bestism 40” in the Galletta’s/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi LLC #4!

SUNDAY, JULY 28th, 2013, OSWEGO, NY –  Driving the Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi LLC #4, Chris Stevens wins his fifth feature of 2013 (and since 2000, his 73rd feature win combined at Galletta’s Karting Speedway and Oswego Speedway’s Dirt Kartway) and has long sung the praises of his brother’s unbelievable stats, but has gone a step further to declare he and his brother the best adult Oswego Karters, period. Clue delivered. *FLUSH* More details below.

All pictures are captures from our weekly race videos:
DVD = $5
AVCHD = $8
Blu-ray = $10

HEAT ONE

Start:
1st. Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tattoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781)
2nd. Eric Woolworth (Raven Tavern #78)
3rd. Dave Spanfelner (D.S. Humphrey’s #54)
4th. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi #4)
5th. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)

RACING FOR RETCON POINTS:
—. Billy Truax (Truax Racing #02)
—. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)

MIA for over a year, Justin Galletta returned and got off to a hot start moving up from 5th to 2nd (including a pass on Chris!) during the 8-lapper in the powerful Galletta’s #7, but slipped up just one corner on one lap and Chris got him back in the also powerful Galletta’s #4. Dave Spanfelner was tough as nails again in the all-time best heavy-man kart DS Hump’s #54 with the solid heat win.

Finish:
1st. Dave Spanfelner (D.S. Humphrey’s #54)
2nd. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi #4)
3rd. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
4th. Eric Woolworth (Raven Tavern #78)
5th. Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tattoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781)

RACING FOR RETCON POINTS:
—. Billy Truax (Truax Racing #02) – earned 11th in 7/14/2013’s 45-lapper
—. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5) – earned 14th in both Twin-35’s on 6/30/2013

HEAT TWO

Start:
1st. Billy Truax (Truax #02)
2nd. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
3rd. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
4th. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #74)
5th. Melissa Stevens – w/Lilybeth Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)

RACING FOR RETCON POINTS:
—. Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tatoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781)
—. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)

Billy Truax is still working bugs out of the former Dann/Nason/Ruggio kart, and dropped fairly quickly in this one. Adam Lytle then looked good until the throttle cable slipped, and this enabled Matt Stevens to pick him off for the 1st win of any kind at Galletta’s for the Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #74 (which was formerly an asphalt methanol racing kart converted into a dirt outlaw gas stocker, then converted to a dirt gas clone and now to a dirt gas Galletta’s kart… whew!). Nice helmet-cam footage from this one as well. Bugs are still getting worked out, but a heat win is progress for sure.

Finish:
1st. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #74)
2nd. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
3rd. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
4th. Billy Truax (Truax #02)
5th. Melissa Stevens – w/Lilybeth Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)

RACING FOR RETCON POINTS:
—. Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tattoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781) – Earned 12th in both 6/23/2013’s Twin 35s
—. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7) – Earned 19th in 6/5/2013s 45-Lapper

40-LAP FEATURE EVENT

Start:
1st. Billy Truax (Truax Racing #02)
2nd Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tattoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781)
3rd. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
4th. Eric Woolworth (Raven Tavern #78)
5th. Dave Spanfelner (DS Humphrey’s #54)
6th. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
7th. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi #4)
8th. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #74)
9th. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
10th. Melissa Stevens – w/Lilybeth Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)

Ugh. This was one bad week for delays. Track was worked on late, karts were worked on late, and it was well past 8pm, and then 9pm before we knew it. In hindsight, we should have waived the heats, but we didn’t know that three karts needed serious work done before the feature began. This led to ALL of the drivers getting a little miffed at the delays, and three (nearly four) left before the green flag dropped in the feature. After all, “True Blood” is on, and despite the era of DVRs, internet downloads, and constant repeats, it CANNOT be waited for… and that certainly is not a very politically incorrect adjective about sexual lifestyles now, is it?

Chris and Matt must’ve been pretty mad about the quitters or something, because they both completely blew everybody’s doors in on the initial start. Chris moved into 2nd on lap 1, a tie for 1st place on lap 2, then finally taking the lead by lap 3 and storming off.

Matt was right on his tail in the #74 soon after however, and basically the entire race was between Chris and Matt for 1st and Billy Truax and Dave Spanfelner for 3rd, as mechanical problems took brothers Tumor Matott and Eric Woolworth out of contention.

When the two all-time winningest karters get into the lead, forget it. They are gone. Nobody in Oswego can do anything about it when this happens. And whoever gets into the lead 1st between them usually takes it, unless traffic or mechanical problems throws uncertainty in it. Neither happened today, and Chris took a dominant win in his #4 (which is still undefeated in spades with its new motor), with Matt taking an impressive 2nd in the (continually improving) #74. The top two did it again. More drivers please show up?

Start:
1st. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi #4)
2nd Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #74)
3rd. Billy Truax (Truax Racing #02)
4th. Dave Spanfelner (DS Humphrey’s #54)
5th. Branden “Toomer” Matott (Inkings Tattoo/Woodchuck Saloon #781)
6th. Eric Woolworth (Raven Tavern #78) [Did Not Finish]
7th. Melissa Stevens – w/Lilybeth Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19) [Did Not Finish]
8th. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c) [Did Not Start]
9th. Joe Sereno (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5) [Did Not Start]
10th. Justin Galletta (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7) [Did Not Start]

Makeup/Retcon Race Credits:
11th. Brian Galletta (B-Galletta/Plattnum #42) – earned via 8/4/2013 heats

NEW RULES:

Not actually new rules, just old ones that we’ve been ignoring. Time to bring them back, especially when a handful of of the guys that we repaired left before the feature even started!

– A timeout is at least a 5+ minute break in the action to repair a damaged/malfunctioning kart. This is NOT for firing up and getting into a backup kart (that is a -5 pt. penalty and no timeout).
–
Each driver is allotted only 3 timeouts per season, which they can roll over to Klassic (and any driver SHOULD save as many as they can until Klassic).
– There will be no more repair timeouts allowed after 8pm.
– NOBODY has the right to use a timeout during a heat race. Kart changes are allowed in heats IF it can be fired up and on the track quickly (less than a minute), otherwise no.

2013 1-WD Gas Flathead Karting World Championship Point Standings after 7/21/2013’s Event

For the Galletta’s Karting Club’s World Championship of 1WD Gas Flatheads held on Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Karting Speedway for the 2013 season to date,  scored in this manner . Our club’s complete All-Time Points Standings from 2000-to-‘the-last-completed-season’ are found on  this webpage , and our division’s complete 2006-08 standings on Oswego Speedway’s lil’ dirt track out back Kiddie Kartway (before our class was  barred from, mocked and threatened ) on  this page . At season’s end, the current totals will be added into the below:

Position	Name (Go-Karts Piloted) [Hyperlinked Borders have Driver Profile] ®=Retcon (#) =Timeout	Total Points (Place)	Average Points Per Feature	Events	Features	Heats	Heat Wins	Feature Wins	Galletta’s Feature Wins 2000-up	Years Pro at Galletta’s
1st (2nd)	Chris “Chrusher ” Stevens (Galletta’s #4, 2, 8, 0, 74)	1508.5	125.71	9	12	4	0	5	69	18th
2nd (1st)	Master Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #33, 3, 74) (#)	1493.0	124.42	9	12	4	1	3	118	18th
3rd (4th)	David Spanfelner (D. S. Humphrey’s #54, 81, Galletta’s #28, 9)	1265.0	105.42	9	12	4	1	1	2	2nd
4th (5th)	Eric Woolworth (Raven Tavern #88, 78)	1200.0	100.00	9	12	4	2	1	1	2nd
5th (3rd)	Brian Galletta (Brian Galletta #13, 28) ®	1149.0	106.78	7	11	3	2	1	4	7th
6th	Adam Lytle (Adam Lytle #33c) ®	1081.0	90.08	7	12	3	1	0	0	2nd
7th (9th)	Billy Truax (Galletta’s #7, 1, 02) ®®	1027.0	86.73	5	12	2	0	0	0	1st
8th (10th)	Joe Sereno (Galletta’s #5) ®	920.0	92.00	5	10	3	1	1	5	3rd
9th (7th)	Melissa Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)	913.0	76.08	9	12	4	0	0	7	7th
9th (7th)	Lilybeth Rose Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)	913.0	76.08	9	12	4	0	0	0	®
11th	Branden “Toomer” Matott (Galletta’s #2, 9) ®® (#)	885.5	80.50	5	11	3	0	0	0	1st
12th	Kevin Galletta (Galletta’s #7, 9) ®®	426.5	71.08	2	6	0	0	0	0	1st
13th	Mark “Gooner Gilligan” Groesbeck (Galletta’s #1) ®®	394.0	78.80	2	5	0	0	0	0	®
14th	Marc Sgarlata (Galletta’s #7) ®	207.0	69.00	1	3	0	0	0	0	®
15th	Gary Miller Jr. (Galletta’s #6) ®	203.0	67.67	1	3	0	0	0	1	2nd
16th	Scott McGroty (Galletta’s #1) ®	196.0	65.33	1	3	0	0	0	0	®
17th	Collin Miller (Galletta’s #0) ®	182.0	60.67	1	3	0	0	0	0	1st
18th.	Davey Hamilton (Galletta’s #6) ®	144.5	72.25	1	2	0	0	0	0	®
19th.	Alex Ermand (Galletta’s #1) ®	140.5	70.25	1	2	0	0	0	0	®
20th.	Justin Galletta (Galletta’s #7) ®	135.0	67.50	1	2	1	0	0	0	3rd

Next Race’s Handicap Starting Order

Our system puts the least-winningest and least-point-earning drivers up front and progresses to the highest win and point earners. The more drivers, the harder it is to win, even for someone who has won a lot. Chris and Matt are there every week, and have been since the 1990s. How about you?

Mid-Week Updates

The clay has started to come. We’ve only had clay once (in 2008) and it was a fairly sandy clay at that, washed away too easily in our banked turns. We’re getting some new loads of the thicker, sticker stuff, and we’re installing a little at a time in our traditionally problematic spots (turn 1, where we come into it at around 47-50mph and turn sharply to slow to possibly 35-40mph). Looking good.

Meanwhile, Brian Galletta’s new kart – the #42 – looks like it will be ready for action next week. Built from scratch in a little under 2 weeks by Randy Platt for a few hundred bucks. Let me tell you… if you want to race and don’t, you have no excuse.

Chris, you sure are arrogant!

The reason Chris has made such a boast in jest is well-known to anybody who has ever read this website, or been in a race with us. These are real races and real racers. These aren’t redneck hillbillies — or woodchucks like they called us a few years back —  that can’t drive. If you think that, You’ll be shocked when you climb aboard them. These karts may look like they’ve been through some battles (and yes, they have), but all are fast, evenly matches, and tough. And the vets are highly experienced and talented racers that have been racing longer than most – if not all – area karters. And our races are FUN… no pressure, just pure racing FUN. But. Big butt….. Quite frankly, most karters in Oswego are too prissy and girlish (er, I just insulted girls, scratch that)  dandy manish to ever show up and join a race at Galletta’s. “Waah, that track’s too big!” / “Waah, the clay isn’t smooth enough to run a prefabricated kart chassis on!” / “Waah, I can’t race my $3,000 prefabricated racing kart chassis!” / “Waah, you guys don’t use methanol!” / “Waah, I race at Oswego and that automatically makes be awesomeest! Wait… they run here too and won all the track championships, Classics, and did so in 10-15-kart races against bigger motors the three years they raced there? Wait… I couldn’t do that with the same motor and less people in my class…” / “Waah, they don’t let kids race.” / “Waah, they race ‘YARD KARTS’ – er, at least that’s what someone told me.” / “Waah, they race backwards because everyone knows cars and real race car drivers only turn left!” /  “Waah, I can’t buy a brand-new motor off a shelf or website and then spend a few grand souping it up and win there, and that’s what I want to do!”  / “Waah, all the karts are the same speed? Why how can I win then?!” / “Waah, I prefer being in a 1-5 kart race with people my strict age/weight divisions and paying a big fee for a 5-10 minute race. They race for an hour or two for free and have a weight-to-gear ratio?! Wha?!” / “Waah, WKA tricks don’t work there!” / “Waah, I’m afraid of getting beat by Matt and Chris!” / “Waaah – SHUT THE F*** UP YOU WHINERS. We know, you don’t show up to race because you’re a prissy, pretty lil’ pussy when it comes to ironman karting. The karts cost under $800 to build brand-new from scratch, under $300 to buy used and race for free, and/or only $25 to rent at the track. No excuse. You don’t show up because you know you can’t cut it here. Period. Now to next week’s race event.