7/19/2014 – Randy Platt returns to win 45-Lapper in Galletta’s Greenhouse #5! (& Chris gets CRUSHED!) +YouTube
7/19/2014 – Randy Platt returns to win 45-Lapper in Galletta’s Greenhouse #5!
SATURDAY, JULY 19th, 2014, OSWEGO, NY – PLATTITUDE IS BACK! Randy Platt (AKA The Bobandinator, or Bobambikiller) has been MIA for most of the last two years. Family and work have kept him busy enough to miss many races – even living around a minute’s drive from the track. But he happened to stroll up before the feature event started, and was talked into racing. He promptly hopped into the Galletta’s Greenhouse #5 and wound up in victory lane, although Matt Stevens and Kelly Miller did give him a couple of challenges. 2nd week in a row the kart won, as Matt Stevens won in it last weekend. And the kart sits idle most weeks. Oh well. Oh, and a scary wreck between Brian Galletta, Adam Lytle and Chris Stevens in the early stages of the feature put Chris on the sideline for the show after the Lytle #33c LANDED on him during the race. Bummer. Ow. Still hurts. More details below.
UPDATE: Randy’s win has been revoked until he remembers to pay for his kart rental. 😉
UPDATE #1: Randy’s win has been revoked until he remembers to pay for his kart rental. The Great Bobandi/Bomabinator stiffed his bud, Matt! 😉
UPDATE #2: I have been told Randy is mad about the revised victory photo. We really didn’t revoke his win (see the point standings?), we’re just joking. Randy, we love you like a brother, you live a 60 second drive down the road from us, and you are one of the best drivers in our club’s history. You can join us for more than one race per year and also fix the mower you sold Matt for your kart rental. Not a biggie. But c’mon man… come on up on race day! I thought you were the Bonadinator?! What happened?! 🙁
HEAT 1
HEAT 1 START:
1. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88)
2. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
3. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
4. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3)
HEAT 1 FINISH:
1. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88)
2. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3)
3. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
4. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
HEAT 2
HEAT 2 START:
1. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
2. Brian Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #42)
3. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
4. Chad Combs (Galletta’s Greenhouse #2)
HEAT 2 FINISH:
1. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
2. Brian Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #42)
3. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
4. Chad Combs (Galletta’s Greenhouse #2)
At Galletta’s, we give repeat drivers opportunities to make up past races that they’ve missed during the season. These drivers ran both heats and scored makeup points to the following races.
RETCON MAKEUP CREDITS:
-. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7) = Earned 8th in both 30-Lap and 25-lap features on 6/21/2014.
-. Brian Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #42) = Earned 9th in both 30-Lap and 25-lap features on 6/21/2014.
-. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88) = Earned 10th in both 30-Lap and 25-lap features on 6/21/2014.
-. Chad Combs (Galletta’s Greenhouse #2) = Banked a makeup spot (13th in 6/7/2014 40-lapper), can cash in with return races, or else they may expire.
During Heat #2, a competitor who has been missing in action for around a year-despite living a minute drive down the road, Randy Platt finally showed up to watch. Chris Stevens then talked him into hopping behind the wheel of a kart-Randy is a good veteran driver with many races and a handful of feature wins under his belt and in our club, we want good drivers, but Randy didn’t want any kart, he wanted the Galletta’s Greenhouse #5 that Chris was in. Chris agreed and hopped into one of his two main karts – the Galletta’s Greenhouse / Chrusher.com / R&C Sushi Bar #8.
45-LAP FEATURE
The feature begins!
45-LAP FEATURE START:
1. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88)
2. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
3. Brian Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #42)
4. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
5. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #8)
6. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
7. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3)
8. Chad Combs (Galletta’s Greenhouse #2)
9. Randy Platt (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
Difficult to see here, but the #42 of Brian Galletta and #33c of Adam Lytle come together down the back stretch. The #33c is shot backwards and comes to a rest on the #8 of Chris Stevens’ bumper. In a strange coincidence, Lytle’s #33c caught a very small burn in the back stretch (that used to be a big bush tree of some sort years ago) which spun and launched his motor and drive-wheel (with Lytle weighing it down) at around 30+MPH on Chris’ leg and chest.
Chris, wearing nearly full body armor, was still shaken up, as he suffered a bruised knee and shinbone, sore ribs, and a nasty abrasion down to the shinbone on his right leg, and retired for the evening. Chris was convinced that if he did not have a rib protector vest, anti-abrasion racing jacket, armored gloves and knee pads, he would’ve been hospitalized. The wreck was somewhat reminiscent of 2007’s “Worst Crash caught on tape at Galletta’s” on 8/26/2007 – where Kyle Reuter ricocheted off Wes Stevens’ tire, shot inside where he collected Matt Stevens and hit an inexplicably parked Fred Collins, leaving flying bodies bruised and and karts strewn about. The videos also were both very dark and taken at a distance, which alleviates their clarity and effectiveness of demonstrating just how hard the crashes were. This made for the first points race that Chris did not complete since 2008 (again, over injury – a horrid flip)!
After the race resumed, Brian Galletta led shortly thereafter, but on a restart, he got sideways and Matt Stevens helped him complete a spin, which put the both of them in the rear. Brian, however, had to drop out due to more arm endurance issues due complications from his lifelong dialysis treatments.
So, with all of the wrecks, injuries and drop-outs, guess who then managed to find himself in the lead? Yep… the returning Randy Platt! In the very fast Galletta’s Greenhouse #5! He’s an experienced vet and showed it, holding off a few challenged from Matt Stevens and Kelly Miller before pulling away from them both. However, after Matt lost a wheel in the Galletta’s Greenhouse #3 (and hopped into his Galletta’s #33 for the last few laps), a slow-leak in the #5’s drive tire almost secured a comeback by Kelly Miler who almost beat him to the stripe on the final lap!
45-LAP FEATURE FINISH:
1. Randy Platt (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
2. Kelly Miller (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
3. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
4. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #3, #33)
5. Chad Combs (Galletta’s Greenhouse #2, #9)
6. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c) – DNF (Mechanical failure)
7. Keith Raymond (Raymond #88) – DNF (Mechanical failure)
8. Brian Galletta (Platt-num/Galletta #42) – DNF (Injury)
9. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #8) – DNF (Injury)
Now to the 19th Annual Season Gas Flathead Karting World Championship at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Speedway Points:
2014 Gas Flathead National Championship / 2014 Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Speedway Point Standings
(As of completion of 7/19/2014’s race event.) NO MAKEUPS ADDED YET (Added next week due to work, pregnant wife, injured shin & ribs, and basically just time constraints):
|
Position
|
Name (Go-Karts Piloted) [Hyperlinked Borders have Driver Profile] ®=Rookie *=Makeup T =Timeout (*$ makup not cashed) |
Total Points (Place)
|
Average Points Per Feature
|
Features
|
Feature Wins
|
Win %
|
Heats Won/
Entered |
Years Pro at Galletta’s
|
All-Time Feature Wins
|
|
1st
|
 Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #3, 74, 33, 6, 5) |
921.50
|
131.64
|
7
|
3
|
43%
|
0/5
|
19th
|
122
|
|
2nd
|
 Chris Stevens (Galletta’s / Chrusher.com / R&C Sushi #4, 8, 0, 5) |
838.50
|
119.79
|
7
|
0
|
0%
|
1/5
|
19th
|
70
|
|
3rd
|
 Melissa Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19, 80) |
789.50
|
112.79
|
7
|
0
|
0%
|
2/5
|
8th
|
7
|
|
4th
|
 Adam Lytle (Lytle #33c) |
680.50
|
97.21
|
7
|
0
|
0%
|
1/4
|
3rd
|
1
|
|
5th
|
 Kelly Miller (Galletta’s #7, 9) |
637.50
|
127.50
|
5
|
0
|
0%
|
0/4
|
7th
|
2
|
|
6th
|
 Kevin Galletta (Galletta / Platt-Num #28) * ## |
593.00
|
98.83
|
6
|
1
|
17%
|
1/3
|
2
|
2
|
|
7th
|
 Eric Woolworth(The Raven #88, 78) |
569.50
|
113.90
|
5
|
2
|
40%
|
0/3
|
3rd
|
4
|
|
8th
|
 David Turner (Plattnum-Turner #43, Galletta’s #9) ®, *, # |
478.50
|
95.70
|
5
|
0
|
0%
|
1/2
|
®
|
0
|
|
9th
|
 Keith Raymond (Galletta’s #1) ** |
472.00
|
94.40
|
5
|
0
|
0%
|
1/4
|
®
|
0
|
|
10th
|
 Brian Galletta (Galletta / Platt-Num #42) *, # |
396.00
|
99.00
|
4
|
0
|
0%
|
0/4
|
8th
|
6
|
|
11th
|
 Alex Bennett(Galletta’s #9, 2) ® (*$) |
159.00
|
79.50
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
0/0
|
®
|
0
|
|
12th
|
 Randy Platt (Galletta’s #5) |
152.50
|
152.50
|
1
|
1
|
100%
|
0/0
|
5th
|
7
|
|
13th
|
 Cliff Crowe (Galletta’s #1) ® (*$) |
143.00
|
71.50
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
0/0
|
®
|
0
|
|
14th
|
 Grover Sixberry Jr. (Galletta’s #2) ® * |
120.00
|
60.00
|
2
|
0
|
0%
|
0/1
|
®
|
0
|
|
15th
|
 Chad Combs (Galletta’s #9, 2) ® (*$) |
112.00
|
112.00
|
1
|
0
|
0%
|
0/1
|
®
|
0
|
|
16th
|
 Matthew Daniels (Galletta’s #1) |
91.00
|
91.00
|
1
|
0
|
0%
|
0/1
|
®
|
0
|
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