Galletta's Karting Club

7/3/2015 – Race again switched from Sunday, July 5th to Friday, July 3rd, 2015 due to 4th of July Festivities!

Due to regular racer availability and 4th of July weekend festivities, we again changed the race schedule from Sunday to Friday. In fact, Friday has worked so well for a majority of the regular drivers that we are considering switching FULL-TIME to Fridays.

7/3/2015 – Chris Stevens runs to Independence Day ’15 45-Lap Triumph.

FRIDAY, JULY 3rd, 2015, OSWEGO, NY – Originally scheduled for Sunday, July 5th, 2015, in order to skip the fireworks and Independence Day festivities and working around our regular driver schedules, we again moved race day to Friday, July 3rd, 2015. Chris Stevens made amends on his highly frustrating week, as in last weekend’s Twin-35’s where he lost BOTH features in traffic to his brother and all week long he battled a stomach bug. This week, he successfully navigated traffic en route to an impressive feature win to make it the 2nd time he won a feature with the runs. (Too much information? In a statistical anomaly, at least three times this has been known to happen – in fact 3/3! Maybe we need to get stomach bugs before races more often? Keith Raymond led early until the motor stalled, again proving that 1st feature victory elusive!)

NOTE: We will have a unique open-ended conclusion to this race, however. If you missed at least one race this season at Galletta’s, you are welcome to enter our addendum race that will be held on either Saturday or (more likely) Sunday. This isn’t for anybody who has raced in every race thus far, it is a make-up race for anybody who has missed one or all of the races thus far. If nobody comes forward, we will not have one. Contact us for details. Points & pics up, and and video up soon.

45-Lap Feature Start:
1. Keith Raymond (Galletta’s Greenhouse #6)
2. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
3. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
4. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1)
5. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #8)
6. Nick Camron (Galletta’s Bros. #54)
7. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)

Once again, Keith Raymond in search of his 1st feature win lead the early stages. And again, he looked solid. But on lap 8, his Galletta’s Greenhouse #6 inexplicably stalled, again taking him out of the lead. Chris Stevens, who last week was defeated by lapped traffic, used lapped traffic to gain a handful of positions into 2nd then inherited the lead.

Adam Lytle was impressive, as he utilized lap traffic to pass then-2nd place Matt on lap 33!

The last few laps however, Wes Stevens again considered changing the rulebook via majority vote (of himself and other drivers on the track) to screw over Chris (like he did last week and last year), something he apparently LOVES to do. And considering that Chris WROTE THE RULE BOOK, and KNOWS THE RULES BETTER THAN WES… it is exceedingly odd habit that Wes does to his eldest son.

This time, late in the race, Chris’ nosecone came loose and was held on by one bolt. On a lap-41 caution (for a spun Adam Lytle), Wes wanted to stop the race, take the nosecone off and put Chris in the back of the pack, despite the fact that Chris was holding onto the nosecone with his foot without an issue.

If Wes knew the Galletta’s rulebook, he would understand that while an adjustment that changes the operation of the kart (repairing handling, adding gas, changing tires, adding air to tires, changing a chain, ect.) on or off the track would require going to the rear, this would NOT be the case. Why? A SAFETY precaution done ON the track during a CAUTION/INTERMISSION (adding oil to chain, removing a loose paneling, securing a loose part on the kart by putting a bolt, wire, or duct tape on to keep part in place, letting a small amount of air out of a tire) does NOT penalize the driver’s position, provided it can be done on track and within a couple of minutes OR during a time-out. It was a rule added in the early 2000s. It didn’t matter anyways, as Chris had it secured with his foot and was ready to finish the final few laps. Apparently, despite Wesley having a low weak to nonexistent sense of humor, he certainly enjoys trolling Chris during the race.

From there, Chris Stevens made amends for losing two in traffic last weekend, en route to a route of leading the final 37 laps with or without a loose nosecone. This was the 2nd time that Chris Stevens had a stomach bug and won a feature race, making it 2 of 2. The last time was in 2009, oddly enough, a week after his sister-in-law Melissa also won with a stomach bug. That’s 3 for 3 in known cases. Maybe we’re onto something here…

45-Lap Feature Finish:
1. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com #8)
2. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1)
3. Adam Lytle (Lytle Racing #33c)
4. Keith Raymond (Galletta’s Greenhouse #6)
5. Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28)
6. Nick Camron (Galletta’s Bros. #54)
7. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19) – DNF
MAKEUP RACE CREDITS:
8th. George Sweeting (Good Guys Barbershop #81) – scored via 7/10/2015 make-up race
9th. Kevin Finn (Galletta’s Greenhouse #6) – scored via 7/10/2015 make-up race

POST RACE NOTE: Due to the busy 4th of July weekend and an on-the-cuff scheduling change, we had a unique open-ended conclusion to this race. If a driver missed at least one race this season at Galletta’s, he was welcome to schedule a 2nd feature this Independence weekend, and enter our addendum race that would have been held on either Saturday or Sunday. This isn’t for anybody who has raced in every race thus far, it is a make-up race for anybody who has missed one or all of the races thus far. If nobody came forward, we will not have one. Tumor Mattot and Kevin Galletta were game, but nobody else was, and Matt Stevens started coming down with a stomach bug Sunday, so the open makeup race was cancelled for the weekend.

2015 Gas Flathead National Championship / 2015 Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Speedway Point Standings

As of completion of 6/7/2015 – 7/3/2015’s race events in the 20th Annual World Championship of Clockwise Gas Stock Flathead Karting.

Position (Prior)	Name (Go-Karts Piloted) ®=Rookie *=Makeup T =Timeout k=Mid-race Kart Change (-5pt)	Total Points (Place)	Average Points Per Feature	Features	Feature Wins	Win %	Heats Won/ Enter	Years Pro at Galletta’s	All-Time Track Feature Wins
1st	Chris Stevens (Galletta’s #8, 4, 0) k	778.00	129.67	6	3	50%	0/0	20th	74
2nd	Matt Stevens (Galletta’s #33, 3, 74, 1)	720.00	120.00	6	2	33%	0/0	20th	127
3rd	Keith Raymond (Good Guys Barbers. #88, Galletta’s #6)	654.50	109.08	6	0	0%	0/0	2nd	0
4th	Adam Lytle (Lytle #33c)	630.50	105.08	6	0	0%	0/0	4th	3
5th	Eric Woolworth (Woolworth #78)	487.50	97.50	5	1	20%	0/0	4th	5
6th	Kevin Galletta (Galletta Bros. #28, 54)	472.00	94.40	5	0	0%	0/0	3rd	2
7th	Melissa Stevens (Scissors ‘n Fur #19)	459.00	76.50	6	0	0%	0/0	8th	7
8th	George Sweeting (Galletta’s #7, Sweeting #81) ® k	427.50	85.50	5	0	0%	0/1	®	0
9th	Ray Castaldo (Galletta’s #7, 5)	221.00	73.67	3	0	0%	0/0	®	0
10th	Brian Galletta (Galletta Bros. #42)	149.00	74.50	2	0	0%	0/0	8th	8
11th	Liam Shaughnessy (Galletta’s #1) ®	122.00	122.00	1	0	0%	0/1	®	0
12th	David Demling (Galletta’s #6) ®	115.00	115.00	1	0	0%	1/1	®	0
13th Tie	Branden ‘Tumor’ Matott (Matott #187²)	111.00	111.00	1	0	0%	0/0	2nd	0
13th Tie	Nick Camron (Galletta Bros. #54) ®	111.00	111.00	1	0	0%	0/0	®	0

Handicap Starting Order for the next race:

Any new drivers with prior races at Galletta’s will be handicapped via Past Wins > Past Points > Weight.
Any new drivers with no prior races at Galletta’s will be handicapped by either weight, and/or heat race position.