Galletta's Karting Club

9/26/2015 – The 20th Annual Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Klassic Championship 200!

Saturday, September 26th, 2015 was the date for our 20th Annual Klassic 200. The race decides both the Track Championship and the Klassic 200 Champion in one fell swoop, as the race counts as the biggest AND the final points race of the season (although after Klassic, we may still have Fall Series races, which still count in the All-Time Points). All past veterans as well as future veterans are – as always – invited to battle it out for the longest-running (and we say premiere) Karting Title in Oswego NY for two decades. As a contest of driver talent, endurance, strategy, patience, and athleticism, it empirically decides the best kart drivers of Oswego, period. There is no valid counter argument. If you want to be discussed as the best, you compete here. But once the rookies settled down (or were eliminated by demolishing their karts) the entire race was a showcase of elite driving talent that cannot be questioned. Kyle Reuter and Chris Stevens shared the lead back and forth and only lapped traffic and low fuel changed things. Matt Stevens again showed why he is a master of kart building and pure racing ability with his near win, almost taking it all on the last lap until a bent sprocket ended his shot. And gas mileage was key – everyone who made it to lap 150 refueled… except Chris Stevens, who attempted to win it all on one standard tank of gas! And on lap 199, that gas was used up with Kyle Reuter and Matt Stevens side-by-side trying to take the lead! And believe me, at that point, it wasn’t even done yet! It was a DOOZY in EVERY way! Race descriptions, pictures, the concluded points and race videos to one of the greatest races in Galletta’s history – making it one of the greatest kart races in the history of Oswego by default. All will follow. But for now… we are all… BEAT. See you soon! With a long-season concluded in this 200-Lap race including seventeen drivers, (a large amount of cautions around a handful of 1st-time rookie drivers), and a LOT of action, the Klassic is the hardest race to score, the most difficult to pull pictures from (so many shots to choose from). Not to mention time trials, Klassic pose-down pictures, it will take time to complete. Video? Will be great, once it’s done! Gonna’ take time. A day job, and an aging computer having all sorts of problems also slows down the time. Still, I am putting it up as I go along, so come back daily (or sometimes multiple times per night). Enjoy:

As usual, our Klassic starts with a cookout, dish-to-pass, entering the Klassic via a rental or $5 a plate, either/or.

9/26/2015 – The Starting Grid to The 20th Annual Galletta’s Klassic 200!

POS.	DRIVER / TIME / KART(S)	POS.	DRIVER / TIME / KART(S)
1st.	Matt Stevens 00:16.10 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #3 [Backup: Galletta’s Greenhouse #33]	2nd.	Kyle Reuter 16.59 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #5
3rd.	Adam “AJ” Lytle 16.62 in Lytle Racing #33c	4th.	Keith Raymond 16.67 in Good Guys Barbershop #88
5th.	Chris Stevens 16.79 in Galletta’s / Chrusher / R&C Sushi #8 [Backup: Galletta’s / Chrusher / R&C Sushi #4]	6th.	Melissa Stevens 16.89 in Scissors N’ Fur #19 [Backup: Scissors N’ Fur #80]
7th.	Brian Galletta 16.90 in Galletta Bros. #28 [Backup: Galletta’s Bros. #54]	8th.	David Hall Jr. (Rookie) 17.16 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #0
9th.	David Hall Sr. (Rookie) 17.79 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #7	10th	Jason King (Rookie) 17.84 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #9
11th	Rodney Buskey (Rookie) 17.86 in Buskey Racing #87	12th	David Hartpence (Newbie Rookie) 17.87 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #78
13th	Ray “Zor” Castaldo (Veteran Rookie) 18.58 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #6	13th	Josh Arnold (Newbie Rookie) 18.63 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #43
15th	Justin Thurston (Newbie Rookie) 19.12 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #1	16th	Johann Ambach (Newbie Rookie) 19.71 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #2
17th	Tyler Buskey (Rookie) –:– in Buskey #00x [-Did Not Time: Late Arrival]		Open Karts: Galletta’s Greenhouse #4, Galletta’s Greenhouse #33, Galletta Bros. #42, Galletta Bros. #54, Galletta’s Greenhouse #74, Ruggio Racing #02, Sweeting Racing #81

The 200 begins!

The pace car was driven by a somewhat bored Lilybeth Stevens – daughter of racers Matt and Melissa Stevens. Lillers would rather race (or as she would say, “Vroom, Vroom!”)! Her cousin Faith Marie – daughter of racer Chris and camerawoman Rungnapha ‘Aou’ Stevens – is just more or less people watching.

17 drivers! 201 laps!

The opening grid for our largest Klassic in years – consisting of our largest 1st-time newbie/rookie class (uh oh… that usually spells lots of cautions). But with three former Klassic Winners starting, and three capable, feature-winning veterans, the race will not be easy for anyone. And with Matt Stevens and Kyle Reuter in the front row – the staggering total feature wins for those two… there probably in NY State that could even come close to either of them.

In the early stages, 2010 Galletta’s Klassic Champ and multi-time Quarter-Midget and methanol Flatkart champ Kyle Reuter took the lead and set a VERY fast pace in the Galletta’s Greenhouse #5. The other active past Klassic champs of the event in the field have a slightly different strategy; Matt Stevens likes to save the kart and settle back a bit while Chris Stevens likes to hang around in the top-3 if he can. In fact, this snapshot was a rare picture seeing Matt try a low pass attempt, as usually he hangs out mid-field to backfield. Veterans Brian Galletta, Adam Lytle and Keith Raymond also try to hang out near the front, as the rookies were a little crazy in the back and nobody wanted to get caught in a stupid wreck.

The rookies showed potential, but putting so many guys with 0-3 races in these karts on this track in a 200-lapper (with a full moon coming on), spelled a LOT of cautions, which I turn will make for both a late night AND fuel problems later on with all of the idle time. Here is one of the shots showing rookies just racing a little too invasively. Open wheels need room. Rubbing and bumping and there can be problems involving spins, wrecks, potentially busted karts and at worst injuries.

The first 50 or so were plagued with countless rookie mishaps that slowed the event down considerably. In fact, in one rookie mistake alone, one 1st-time driver wound up even taking out BOTH the early leader Kyle Reuter and then-2nd place Brian Galletta! Reuter was a half-stretch away from 2nd place Brian Galletta at the time, but when the #2 did not keep a line, the #5 ran up his backside and then collected the #28. Then-3rd place Chris Stevens barely evaded the pileup. Kyle was concerned that Starter Wesley Stevens was NOT throwing the passing flag, and something that Chris Stevens was upset about all year (and directly lost 2-3 races this year to his brother Matt because of it).

This put points-leader Chris Stevens in the lead in his potent Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi Bar at SUNY Oswego #8, with 3rd and 4th in-point Adam Lytle (#33c) and Keith Raymond (Good Guys Barbershop #88) in the top three, with 2nd-in-points Matt rounding out the top 4 at this stage of the race. Chris set a considerably slower pace than Reuter, in a concerted effort to save gas and stay out of potentially kart-damaging trouble.

A fairly decent portion of the race was led by Chris Stevens followed by Adam Lytle and Keith Raymond with Matt Stevens right behind them. With the points race being close, all of these guys want to be in the top three to score as many bonus lap points as possible, and Matt’s strategy of taking it easy in the early parts of the 200 definitely hurts him in the points department. Of note, at least one rookie – David Hall Jr. in the Galletta’s #0 – was hanging with the top guns and staying out of accidents!

Starter Wesley “Ogre” Stevens continued his streak of not throwing the passing flag 80% of the time, which causes the leader many problems. It makes the racing interesting if you aren’t in the lead, but makes things hell for the leader. This time Chris Stevens got trapped behind rookie in the #43 who decided to race the middle line of the track, then cut high and low then spin out, and Reuter get the lead back in the exchange. Lapped traffic giveth and taketh away!

No, we did NOT know it was going to be a full moon when we scheduled. Galletta’s Speedway history under full moons? Oh, boy.

Around the mid-way point, a rookie accident pretty much put an end to the accidents, when the #2 of Johann Ambach again got involved with taking wild lined around the veterans and the result was the #88 of Keith Raymond flipped. Keith the took the ‘-1 lap & -20 point penalty’ and used a backup kart, the Brian Galletta #54. After this, the rest of the show went smoothly. The veterans decided that all future Klassic 200s will require a driver to have raced in at least 1 regular season race to get the hang of things BEFORE the championships are on the line. It’s like asking a raw training camp rookie to play in the Super Bowl… not going to be pretty.

Reuter then applied his typical strategy again on the restart. Full-throttle! If he runs out of gas, so be it, he, “Had fun!”

With Chris Stevens taking a fuel-conscious approach, this led to Kyle pulling away. Here he is all by himself in 1st in the early 100s of the race!

Rueter’s strategy was possibly put the entire field a lap down. With less rookies on the track meaning less cautions, he almost did so, as he was creeping up on 4th place Matt Stevens, 3rd place Adam Lytle and 2nd place Chris Stevens! However, a caution came out so Kyle was unable to see if he could do it. But what was the cost? Gas.

At lap 150, a caution came out enabling everyone the choice to refuel. All did but one. Chris Stevens made the gamble of sticking to his guns and not refuel, re-inheriting the lead led to more slow laps. Late in the game, Adam Lytle dropped out with mechanical problems, clinching 5th place and leaving Chris, Kyle, Matt and Keith as the only four remaining.

Conserving fuel being his game that won him the 2011 Klassic, which is his usual gameplan. But with all those early cautions wasting time and gas, would it work? That’s why they race the race!

Then the most exciting Klassic/Classic Finale in Oswego Karting history occurred! By the late 190s, Chris’ #8 started showing signs that it was close to running on fumes, particularly in the back stretch, and NOT being helped by both Kyle Reuter, Adam Lytle and Keith Raymond all running out of gas and having to use a timeout refuel! And by 198, it was never more apparent that Chris gamble may come up short. He slowed down considerably coming out of turn 2, and 2nd place Matt Stevens went low for the pass. Chris was guarding middle in hopes some fuel would kick in or someone would push his bumper or anything. The #8’s tank did find some gas, but too late, and Kyle Reuter blasted to the outside to pass both Matt and Chris, coming out the leader in turn 4, Matt also getting by his bro for 2nd!

Lap 199, Reuter had the lead, and Matt attempted a desperate inside-outside drifting divebomb in turn 1. Chris’s tank meanwhile found more gas to glug for one last shot, and he gunned it high, right where Matt was SIDEWAYS in the lane. The #8 tagged the #3 and BOTH karts came to a rest in the back straight – Matt’s drivewheel chain came off, and and Chris dry of fuel. Both so close and yet so far!

A closer view shows the moment that both stopped the race in it’s tracks and led to one last green-white-checker. Chris was infuriated that he may have lost the Klassic due to so many cautions by rookies early on after is race plan was so close to being carried out to near perfection! But he was able to dash his tank in the timeout (the 1st Chris used all season, and he had 4 saved up). Matt had 3 timeouts, but was exhausted! He couldn’t bear to fix another kart after fixing everyone’s karts all season and so many busted rookie’s karts today!

On lap 199’s caution, Chris refueled and restarted 2nd because Keith Raymond (#54) was still a lap down and Matt was too exhausted to attempt to use a timeout and fix the #3’s broken chain. The rest of the racers talked him into finishing the race in his backup, the #33, although it put him a lap down like Keith. So with one lap to go, it was down to leader Reuter and 2nd place Chris Stevens under a green-white-checker, as per is our Klassic rules.

On lap 200 restart, Chris surprised Kyle by riding tailing him closely into turn one and gunning a slingshot attempt into turn 2. Chris added, “I was conserving gas the entire 200 laps, and it was now or never, I finally let loose with the full power of the #8 for one last shot at Kyle. And Matt and Kyle are the best… it’s next to impossible to get either of them once they’re in the lead, so I had to give it everything I had. The #5 seemed to lag in turn 1, as I didn’t expect Kyle to go into the turn so slow, and I was practically riding his bumper in turn 1. It was slingshot or both of us fly off the track.” Kyle and Chris raced side-by-side down the entire back stretch with Chris having a slight edge. Kyle made an attempt to slingshot the #8 back in turn 4, but Chris had already slashed back into the fast groove securing he lead, taking laps 200 and 201 for the checkered flag, clinching a clean sweep of the 2015 Galletta’s Speedway Points and Klassic Championships!

With his 5 feature wins going into the Klassic, steady top-3 finishes all year and staying in the top 3 for almost the entire race and winning the 200, Chris Stevens clinched the 2015 Galletta’s Track Championship and Galletta’s 200-Lap Klassic Championship, a sweep of both titles that he had not done since 2001, and was undoubtedly the best year of his karting career thus far. This also determines the best overall karter in Oswego, NY, as the overpriced flatkarts and their dozen or so classes divided by age (possibly by day born), height (by millimeters), and weight (by ounces) determines only who looks the fanciest fancy boi/girl with the shiniest credit card (or has no other life or hobbies outside of it). Chris would like to thank his brother Matt Stevens – his head mechanic/crew chief (who happens to be his biggest weekly competition) who got the #8 from non-functional the night before Klassic to race-winning caliber”, Kyle Reuter – who he “wishes would race more than once or twice a year because, along with Matt, is always one of the most talented and hardest drivers to compete against, my dad Wes “Ogre” Stevens –  for welding my drive axle on the morning of the Klassic, all of the guys who raced with us most of the year and seem to get better and better and harder and harder to beat every race – Adam Lytle, Keith Raymond, Kevin and Brian Galletta. And to all the rookies and guys racing part of the season… we hope to see more of you next year!”

The 20th Annual 200-Lap Klassic Final Order of Finish:

Under review of the surviving video (Melissa Stevens’ angles were lost due to a corrupted SD card, Chris & Rungnapha’s SD cards were preserved), this year’s Klassic went 253 laps, with 218 of them green and 26 caution laps. Starter Wesley “Ogre” Stevens recorded 201 laps on the lap counter, which all drivers raced by, and it included a green-white-checker, hence the extra lap. Human error comes into play for various reasons, but the leading two are that unlike regular season races, we are supposed to count a lap every time the leader crosses the finish line either green or yellow, and Wes was unable to do it, possibly related to his Parkinson’s and being overwhelmed with flagging AND lap counting. The Klassic 200 is a marathon event for all. Drivers, flaggers, videocamera people. Quite frankly, we need more volunteers. We don’t have enough drivers, flaggers, lap scorers, and video camera operators to limit human failure.

POS.	DRIVER / KART(S)	Laps	Stats
1st.	Chris Stevens Galletta’s / Chrusher / R&C Sushi #8 [201 Laps]	253 laps	Refueled once (one timeout used).
2nd.	Kyle Reuter Galletta’s Greenhouse #5	253 laps	Refueled twice (one timeout used).
3rd.	Keith Raymond Good Guys Barbershop #88; Galletta Bros. #54	253 laps (but lost 1 due to kart change)	Good Guys Barbershop #88: 1-164 (Wrecked) Galletta Bros #54: Laps 165 – ___ (-20 pts. & -1 lap for kart change) Refueled twice. Used two timeouts. (-10 points for illegal restart)
4th	Matt Stevens Galletta’s Greenhouse #3; Galletta’s Greenhouse #33	253 laps (but lost 1 due to kart change)	#3: Laps 1 – 249 #33: Laps 250 – 253 (-20 pts. & -1 lap for kart change) Refueled once.
5th	Adam “AJ” Lytle Lytle Racing #33c	244 laps	Retired on lap 244 due to empty fuel tank (Leaking gas tank?). Refueled once.
6th	David Hall Jr. (Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #0	166 laps	Retired on lap 166 (Mechanical failure).
7th	Josh Arnold (Newbie Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #43	163 laps (Lapped twice)	Retired after being involved in multiple accidents. (-20 points for wrecking with leader / not obeying flags).
8th	Johann Ambach (Newbie Rookie) 19.71 in Galletta’s Greenhouse #2	163 laps (Lapped twice)	Retired after being involved in multiple accidents. (-20 points for wrecking multiple times, including with leader / multiple incidents of not obeying flags)
9th	Jason King (Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #9; 81	136 laps	#9: Laps 1-70 (Mechanical failure) #81 Laps 71-136 (Mechanical failure) (-20 pts. & -1 lap for kart change)
10th	Justin Thurston (Newbie Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #1	110 laps	Retired: lap 110 (Mechanical failure).
11th	David Hartpence (Newbie Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #78	98 laps	Retired: Mechanical failure on lap 98.
12th.	David Hall Sr. (Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #7	85 laps	Retired: Mechanical failure on lap 85.
13th	Brian Galletta Galletta Bros. #28	53 laps	Retired in 2nd due to crash with rookie (damaged kart).
14th	Rodney Buskey (Rookie) Buskey Racing #87	42 laps	Retired: Mechanical failure on lap 42.
15th	Tyler Buskey Buskey x00	36 laps	Entered on lap 25; Retired: Mechanical failure on lap 59.
16th.	Melissa Stevens Scissors N’ Fur #19	1 lap	Retired after lap 1 (Ran lap for points).
17th	Ray “Zor” Castaldo (Rookie) Galletta’s Greenhouse #6	0 laps	Qualified to start via time trials; did not start (acting gay).

LAP-BY-LAP SCORECARD:

Due to the chart’s size, it cannot be seen in its entirely on this page. Please refer to this page to see the entire lap scoring chart. A rare treat, as I almost never put them on the website, but due to the many cautions, crazy finish and going so many laps over (chart said 201 after the final green-white-checker), I felt it was needed. Keep in mind, 1st place gets 1 point per lap, 2nd and 3rd place get 0.5 points per lap. After that, it doesn’t matter until the race is done and what place you came in.