9/22/2018 – 23rd Annual Galletta’s Greenhouse Go-Kart 200-Lap Klassic Championship [YouTube]

2018-09-22-01h00m50s290

 photo 2018-09-22-01h00m50s290.jpg

Photosucket

Saturday, September 22nd, 2018 – The 23rd Annual Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Club’s Klassic Championship–which is always the longest race, most point-earning race and usually the final points race of the race year–occurred on the end to the last day of Summer (as it does most years, with occasional exceptions made for driver attendance and weather). Unfortunately, this was only the 8th regular feature of the 2018 season, leaving the option open to have more points races POST-Klassic, which is unusual, but our unusually poorly attended year (mid-2017 through ALL of 2018) may have forced it. But with ten drivers available today, and only one of whom was a 1st-time newbie driver, we were able to have our 200-Lapper on a beautiful September weekend!


Time Trials

All regular season races at Galletta’s are handicapped by inverting (firstly) feature wins and (secondly) points-per-race. However, the 200 lapper is special — our race division’s Super Bowl if you will — and we treat it as much. Fastest time trials determine the starting grid.

  1. 16.16 – Matt Stevens (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #3)
  2. 16.35 – Steve Sixberry (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
  3. 16.40 – Kevin Galletta (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #43)
  4. 16.41 – Chris Stevens (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/OswegoSushi.com #4)
  5. 16.68 – Tim Galletta (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #9)
  6. 16.79 – Josh Arnold (Arnie Racing #93)
  7. 16.94 – Keith Raymond (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #0)
  8. 17.79 – (NR) Jason Tanner (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #1)
  9. 18.15 – Jason Sixberry (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #6)
  10. 00.00 – Melissa (w/unborn Sarah) Stevens (Scissors n’ Fur #19)
    (NR) = Newbie Rookie in 1st race
    OPEN KARTS
  11.  –.– –  Open Seat (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #2)
  12.  –.– –  Open Seat (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #5)
  13.  –.– –  ———— [Chris Stevens’ Backup] (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/OswegoSushi.com #8)
  14.  –.– –  Open Seat No Show: Chris Smith (Smith Racing #24c)
  15.  –.– –  ———— [Kevin Galletta’s Backup] (Team B&K Galletta Bros. #28)
  16.  –.– –  Open Seat [Not Available: Lee Gleason] (Gleason Racing #29)
  17.  –.– –  ———— [Matt Stevens’ Backup] (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #33)
  18.  –.– –  Open Seat (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse #33c)
  19.  –.– –  Open Seat (Team Galletta’s Greenhouse/Chrusher.com/OswegoSushi.com #74)
  20.  –.– –  ———— [Melissa Stevens’ Backup] (Scissors n’ Fur #80)

    Starting Grid – By Row

    Klassic starts double-file, outside in each row is the quicker line at Galletta’s, so outside-in.

    1. 20180922_182223_Matt_Stevens_3 | 20180922_182235_Steve_Sixberry_7
    2. 20180922_182247_Kevin_Galletta_4320180922_182311_Chris_Stevens_4
    3. 20180922_182506_Tim_Galletta_9 | 20180922_182402_Josh_Arnold
    4. 20180922_182747_Keith_Raymond_0 |20180922_182419_Jason_Tanner_1
    5. 20180922_182445_Jason_Sixberry_6 | 20180922_182756_Melissa_&_Sara_Stevens_80
    6. 20180922_182110_Brian_Galletta_Wes_Stevens

Unedited Time Trial & Race Footage via YouTube

Saturday, September 22nd, 2018 – This is the raw, unedited ’18 Klassic video in it’s raw, unedited form without narration, replays, or contrast repair, including some of the time trials (but not all due to to starting the times despite a lack of an experienced camera-person available). I’ll be working on getting a properly edited video ASAP (hopefully within a week or two if I can find the time between work and family functions, I hope to finish it over Thanksgiving week. Nope. Christmas break? Nope! AFTER NEW YEARS? Nope. Spring Break? Nah. The complete video is on the top of the page, yep… finally done in June 2019! (But hey, at least it was done before the 2019 season started. Wait… will that ever start?). – Webmaster Chris

Lap-by-lap scoring and track positions:

Notes on scoring. See this webpage for how many points are earned at a Galletta’s Karting Club race. On top of that, for every green flag lap, 1st place earns 1 point and 2nd & 3rd place split a half-point each. Therefore, on top of the points earned for your place on at the races conclusion, 200 1st place lead points up for grabs and 400 2nd/3rd place ½ points up for grabs on top of final order of finish totals. Time trials are scored as a big heat, with 1st earning 20 points and each spit behind one less point. In the Klassic, a kart change is a -20 point penalty and a lost lap. Refueling is only allowed after the 1st caution after lap 170.

2018-09-22-01h00m50s290

Flckr version.

The race was extremely clean and had only six cautions spread out between the 200 laps — all mundane and uneventful breakdowns and fender-sticks. However, one was a nasty-looking one, when Josh Arnold’s #93 tie rod broke entering turn one and sent him into the Supermodified tire barrier under the scoring tower. He was then struck from behind when Keith Raymond driving the Galletta’s #0 had nowhere to go. The wreck took out both competitors. Josh seemed fairly shaken up, but reported back to us that he was fine by the next day with less soreness than he anticipated. The segment of the race is here:


Matt Stevens wins his 13th (of 23) Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Klassic Championship Races and 14th (of 23) Galletta’s Track Championships!

 photo 20180922_222825-Klassic-Top-3-800px.jpg

 photo 20180922_222825-Klassic-Top-3-2560px.jpg

Larger Version on PhotoSucket

20180922_222825-Klassic-Top-3-800px

Larger version on flickr.

Matt Stevens used a 2/3rds of the way pass (catching his fuel-conscious brother Chris off-guard) and held on to win his 13th Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Speedway Klassic. His brother Chris has 7, while Wes Stevens, Kyle Reuter, and Kelly Miller each have 1. The final order of this year’s Klassic could not have been more cut and dried, as it was also the (probable) final order of the point standings as well (not yet officially finalized), with Chris likely scoring 2nd and impressive rookie Steve Sixberry being a strong 3rd. Hence, due to the timing of his pass, Matt also BARELY edged his point-savvy brother Chris to earn his 14th Galletta’s Track Championship.

Chris said, “Matt often does everything he can with wins in mind (and points a secondary goal), so he takes more chances. I more think of points championships (with winning as a cherry on top), so I don’t take as many chances to eek out a win, but often score more bonus points as I just simply try to be cerebral and finish ahead of Matt, usually my only rival with the occasional exception of a a few drivers being sort of close a few years. If I held Matt off for another 10 or so laps, I could’ve won that track title, and if I held him off all the way, I would’ve swept both. So close, yet so far. I had enough to hold him off, but not enough to pass him, so when he snuck by me, that was game unless he ran out of gas or broke. People will say, ‘But Matt dominated all year!’ and he did, but the points system rewards laps spent up front and the Klassic has the most to offer. I almost stayed up front enough to erase Matt’s point lead. Almost. Matt’s the only one on the planet crafty to get by me when I got a choke hold on the lead like that (I’d welcome others to try, but… when they don’t, they can’t be considered as good enough, can they?). But I implore our drivers take this as a lesson for racing in our club… don’t miss the Klassic and do your best to make it to lap 200, because anything can happen — fuel, breaks, retirements, so on. You can’t win unless you are on lap 200, and you can’t win either of our racing division’s title unless you are there from 1st race to last lap in the 200. Lots of points are up for grabs and decides our track title. You can pass or be passed by a handful of drivers in one race. The most special thing we do is simply be in every race and do our best to be up front at the end of each. Not rig it, just be in every race and be passionate enough to try to get to the front every race. Plain and simple. That’s what racing is all about.”

Matt and Chris did not take on gas, and were very low at race’s end. If they both ran out, Steve may have been able to take the win, unheard of for a rookie in the 23 year history of our karting class.

FINAL ORDER OF FINISH for the 2018 GALLETTA’S KLASSIC:

  1. 560 pts. – Matt Stevens (#3) [+64 in 1st, 33 (16.5) in 2nd/3rd, + 20tt = ] 660.5 pts. = 1429.5 total
  2. 536 pts. – Chris Stevens (#4) [+136 in 1st, 64 (32) in 2nd, + 17tt = ] 721 pts. = 1416.5 total
  3. 512 pts. – Steve Sixberry (#7) [6+41+44+5=96 (46) in 2nd/3rd + 19tt = ] 577 pts = 1167 total
  4. 488 pts. – Kevin Galletta (#43/#28) [86(43) in 2nd/3rd + 18tt -20kc =] 529 pts. = 964 total
  5. 464 pts. – Jason Sixberry (#2/#6) [+ 12tt – 20kc = ] 456 pts. = 694.5 total
  6. 444 pts. – Jason Tanner (#1/#33c) [ + 13tt – 20kc = ] 437 pts. = 437 total
  7. 424 pts. – Tim Galletta (#9) [+63 (31.5) in 2nd/3rd, + 16tt = ] 471.5 pts = 471.5 total
  8. 404 pts. – Josh Arnold (#93) [+58 (29) in 2nd/3rd + 15tt = ] 448 pts = 831.5 total
  9. 380 pts. – Keith Raymond (#0) [ + 14tt = ] 394 pts = 394 total
  10. 360 pts. – Melissa w/Sarah Stevens (#19) [+11tt = ] 371 pts. = 833 total

2018 Point Standings for 1-WD Gas Flathead Backyard Karting World Championship at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Karting Speedway

After the 6/10/2018 through 9/22/2018 Races; Finalized after the Klassic Championship 200:

So, Photobucket sucks since 2017, when they started extorting people for using their website.

2018-09-22-01h00m50s290Here is the Starting Grid as seen on Photobucket, before they started extorting people for using their website. Kinda’ sucks huh? What really sucks is that I had to go through HUNDREDS of our old races and replace the URLs for 1-12 pictures for either my own website hosting or one that doesn’t extort their users (like Flickr, which we will use for our victory pictures in order to save on hosting space for our massive site archive).

    1.  photo 20180922_182223_Matt_Stevens_3.jpg | 2. Steve Sixberry #7 ( photo 20180922_182235)
    2.  photo 20180922_182247_Kevin_Galletta_43.jpg |  photo 20180922_182311_Chris_Stevens_4.jpg
    3.  photo 20180922_182506_Tim_Galletta_9.jpg |  photo 20180922_182402_Josh_Arnold.jpg
    4.  photo 20180922_182747_Keith_Raymond_0.jpg |  photo 20180922_182419_Jason_Tanner_1.jpg
    5.  photo 20180922_182445_Jason_Sixberry_6.jpg |  photo 20180922_182756_Melissa_amp_Sara_Stevens_80.jpg
    6.  photo 20180922_182110 Grumpy ass Brian_Galletta with his uncle Wes Stevens

This concludes the 2018 season. While the attendance was one of the worst in club history (and we’ve had some bad ones in the past few years), the racing itself was highly competitive. But, again, Matt benefited from a lack of karts on track, winning 5 of 8 features and barely passing his winless season brother barely on time to also snag the season points title away from him as well as a Klassic. Now for some…

POST-RACE FUN FACTS AND EXTRA POINTS

  • 5 points separated Chris from Matt, meaning if Chris led just a handful more laps in the Klassic, he would have won the track title despite not winning a feature all year; something that never happened in track history, but almost did! Mainly, thanks to top-3 lap bonus points and top-3 finishes.
  • This wound up being the 1st and only time Chris did not win a single feature race all season (although he won one heat). With only 8 features, and starting near the rear for most, this isn’t as startling as one may believe. The racing is close, karts are close in speed (although Chris’ karts were in need of some TLC all season but it were not tended to until the week before the Klassic), and most non-rookie drivers are all skilled at holding position (meaning a veteran in our club is of good speed and hard to pass), so with our handicap start system and single file starts, longer seasons usually equal more winners than less. We just did not have enough races and drivers. And yet, despite this, Matt capitalized with 5 of 8 non-make-up features won (Josh Arnold, Kelly Miller, and Kevin Galletta won the other three).
  • Due to this, Chris Stevens is contemplating either reducing or completely removing the “make-up race” opportunities, lowering the minimum driver total even more (possibly to 4? Or 5?) and just flat counting every race as a points race. It had worked well up until this season by keeping drivers who missed 1-3 races a year in the points chase, but this year it totally backfired, as we had just as many makeup races as regular ones because of so few available drivers. A waste for all drivers, the track, all karts, and all of our time and energy.
  • Chris is also contemplating double-file starts for all feature races, not just Klassic. This may help all-time-Oswego-area-karting-winner Matt get to the front quicker though, so it may not fly. This likely may only be the case if we have enough karts on track to even warrant that. Otherwise, the point of a handicapped start is greatly reduced to almost completely removed in such cases.
  • Sadly, because our 2018 season was so pitifully and spottily attended, every driver scored around the same points in the Klassic alone than they did for the entire rest of the season combined. Wow. That’s… that’s perhaps the worst stat of all. Well, at least our Klassic was a good race with only one significant accident. The majority of the race was close and fun to watch for 200 laps (until Matt found a slim quick groove late and put the race to bed going away as Chris worried about fuel and breakage on the bumps).
  • Due to so few cautions (a VERY good thing!) we only had five caution flags! Due to this, lap counters Brian Galletta and Wes Stevens did not count them. Therefore, this Galletta’s Klassic was 200 green flag laps (and only 206 counting cautions)!
  • Considering neither Matt nor Chris refueled and made it to 200 in 1st and 2nd, this is more proof that our karts can make 200 laps on a single tank of gas with an experienced driver. However, if there are countless waves of caution laps, refueling would be needed. It is also a HUGE cool factor in the drivers staying out of trouble and running so many laps in the green without wrecks and breakdowns! And that’s even with a single 1st-timer rookie (that usually drives up caution count WAY up), he did excellent! Go to a pay track and watch them have more cautions than that on far fewer laps! Very proud of our club on that regard!
  • Every year I post the “open seats” because although some of them are backup karts, we could potentially have a twenty kart race every single week (if kart owners let people into their backups–and I’d dare say if the driver was trusted enough, the owners would). Why don’t we have a 15-20 kart race every single week?Because people don’t show up and race.These are arrive-and-drive karts, all race ready, all capable of winning any given feature with a driver who knows what he’s doing (and every single one HAS won features over the years and IS maintained to be as competitive as any other kart). So if you think you can race, have nothing else to do on race day, and have $20 to donate for gas & maintenance… what is your excuse? Only you know, because we sure don’t.The kicker? In the past couple of years, our cousin Tim Galletta–8-time feature winning veteran driver and multi-time visitor’s point champion–was able to get in at least one race a year–including this very Klassic 200–despite living in North Carolina. There are people living within hearing distance of our track who never even tried, yet will drive miles and miles around to pay thousands of dollars to race cookie cutter karts on pay tracks. That’s fine to do, as we once raced on pay tracks years ago, but what’s stopping you from racing with us too? With enough people, it’s guaranteed MORE karts on track AND cheaper than any local pay track because we only have one motor division AND we handicap by weight and motor gearing rules. So… where are they? Oh, well. We won’t let the lack of competitors ruin our fun.

2018-09-22-01h00m50s290Well, we hope you enjoyed our spotty, but still noteworthy 2018 season. Everyone at Galletta’s thanks those who raced with us and had fun when the racing was going on, but were pretty disappointed when nobody showed on so many good weather race days.

Again, we got nearly two dozen karts on track and/or for sale near it, and we got a track. WE SIMPLY NEED MORE DRIVERS IN KARTS EVERY SUMMER SUNDAY AND FALL SATURDAY TO HOLD RACES. You like racing without breaking the bank? Do you got balls? Or nah? C’mon up!

-Chris Stevens