9/6/2020 – Nicolas Olivares Wins 2 Weeks in a Row – a 13-Kart, Labor Day 69-Lapper!
9/6/2020 – Nicolas Olivares Wins 2 Weeks in a Row – a 13-Kart, Labor Day 45… no 69-Lapper!
Sunday, September 6th, 2020 – 13-Karts, 45-Laps! No… due to cautions, 69 total laps! CLOSE, competitive, and FUN racing on a track that held up better than it has in MANY years (possibly ever)! BUT… unfortunately… it was also one of those nights with lots of cautions which greatly slowed the otherwise intense, back-and-forth action. But that shouldn’t take away from Nicolas Olivares‘ 2nd Feature win in 2 weekends at Galletta’s!
NOTE: It’s a work week for the webmaster, so videos and points will come as soon as I have time! Thanks and stay tuned here!
MAKEUP POINT HEAT RACE… Sadly unrecorded:
This time of year (usually md-August), my wife (tower camera person, Aou) and I (statician/webmaster/racer/video producer Chris), both work on Sunday (we own and operate our own small business producing sushi, and we have been doing it for the SUNY Oswego campus since 2011). Now, we usually have at least Fridays and Saturdays off, but Sundays (usually our busiest day of the week) we often can’t get back until when the races are usually supposed to be starting, if not well underway. Well, this week, we warned that it probably wasn’t going to be easy (and why I prefer racing Fall Saturdays instead) and it wasn’t. We didn’t make it back in time and the retcon/practice/heat/makeup point heat race went down with no video. We don’t have people or transponders scoring the race, and almost every single race ever scored on this website was done so by reviewing the video after the race. So, sadly, I cannot score it without a video to review. Apologies to all, but this is why I press very hard to race on Saturdays from late August onward every season and find it extremely difficult to find the time to update the videos, points, and website between kids and work come September.
So, from what we do know, Steve Sixberry won, followed by David Hartpence Jr., then possibly Nicolas Olivares, and then… the rest (Dave Hartpence Sr., Justin Thurston, Dominic Mosconi, Lance Maartens, and two others that we didn’t even know their names (we eventually did get everyone’s names, but it required some detective work and asking a few people several times until we guessed… hopefully rightly). Since the full order of finish is unknown, the best I can do is give Steve more points for the win and a flat point credit for the rest of the drivers who entered it. [This is what I did during our 2006 season where we raced at Oswego Kartway (back then just known as Oswego Speedway’s Dirt Track), as we had no video to any of the races there that season.]
45-LAP FEATURE START – from Sunday, 9/6/2020:
1. David Hartpence Jr. (Galletta’s Greenhouse #0)
2. Dave Hartpence Sr. (Galletta’s Greenhouse #43)
3. Justin Thurston (Galletta’s Greenhouse #78) *
4. Travis Bartlett (Galletta’s Greenhouse #33c)
5. George Kalkowski (Galletta’s Greenhouse #6) *
6. Steve Sixberry (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7)
7. Brandon Maccombie (Galletta’s Greenhouse #93) *
8. Nicolas Olivares (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1)
9. Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/OswegoSushi.com/Chrusher.com #74)
10. Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/OswegoSushi.com/Chrusher.com #8)
11. Dominic Mosconi (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5) *
12. Lance Vincent Maartens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9)
13. Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/SNF #19)
* = We weren’t 100% sure who these drivers are. It’s impossible for me to score the points until we know everyone’s name. In the meantime, everyone who IS known will be scored. UPDATE: Some detective work and educated guesses and we think we got everyone’s name now. Please let us know if we still misnamed any of you!
Chris Stevens’ OswegoSushi.com Helmet Cam View
Note: The camera did run out of battery during the race due to so many accidents and repairs. During one longer intermission, I replaced it.
So it took 3 weeks, but the complete tower angle is up! Sorry for the delays, but… again, when I get back to work, I have far less time to do the videos! They eventually get done, but it just takes more time. [NOTE: At least I’m getting them done during the same season! Not as bad as the past where I could only upload small, highly compressed clips and highlight reels. And only in the past few years have I been able to upload every single one of our race videos from mid-2005-up (and every Klassic from 2002-up).
Some highlights:
WINNER WINNER!
Nic Olivares (and the Galletta’s Racing #1) are looking ready for the Klassic 200 with his 2nd win in 2 weeks!
| 1. Nicolas Olivares (Galletta’s Greenhouse #1) |
| 2. Travis Bartlett (Galletta’s Greenhouse #33c) |
| 3. David Hartpence Jr. (Galletta’s Greenhouse #0) |
| 4. [Tie] Chris Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/OswegoSushi.com/Chrusher.com #8) |
| 4. [Tie] Matt Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/OswegoSushi.com/Chrusher.com #74) |
| 6. Steve Sixberry (Galletta’s Greenhouse #7) |
| 7. Dominic Mosconi (Galletta’s Greenhouse #5) |
| 8. DNF – Dave Hartpence Sr. (Galletta’s Greenhouse #43) |
| 9. DNF – Lance Vincent Maartens (Galletta’s Greenhouse #9) |
| 10. DNF – Justin Thurston (Galletta’s Greenhouse #78) |
| 11. DNF – George Kalkowski (Galletta’s Greenhouse #6) |
| 12. DNF – Brandon Maccombie (Galletta’s Greenhouse #93) |
| 13. DNF – Melissa Stevens (Galletta’s Greenhouse/SNF #19) |
Okay, so there was a suspicion that the race took an awfully long while, and the late start, the cautions, and a few repair timeouts ALL added up. And boy did they! At official count, we had 54 green laps (what the hell happened to just 45?!), 15 yellows, totalling 69, and if the opening caution lap, 70! And if you count an extra caution lap or two here and there that didn’t get picked up by the camera after it got paused, we went well over 70! I guess that’s a pretty good Labor Day pre-Klassic prep, then, huh? Wow! Well, with 70 laps and idling during cautions, no wonder the #8 ran out of gas on the last two attempts at the last lap!
Due to this, the race is now scored as a 70-Lapper. Hell, we went the laps, we may as well take the points for it!
Galletta’s Greenhouse Speedway 2020 Point Standings
All races from 6/14/2020 – 9/6/2020:
Also included is the lap by lap scoring sheet (green lap leader gets 1 bonus point, green lap 2nd and 3rd get 0.5 point per lap), and total points earned.
Post-Race Notes:I (Chris Stevens) ran out of gas on the last lap and lost my temper due to the excessive cautions causing for a late night (and an empty gas tank). After a few minutes, I cooled off. Here is my statement:
My apologies to all in attendance (and the dozen or less watching YouTube at home), as I just had the straw that broke the camel's back and blew a fuse. Here's what led to it.
1. We usually do not race on Sundays from Labor Day on due to myself and my wife (who work at the college) having to work Sundays. Our request was ignored and the race was still scheduled.
2. Thus, I worked that day -- and with a bad back that had just went out that day (that got worse the next day).
3. I was so far behind updating the points and video, that I actually brought my laptop to work let the prior weekend's race video process and get ready to upload while I was working!
4. Due to my wife and I getting out of work late (Sunday is usually our busiest day), we started VERY late.
5. Due to arriving home late, as stated above, we ENTIRELY missed the rookie/makeup race. No video, can't score the race. This wears on my obsessive-compulsive need to record and then score every race that I humanly can.
6. Due to a couple of newbie/rookies kept crashing and/or spinning out and/or breaking karts, the late start led to an even later night. While this is often expected for new drivers, it was exacerbated by...
7. Starter Wes Stevens NOT enforcing a rule (where if a driver brings out too many cautions and breaks too many karts, they have to sit for the remainder of the race -- it seems like he only enforces rules when he remembers them, and forgets most, which makes things VERY inconsistent). This very much upset me, as selective rule enforcement is not fair for anyone in the long run.
8. Because of this, with all the cautions and red flags. Now that was VERY key, as...
9. My kart had to be left running idle because my pull cord was on it's last leg... (or... dog?). So the constant repairs kept draining my gas, AND helmet camera battery. I did NOT expect to have THAT many long red flags, but with my starter pull cord ready to break I did not want to add to the delays with my own and was taking others consideration before my own. And thus...
10. I ran out of battery at once point of the race and waited for a long break to replace it. But also, and worse yet...
11. I ran out of gas on the last lap -- which we ran a handful of times due to newbie/rookies spinning out more than once. I also lost a few spots on the last lap (I was running 2nd on lap 44).
Now, while that alone wouldn't have angered me. It was the long succession of consecutive incidents that wore and wore on my patience. Basically, that is when I snapped. I let my temper get the best of me. I am usually quite calm, even-keeled and have nothing but fun racing, but I had a bad day and running out of gas on the last lap was the last straw where I let my frustration with the long day bubble over.
My wife (camera woman Rung "Aou" Stevens) let me know that I was setting a bad example for everyone, racer ad spectator alike. In the past we'd have drivers losing their temper, then others followed suit and throwing helmets and in-fighting and all that. I agree, and I was wrong for blowing up, as it ruined a very good race (if we took out all the cautions and red flags, that is).
Again, my apologies. I can't promise that it won't happen again when all these circumstances line up, which means I'd like to see excessive cautions, late starts, and scheduling races on a work day ALL come to a stop. (Easier said than done, I know....)
-Chris Stevens
Helmet cam driver, video producer, website editor