8/18/2013 – Eric Woolworth wins his 2nd career Feature in the Raven Tavern #88!
SUNDAY, AUGUST 18th, 2013, OSWEGO, NY - Eric Woolworth swept the night’s heat and feature in his Raven Tavern #88 HEAT ONE
HEAT TWO
45-LAP FEATURE
Dave Spanfelner blasted from 4th to 1st in relatively short order with a great
start in his DS Humphrey's #54. Dave looked unstoppable and looked like he was
on his way to repeat his dominant feature win a couple of weeks ago.
However, Eric Woolworth got the pass on Dave Spanfelner after the #54 started
to slow down and get loose going into the turns, especially turn 1, where people
behind him had to brake to avoid slamming him off the track. Once
Eric got by, it was bye bye, and went about taking a half track lead after a
bit.
Matt (Galletta's #6) and Chris (Galletta's/Chrusher.com/R&C Sushi #8)
did their usual bit - passing each other back and forth trying to get by people.
Usually, whichever brother gets up to the front all but clinches a win, and
the bros have done this battle more times than anybody knows through the years.
Here the DS Hump's #54 was a shade off due to being loose going into the turns,
but Dave still drives hard enough to hold pretty much anybody off. The bros
swapped 3rd and 4th all night trying to get Dave while trying very hard not
to smash into him in the turns (very dangerous to do).
Finally, after many laps, Chris was able to get a really good run alongside
Dave and...
...execute a pass at the end of the front strech, clearing the #54 and moving into 2nd.
But after Chris got the pass, Dave then ran into Chris in turn 2 and hooked
the #54's front bumper into the #8's back bumper, enabling that tricky Matthew
to shoot under the both of them to take the lead. Much like 2 weeks ago when
a couple of rookies took a wallop, it seems Dave drives a little quicker in
turn 1 when someone's back bumper is in front of him! Hmmm.... Maybe starter
Wesley should keep an eye on that instead of staring at Brian Galletta's #42
with disdain and hatred! ;)
"I was handling like shit! Chris got by but went high. If you look at pic Matt and I are on same line, Chris is a bit out of shape. He is blaming me and saying Ogre needs to watch me. I have tried since day one to let racing go on if I can't keep up. I have waved Matt on by and in this race fingered the person banging the shit out of me ( as I am sure is on DVD if it ever gets done)."
Chris's response:
Well, here is a clip from the DVD/Blu-ray. For many laps before this clip, Chris and Matt passed each other back and forth behind Dave, but not hitting him, other than a few unintentional bumps as they passed each other back and forth.
"Firstly, the #8 is never out of shape. I've never lost control and spun that thing out in 10 years of racing that kart regularly (including on TWO tracks for three years). The only time it has ever wrecked, spun out, it is because someone dumped, rammed or wrecked me. Period. 100% true. One can view every single video we've ever raced (including pretty much every time I've ever raced that kart!) and see that is the case. In fact, it has been loose as heck at rare times (occasionally at Oswego Kartway and the stagger was so completely off in the Galletta's 2008 Klassic 200 after a tire change that it drove sideways and pushed around the whole track for 150 laps and I STILL GOT F***ING THIRD PLACE!) and I STILL never wiped out in it. I have FULL control of that kart unless someone takes that away from me by ramming/crashing/hooking/dumping me. Period. That is why it is my go-to starter kart. It handles very well. If Dave thinks I purposefully/intentionally rammed him, he is wrong. If I bumped him unintentionally, I don't recall doing it, but if I did, I wasn't the only one, as Matt and myself - in a battle for the points lead - were passing each other back and forth in back of Dave and trying to get by him, so it wasn't just me behind him. If one or both of us bumped/pushed him, it is usually Matt trying to push someone by me or to help them hold me off, or vice versa, but not an intentional effort to wreck anybody or piss them off. It was all clean racing the whole time we were in back of him. However, when I was finally able to get past Dave (and in doing so, I blasted back into the top groove, in full control, and never out of shape) and he clearly floored it into my back bumper and hooked me. Normally, I would say it was a racing deal, everyone driving hard and bumpers got hooked. It happens and it's not cause for concern most of the time. However, Dave has always bumped me every time I've ever passed him since his rookie season. While it is a part of racing, and occasionally accidental, when it happens EVERY time, one can only believe it's done on purpose maliciously, or a lack of racing skills - if you have a run on someone, you should be doing one of two things: using brakes to avoid ramming someone or going in a different line to attempt to pass them. Ramming them only slows YOU down, speeds THEM up, and POTENTIALLY causes a wreck. If he flipped off somebody (meaning me) and let somebody by (meaning Matt), maybe he should pay closer attention to who bumped him and who didn't, and stop altering a CLOSE points race [between two brothers who have been passionately racing each other hard (and 99% clean, haha) for over twenty years] that he statistically is not within range of beating. And here I even stuck up for him in the 2012 Klassic when he blocked me and Matt passed me, then where Matt crashed into him when I tried to get him back later in the race. A lot of thanks I got. Oh well, if he is truly THAT mad, all I can say is good luck in the pay track divisions where they won't try to help you as much as they will attempt to outspend you. Oh, and bump the living crap out of you if you block them for one lap, let alone twenty."
PS - And no, I've never blocked his IP address. I don't know it, and if I did, I only have reason to block people who have malicious intent against us, not just disgruntled drivers.
Edit done.]


2013 1-WD Gas Flathead Karting World Championship Point Standings after
8/18/2013's Event
Chris
“Chrusher ” Stevens |
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Master
Matt Stevens |
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|
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|
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Brian
Galletta |
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|
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|
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|
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|
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Branden
“Toomer” Matott |
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|
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|
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Justin
Galletta |
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David
Turner |
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Ed
Lawton |
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Marc
Sgarlata |
||||||||||
Gary
Miller Jr. |
||||||||||
Tim
Galletta |
||||||||||
Scott
McGroty |
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Zach
Shurtliff |
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Collin
Miller |
||||||||||
Davey
Hamilton |
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Alex
Ermand |
||||||||||
Dan
Brown |
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Ray
"RaYzor" Castaldo |
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Scott
"Cow" Gagnon |
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Chris
Larkin |
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Kyle
Menter |
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Dan
Cliff |
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Collin
Morrison |








Billy
Truax 




David
Turner
Ed
Lawton
Marc
Sgarlata 

Scott
McGroty
Zach
Shurtliff 
Davey
Hamilton
Alex
Ermand
Dan
Brown 
Scott
"Cow" Gagnon
Chris
Larkin
Kyle
Menter
Dan
Cliff
Collin
Morrison

