The 16th Annual Season Opener - 6/5/2011!
JUNE 5TH, 2011: The Galletta's Karting Club kicked off it's 16th Points Season (and 21st season of racing overall) with a bang. Literally a few! Nine karts battled it out, with five of the drivers battled to five different lead changes during the 55-Lap feature, with Randy Platt going for a wild ride off the track in his new "Platt-num" #28, and Chris Stevens blowing the motor on the Galletta's #8 while leading with only 4 laps to go. This left Matt Stevens to capture the first feature of the season when he inherited the lead late, coming back from a couple early cautions! Plus three rookies drove an impressive race on top of all that!
Race Highlight Videos on YouTube
PART 1 - HEATS & QUALIFIERS:
Oswego Karting - Galletta's 2011/6/5 Funny Crash & Qualifiers for 16th Annual Opener (Part 1 of 2)
PART 2 - QUALIFIER RECAP & FEATURE EVENT:
Oswego Karting - 2011/6/5 Galletta's 16th Annual Opener 50-Lap Feature & Blown Motor (Part 2 of 2)
All picture captures & video clips are of reduced quality and directly taken from our weekly DVDs.:
For a DVD copy of this race, please email or call Chris Stevens and ask for Galletta's Karting Club 2011 Volume #1. Above is this race's menu. Each disc is chock full of around 2 hours of racing and are only $5 each (discounts available for multiple copies). We can ship or arrange for pickup, and accept PayPal or cash.
Race Results
Heat 1 saw Randy Platt dominate in his brand-spanking-new Platt-num #28 that he built from scratch a couple months ago. The battle of this race was Matt Stevens (Galletta's #33) and Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey #54). Tim edged his cousin at the line, with rookie Jason Platt (#2) surviving a flip in turn 2 and rounding out the field.
HEAT 1 FINISH:
- Randy Platt (Platt-num #28)
- Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey #54)
- Matt Stevens (Galletta's Greenhouse #33)
- Jason Platt (Galletta's Greenhouse #2) {R}
Heat 2 saw AJ Nason (Nason Motorsports #35) and Chris Stevens (Galletta's Greenhouse #8) in a great battle, racing side-by-side for several laps in a row. AJ got wise to Chris' slingshot pass attempts and held him off on the final lap.
HEAT 2 FINISH:
1st. AJ Nason (Nason #35)
2nd. Chris Stevens (Galletta's Greenhouse #8)
3rd. Melissa Stevens (Scissors n' Fur #19)
4th. Joe Sereno (Galletta's #1)
5th. Justin Galletta (Galletta's #7)
The early going of the 50-Lap Feature was led by AJ Nason, who started on the pole. The field started as follows...
50-Lap Feature Starting Lineup:
- AJ Nason (D&S Roofing #35)
- Tim Galletta (Sid Harvey #54)
- Melissa Stevens (Scissors N' Fur #19)
- Randy Platt (Platt-num #28)
- Chris Stevens (Galletta's Greenhouse #8)
- Matt Stevens (Galletta's Greenhouse #33)
- Jason Platt (Galletta's Greenhouse #2) {R}
- Joe Sereno (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) {R}
- Justin Galletta (Galletta's Greenhouse #7) {R}
{R} = Rookie
Another shot from our 16th Annual Season Opener. We were all somewhat perplexed that a group of rookies who purchased several Galletta's-Type 1WD karts (the Dick Dann #86, the Russell Hockey #00, the Gary Miller #24, and the Billion #57) did not show up
AJ Nason led until lap 18, when Tim Galletta went for a pass. AJ then tried to pass Tim back with a slingshot maneuver, but he and Matt Stevens - who was also attempting a slingshot pass - made contact and both spun. AJ pulled into the pits shortly thereafter due to ill handling kart.
Randy Platt took his sparkling Platt-num #28 for a wild ride when the steering rod broke and sent him directly into the woods in turn 2 on lap 25. If Chris Stevens had a helmet cam, we would have had some outstanding footage, as he had the best seat in the house for that one. Matt commented that the former lumberjack Randy should stick to chainsaws when cutting trees down, as the front end of the #28 lost the battle with a tree. Shortly after this, then-leader Tim Galletta retired from the race when the gas pedal on the Sid Hervey #54 broke. Melissa Stevens then led for 4 laps and spun out, putting Chris Stevens in the lead on lap 34. Lead laps were scarce for Chris in 2010, as he won the '10 point standings by scoring so many 2nd & 3rd place laps, and the only race he led last year, he won.
The race was fast and furious between the founding bros of the Galletta's Karting Club, who have been battling since the early 1990s when Galletta's Backyard Speedway was just a 2-kart battleground built around their makeshift football field that hosted neighborhood backyard football games when the duo were in high school (yes, that means the track is 100-yards long from turn to turn). But as Chris crossed the finish line to complete lap 46, the motor on the Galletta's #8 blew, and parts went flying everywhere. If we had not pushed the race to 50 laps for our opener, Chris would have won and the motor would still be in one piece.
This set up Matt in the lead and he never looked back for the 1st win of the 2011 season. We ran 5 extra laps due to cautions, and scored them as bonus points.
Final Order of Finish
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Name (Go-Karts Piloted in race) |
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3rd |
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4th |
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5th |
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6th |
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7th |
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8th |
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9th |
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Joe Sereno (R)
Jason Platt (R)
At Galletta's, we give every possible advantage to help keep people in our points races. We aren't cutthroat drivers seeking to move-up to a more expensive or more visible racing division at other people's expense (no cheating or outspending competitors in our league). The total opposite. We help our drivers race with the same exact same karts as us, and often allow heavier and less-experienced drivers karts with even more gearing to help them. And we don't care. We race, and have fun. We like the challenge of good drivers and strong karts to race against. Where is the fun in winning if you cheat? None. We wish other tracks followed this code, but we know that some do not. So... we assist those who missed a race in by rescheduling events to get the most possible drivers to making "make-up" races, which we call retcon points. Usually a heat, semi, consi, or B-Main that runs before the regular feature (or sometimes, in rare cases, on off-days), they will be tallied in as if they finished behind all of the drivers that were in attendance and qualified to run. Order is determined by which driver attends a make-up race first, then by order of finish in the make-up race. After each race, depending on how many a driver uses, will be placed at the end, and "retconned" into it like they ran the race and finished in back.
RETCON BONUS POINTS:
The following drivers raced in a make-up point race, also called a "retcon" race. They are scored in the following positions.
10th. Jeff Tetro (Galletta's Greenhouse #9) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 7/3/2011
11th. [R] Chris Doviak (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 7/3/2011
12th. [R] Andrew Pullen (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 7/5/2011
13th. Brian Galletta (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 7/22/2011
14th. Rob Clarke (Galletta's Greenhouse #2) - Credit from Retcon Race led on 7/24/2011
15th. [R] Chase Sereno (Galletta's Greenhouse #6) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 7/24/2011
16th. [R] Harold "Hal" Borland (Galletta's Greenhouse #6) {NR} - Credit from Retcon Race held on 8/22/2011
17th. Mike Howell (Galletta's Greenhouse #6) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 8/29/2011
18th. Ken Lindsley III (Galletta's Greenhouse #0) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 8/29/2011
19th. Ken Lindsley Jr. (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 8/29/2011
20th. [R] Nicholas Kazmierski (Galletta's Greenhouse #2) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 9/11/2011
21st. [R] Josh Hartley (Galletta's Greenhouse #9) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 9/11/2011
22nd. Kyle Reuter (Galletta's Greenhouse #1) - Credit from Retcon Race held on 9/11/2011
