8/29/2011: "'Don't You Have an Off to F***, Irene?' 50"!
MONDAY, AUGUST 29th, 2011: 10 competitors raced karts raced on a Monday due to Hurricane Irene's leftover winds and rain preventing us from racing Sunday (no problem, we've been rained out of a handful of Sundays the last few weeks anyway). Returning veterans Mike "MC" Howell and the two Ken Lindsley's added with the the core group that have raced all year to increase the competition on an already tough and competitive season thus far. And it was Chris Stevens spoiled Randy Platt's plan of putting his freshly reinstated "Murder 187" kart back in victory lane, catching him snoozing on a restart in the Galletta's Greenhouse #8 for his 2nd feature win of the year. Race results, pictures, stats, and videos coming when done! Sorry for the delays, work has been throwing monkeywreches into my usual duties, such as updating the videos and website as quick as I'd like. Pics, descriptions, results & points are up on this page. Check back soon for videos! Now let's review the race, son:
DVD Highlight YouTube Video
YouTube video to this race is currently being produced and is forthcoming. All picture captures & video clips are directly taken from our weekly DVDs, which are almost always available to buy the day after the race. It's best to pre-order them so I can have them ready on race day for you.
Above is this race's menu. For a DVD copy of this race, please e-mail or call Chris Stevens and ask for this week's race. Each disc is chock full of between 1 to 3 hours of racing in the highest-possible DVD resolution with Dolby Stereo 2.0 Surround Sound, predominantly from multiple angles and are only $5 each (discounts available for multiple copies or regular kart Galletta-Kart renters). We accept PayPal or cash, and can either ship or arrange for pickup. We now have THREE angles to catch all the action, although one is stationary on the start-finish line for those close call photo finishes.
Race Results
RETCON (MAKE-UP POINT) HEAT RACE:
Mike "MC" Howell (#6) and Ken Lindsley Jr. (#1) race for 1st place in the retcon "make-up point" race.
Mike Howell (#6) gets Ken Lindsley Jr. (#1) via the fast outside groove during the retcon race.
Ken Lindsley Jr. (#1) spins during the retcon race.
Retcon Make-up Points 8-Lap Race Finish & Scoring Credits: |
HEAT #1:
Matt Stevens (#33) makes his usual low-groove pass move on his wife Melissa Stevens (#19), and Kenny Lindsley III (#0).
Joe Sereno (#5) and Justin Galletta (#7) hold off Matt Stevens (#33) in the 1st heat. All three were extremely close in speed, and Matt's usually crafty veteran tricks could not get the pass on the two impressive and constantly improving 1st-season drivers.
8-Lap Heat Race Finish: |
HEAT #2:
Heat 2 saw Randy Platt (#187) hold off Chris Stevens (#8) for the win, with Tim Galletta (#54) in striking distance. Ken Lindsley III also took the #0 back out for weight testing (even though he already ran the retcon race and the 1st heat), so we counted it for another make-up race. There was a race he would have made if we didn't have a date change due to weather and attendance issues anyway, so it's a 'sorry about that' deal.
8-Lap Heat Race Finish: |
50-LAP FEATURE EVENT:
Our 10-driver, 50-Lap feature begins! One of the biggest races of the year thus far!
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On lap 10, brothers Joe Sereno (#5) and Justin Galletta (#7) got a little out of shape and rubbed tires in turn 4. They raced side-by-side - with Chris Stevens (#8) making it three wide at the finish line until he decided to pull out - down the front stretch and into turn one, when the #7 unintentionally drifted just enough into the #5's line to catch tires, which sent Joe and the #5 wildly flipping off of turn 2, doing his best impression of hurricane Irene! A violent-looking crash to say the least.
A nasty wreck for sure. Joe is okay, proving his toughness in the wild ride that snapped the all-metal steering wheel clean off, and bent up the tie-rods. Joe shook it off and hopped into the unused Galletta's Greenhouse #2 kart, which won a feature one week earlier with Randy Platt at the helm.
Shortly after that, Chris Stevens (#8) caught Randy Platt (#187) sleeping on a restart.
[Inset shows close battles between Tim Galletta, Matt Stevens and Ken Lindsley Jr.] Tim had a little bad luck after his tie-rod nut came loose and bending. Instead of using a time-out to fix it, he hopped into the unused Galletta's Greenhouse #9, a kart he last drove in the 2009 Galletta's Klassic 200.
Yep. That's how close we were for most of the night. The track was decent other than a couple bumps developing in 2 and 3, and other than Randy and Chris crawling away in their battle for the lead, everyone else were bumper-to-bumper all night. Head-mechanic Matt really has these machines close and fast right now. And trust me, he takes more pride in seeing a close race than he does winning. Which makes it even scarier when he does pull off a bunch of wins in a row when these karts are so close. It shows his experience and craftiness behind these karts. And yours truly oughtta' know, I've been racing against him since the early 1990s, and 2nd only to him in races, points and wins of all Oswego County karting leagues since then.
Chris held off Randy 'Bobandi' Platt for the rest of the show for only his 2nd win of the season, surpassing his 1-win total from last season (although he still eked Matt out by 1/2 point for the points title last year). But Chris and Randy were the same exact speed, as neither could pull away for the other all night, and if not for Chris catching Randy snoozing on a restart, Ran-the-man would've had 2 wins in 2 weeks.
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Next race should be Monday, Labor Day, unless weather shuffles things around. Matt uncharacteristically struggled for most of the night, getting in a handful of wrecks and stalling/parking his two usually dependable karts - the #3 and #33. He wound up finishing the race in his wife's backup, the #80. Not a good night for Matt, who usually is either winning or challenging for wins every single night. However, again, this proves the theory that if enough solid veteran drivers are out there, Matt doesn't find victory lane so easy to get to. You think you're a bad driver, then come out and try to hold off Matt and see how bad you are (and 30-40 lap short track "Championships" prove nothing). It got done this week (holding Matt back that is), but rest assured, when Matt struggles one week, the next week he is usually on fire. Get ready, drivers!
SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO THE DOZEN-OR-SO LOCAL KART TRACK MINI-CLASSIC WINNERS THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st, 2011!
Congrats on your accomplishment! The $25 trophy, $0.25 sticker and general admission Oswego Speedway Classic ticket certainly makes spending a few grand on a go-kart and a few hundred in enterance fees each year worth it, doesn't it? We did that a couple of times (er, except for the spending a few grand on a kart part of it) so we know how special that is. Way to go guys! You make all us economical karters proud! All kidding aside (I mean, c'mon, we've heard and read some of the low things they have said about us simply because we choose our own, more affordable and time-tested way, have as much if not more fun than they do, and they somehow see it as an insult to them, which is beyond us, really... we're all just karting classes and we all have affordable motorsport competition, which is what it's all about), we are especially proud of the ones who won that did some teeth-cutting in our club! Now that that season's done, get your scared, quittin' butts out here and race with your buds who got you started racing in that pricey little place and get ready to run our 200 Lapper - the original, longest-running and largest local karting Klassic in the area! Ohhh... See what I did there? };^)WHEW! Busy week of work, car repairs, NY State Fair, lack of sleep, running errands, and a complex race where 10 competitors raced, along with no less than FIVE that entered Rectcon make-up races (hard because I have to go back and score each driver in the earliest race they missed) meant that it took me five days to get these points finished. Sometimes I make too much work for myself, but I want as competitive of a point system as humanly possible. I think we got that (look at the points, wins, and points-per-races... really close, and closer than most races). So do enjoy them!
2011 Point Standings after 8/29/2011's Event
Pos. |
Name (Go-Karts Piloted)
|
Total Points (Place) |
Average Points Per Feature |
2011
|
2011
|
2011
|
2011 Feature Wins |
Career Feature Wins (2000-up) |
Years Pro at GKC |
|
1st |
|
1,900.5 |
111.79 |
12 |
17 |
0 |
2 |
56 |
16th |
|
2nd |
|
1,874.0 |
110.24 |
12 |
17 |
0 |
6 |
104 |
16th |
|
3rd |
|
1,805.0 |
106.19 |
12 |
17 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
3rd |
|
4th |
|
1,742.5 |
102.50 |
12 |
17 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
5th |
|
5th |
|
1,719.5 |
101.15 |
12 |
17 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1st |
