Team 1 continued their recent terror on the oval circuit by TQ'ing and winning all three classes at the 2002 ROAR Region 5 Carpet Oval Championship hosted by S&N's Trackside Hobbies in Brookfield, WI. The one-day event on November 9, 2002 congregated 60 drivers from the Midwest and yes…a few drivers from Region 8! With the 2003 ROAR Carpet Oval National recently awarded to Trackside, this event became the benchmark of the upcoming event.In the Winston Cup class, a Trackside unique class, it was Team 1's Chris Wilke taking top honors after four rigorous rounds of qualifying. In the A-main it was Chris from the pole that pulled the throttle and never looked back! Congratulations Chris!
In the 1/10th 4-cell stock class, it was Team 1 driver Mike Dibb driving the rent-a-ride from his fellow Team 1 driver and current ROAR Region 5 4-cell Modified Paved Oval Champion Bill Sullivan. Mike utilizing the horsepower in his Team 1 tuned stock motor specifically built by Team 1 driver Jim Likeric, Mike piloted his rocket to a TQ run of 45 4:00.92. Joining Mike in the A-main were Jeff Skomski qualifying 3rd with a 45 4:03.92, Kenny Bergschultz piped in at 5th with a 45 lap run at 4:04.89, and Ken "Hollywood" Dibb taking the 7th spot with a 44 4:00.20.
In the 1/10th 4-cell stock A-main, after a restart caused by an early backstretch clash, Mike Dibb flew his ship from the pole to his first regional championship. The rest of the team didn't fair as easy….on the restart, Jeff Skomski was tagged which then collected Jamie Hanson, Tony Van Ark, and Kenny Bergschultz. When the smoke cleared, Skomski was relegated to 8th and worked up to 7th overall, and Bergschultz knocked to 7th then drove back into the 5th position. Hollywood was riding in the 4th position from the start but gradually faded to 7th on lap 14 just prior to a forced pass by Bergschultz coming out of turn 4 causing Hollywood to get sideways and forced to 8th position when Skomski avoided the wreck.
In the 1/10th 4-cell 19-turn (ARCOR based motors) class, the track was governed by Team 1 and current ROAR 1/12th Paved Oval Champion driver Kevin Koback. Kevin constantly threw down the gauntlet in each qualifier only to leave his competitors to wonder how he was doing it. Kevin took the TQ 50 4:00.75. Completing the field for Team 1 included current NORRCA National Champion and a past ROAR Region 5 Paved Oval Champion Danny Dettlaff. Dettlaff managed a 3rd place qualifying run at 50 4:02.66. Current ROAR Region 5 Paved Oval Champions Bill Sullivan and Mike Makus qualified 4th with 50 4:04.09 and 6th with 49 4:00.32. At the tone in the A-main, Koback seemed to be cruising to an easy victory….but fate wouldn't bring Kevin another title. At lap 16, a crash between Koback and Makus in turn 1 changed the tide. This allowed Dettlaff to gain the first position of which he wouldn't relinquish. At the final tone, Dettlaff claimed his second ROAR Region 5 Championship thereby securing the Team 1 Tri-Fecta win! Bill Sullivan, Koback, and Makus ended up 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Also attending for Team 1 included Bruce Gayhart, Perry Duchow, Pat Hockers, Bob Wright, Jamie Tennies, and Scott Murphy. Nice job by all drivers!