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Podium Finish for Widget Rally Team in Washington

17 June 2002 - For immediate release
For more information, contact: John Dillon
Widget Rally Team
P. O. Box 1231
Thousand Oaks, CA 91358-0231
Phone: 805.906.7797
Widget web site: www.WidgetRacing.com
e-mail: John @ WidgetRacing.com

Podium Finish for Widget Rally Team in Washington

Shelton, WA. The Widget Rally Team finished second place overall at the Dryad Quest ClubRally Saturday, 15 June 2002, racing an Audi Quattro S2 prepared by Tato Motorsports. This was the first time driver Leon Styles (Mission Viejo, CA) had ever rallied in the Simpson forests near Shelton. His codriver, John Dillon (Thousand Oaks, CA), was a Dryad Quest rookie as well.

The team, sponsored by Tombstone Paintball Park, Porterfield Brakes, and Shults Dot Com, recently announced that a new Sampson Communications intercom system would be installed. Unfortunately, the gear didn't arrive at the shop in time, meaning that the pair still had intermittent intercom problems in Washington. On a positive note, "George [Plsek, Sr.] added a special hydraulic brake to the car before the event," reported Styles. "Audis are notoriously nose heavy which makes the car want to plow into the turns, but the turning brake really helped us pivot around the corners." Plsek is crew chief for Tato Motorsports.

In addition to Plsek and his friend Peter, Rob Marssdorf helped the Widget Team in the service areas. "Rob came on board with us at Oregon Trail and proved to be invaluable," recounted the codriver. "Rallying is a family sport, so this time Rob brought his wife Corine and young daughter Natalie with him to Washington."

"It was so nice to have them all together in Shelton," added Styles. "Rob did a super job getting things organized and taking care of all the little things that have to be done in service. This freed up George and Peter to address any serious work on the car."

On Sunday's Shitepoke rally (named for a type of heron found in the region) the pair started second on the road behind the Evo of Saturday's winners Carl Jardevaal and Amity Trowbridge. The team experienced a bit of animal excitement early on the second stage. "We came around a medium left-hander when suddenly a beagle appeared on the right," said Dillon, "so Leon jigged left. Just then a second beagle popped out of the brush, on the left side this time! Leon managed to thread between the two dogs, then one corner later we startled a large deer running down the road. It took him a few seconds to finally dive into the forest, so he only slowed us down a little."

Unfortunately, the team's biggest problem turned out to be mechanical, not animal. About 15 miles into the 28-mile-long fourth stage, rod cap bolts stretched out, then broke, destroying the engine and ending the day for the Audi. Styles described the engine afterwards: "We put two holes in the block, one from each side of the number five cylinder. We were really running strong too--a radio crew said we'd picked up almost a minute on Eklund just on the one stage." Paul Eklund and Scott Huhn went on to win the rally.

The cost of the engine forced the team to cancel plans for the Maine Summer Rally at the end of July, but the Widget Rally Team will be ready for the Gorman Ridge Rally in August. "Our focus for 2002 is the California Rally Series championship," said Styles, "so we're concentrating on those races." Gorman Ridge is part of the CRS championship. The team plans to attend other races as time and budget allows, including the Wild West Rally in September. Said Dillon, "We look forward to Wild West. Some of the roads were the same as those of Dryad Quest so I think we'll be more confident come September."

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