Roebling Road -- October 5-6, 2002 

Chattanooga Region was represented at the 2002 SAARC Invitational Challenge (SIC) by Vesa Silegren and Will Perry in ITC, and by Dwight Floyd in SPU. Gail Perry, Theresa Silegren and Art Thompson served as crew for the ITC effort. Bill Perry was also there, but this time instead of watching from pit road he wore the white shirt of a Steward in Training.

For anyone not familiar with the SARRC series, the SIC is the final race of the season and is used to determine the champions in each class. Only those completing at least three SARRC races during the year are invited to attend. Since only those who have earned their place can compete, the SIC race awards double the points of the normal series races. It is held each fall at Buccaneer Region's Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, Georgia.

Both Will and Vesa are in the habit of being thoroughly prepared before leaving for the racetrack, so their Saturday practice and qualifying sessions went without incident. Will, however, wasn't completely comfortable with the tire size he was using so he chose to switch to a lower profile for the Sunday warm-up session. His experiment resulted in a lap time about 1/2 second faster than his qualifying from the day before.
  

2002 Races

November
   Sebring
   ARRC
October
   Roebling Road (SIC)
September
   Road Atlanta
July
   Road Atlanta
May
   VIR
   Memphis
April
   Kershaw
March
   Gateway Park
   Road Atlanta
 

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Nonetheless, the grid order for the SIC race found Vesa starting fourth, Will starting in third place, Central Florida Region member Deuce Keane second in a VW Rabbit, and Central Carolina Region member James Mitchell on the ITC pole in a later model Honda Civic. Based on the yearly accumulation of points Vesa knew he needed only to cruise to 6th place or better to cinch the championship, but this is racing after all.

The Rabbit retired fairly early due to apparent mechanical problems, moving Will and Vesa up in the field. As often happens in these events, cars get bunched up and trade passes for several laps before one finally breaks free of the group. Will got stuck trading passes with an ITB Suzuki Swift that was belching a significant amount of raw fuel. As also often happens, two cars trading passes can allow a third car to pass the both of them. Vesa was able to use this situation to move into second for ITC, which is where he would finish the race. Central Carolina Region member James Mitchell took the ITC win, and Will finished third. In overall SAARC points for the year, Vesa took the championship title and James Mitchell finished second.

Unfortunately, the fuel from the Swift caused Will to make a trip to medical after the race due to gasoline vapor inhalation. He was released shortly after with no lasting effects.

Dwight Floyd also did well in his race, taking first in SPU after Atlanta Region member John Leigh retired. John had enough points to finish first for the year, and Dwight's SIC victory places him second for the year.

-- Art Thompson