Shelton, Washington -- The Widget Rally Team, campaigning an Audi Quattro prepared by Tato Motorsports of Santa Clarita, took home four more trophies on 8 Sep 2002, courtesy of the Wild West Rally organizers. Leon Styles (Mission Viejo) and co-driver John Dillon (Thousand Oaks) finished second in the Sou'Wester Rally on Saturday. They reprised their second place finish Sunday at the Simpson Stages Rally. Both days they finished just behind the modern Subaru of Paul Eklund and Scott Huhn. Additionally, the Widget racers took home a pair of regional Class 1 trophies for the same finishes. Two weeks earlier the Widget team won the Gorman Ridge Rally in Frazier Park, California.

"This old five cylinder Audi is nose heavy so it's a bit of a challenge to get the car around many of these twisty corners. We lost a lot of ground in the tight, technical stuff, but the car's horsepower really helped us through the fast bits, " reported Styles. "Too bad there weren't more fast bits!"

"Leon told me he could go a little faster but he didn't want to risk a big crash," added Dillon. "I agreed with his decision to opt for a safer, albeit slightly slower rally. Our sponsors would much rather see us on the podium than wrapped around a tree! Besides we had planned on racing again in two weeks time so we wanted to make sure that the crew's only job between events was to gas it up and clean the windows."

This was the first pro event where the team used a new bumper camera on the car and the resulting video was awesome. www.ActionSportsCams.com provided the new gear used by the team. "The bumper cam really illustrated the speed of the car," said Styles, "and when we spun, it really amplified the excitement and drama of the moment!"

"Sampson Racing Communications has provided us with their new RA-1 intercom system," added the codriver. "Our crew had too much to do before this rally so we haven't had a chance to install it, but I can't wait. The RA-1 includes a direct interface to our new video system. It will be so cool to hear the stage notes in time with the video, just like the World Rally Championship broadcasts."

The team, currently sponsored by Tombstone Paintball Park, Porterfield Brakes, Shults Dot Com, and Sampson Communications, now leads the 2002 California Rally Series championship and the Southern Pacific divisional championship. They are currently working on plans to compete in the full 2003 SCCA national season.