2002 * Event 1
* Event 2
* Event 3
* Event 4
* Event 5
* Event 6
* Event 7
* Event 8
* Event 9
* Event 10
* Bonus * Top 4 * Final Standings
Ralph Savarese wins Event 9 of 2002 Cartek Corvette Challenge
| Event Winner Ralph Savarese
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| John Mackey, runner-up Frank Fiori, winner Ralph Savarese and
Bob Trieschmann
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Ralph Savarese followed last week's Title Championship (Title Champion) clinching performance by winning
the 9th of event of the 2002 Cartek Corvette Challenge series and his third Challenge event in 2 years. Savarese
survived 6 rounds and took the win over Newark, DE's Frank Fiori with a mere 2 thousandths
of a second from hitting a perfect reaction time going red at .498. Savarese in his 96
skinned Black 85 Corvette Coupe dialed 11.76 and ran 11.777 on a .551 light in spite of
getting the automatic win. Fiori, appearing in his second Challenge career final having
won the first, dialed 12.96 and ran 12.970 to put up a quite impressive package that may
have resulted in a win for him had he not gone red. Fiori drives a Black 79 Corvette that
is making one of it's last appearances in our races as a non fuel injected car as a
conversion to fuel injection is planned over the winter. Before the final, Fiori used his
lucky coin to win the coin flip for his lane choice. Unfortunately for Frank the coin did
not have enough luck. The final was held up for over 10 minutes as a Porsche had to wheel
dollied off the starting line as Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park was also running a Porsche Club Challenge similar to the
Corvette Challenge on this day.
Fiori got into the final in an exciting semi-final run against Skillman, NJ's Dave
Tortolani when Tortolani hit the tree with a usually unbeatable .505 light but Fiori hit
his tree just as hard with a .504. It came down to who took the stripe and Fiori just did
make it ahead of Dave. Tortolani, (Tortolani Racing) is one
of our 2002 Associate Sponsors. The other semi-final featured even more fire.
Unfortunately for Brick, NJ's John Mackey, it was a real fire (click for image). As Mackey was
staging, shouts of "fire" came from the stands as flames flowed from under the right side
fender of Mackey's 1996 Torch Red Coupe. Track officials quickly swung into action before
even Mackey realized what was going on to put the flames out. Savarese took the single as
Mackey was pushed off to the side to find that the transmission cooler line broke and that
caused the fire. Mackey patched it up and was able to drive his Corvette safely home. It
was an unfortunate end to Mackey's day as he was having a career day on the lights
including .522, .506, .585 in the eliminator and a perfect .500 in time trials.
Keith Brownlee wins his second Quick 4 race
| Quick 4 Group Shot
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| John Mackey, Brent Grigsby, winner Keith Brownlee, Sponsor
Chris Coriell (East Coast Supercharging), runner-up Mark Ramos, and Bob
Trieschmann
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East Coast Supercharging backed the 3rd Quick 4 Heads-Up race of the 2002 season and Keith
Brownlee took his second Quick 4 run of the year. The starting field was Keith Brownlee at
number 1, Paul Major at number 2, Mark Ramos at 3 and Brent Grigsby at 4. Unfortunately
for Major he was disqualified for not meeting NHRA safety guidelines. Bill Maloney at the
number 5 spot was inserted into the number 4 spot and Ramos and Grigsby moved up.
The first round featured Ramos and Grigsby in a very close race won by Ramos running in
the 10.9 range all day. Both these cars feature Cartek X packages. The other match had Maloney vs. Brownlee. Brownlee treated us to
some exited as after the wheel lifting launch and getting the front wheels back down on
the ground he got a little lose. He then got back into it only to get the wheels back
into the air. Maloney could not however take the win as Brownlee's car was just too quick.
Brownlee easily took the win in the Quick 4 final over Ramos. Brownlee's Corvette features a supercharger and Maloney's a 383 cubic inch motor and a 100 shot of Nitrous built by The Vette Doctors.
Today's event featured 57 cars making first round. The final event of the 2002 Cartek Corvette Challenge will be held on
the following Saturday, November 9, 2002.
Some statistics from Corvette Challenge Event 9
| Time
| #
| %
| 
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| 10
| 3
| 5%
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| 11
| 8
| 14%
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| 12
| 25
| 44%
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| 13
| 12
| 21%
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| 14
| 7
| 12%
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| 15
| 1
| 2%
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| 17
| 1
| 2%
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| Total
| 57
| 100%
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| (above) dial-in times for 1st round.
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Congratulations to the drivers that made the ladder in round 3. Making the ladder means
each driver won 2 rounds. This week's ladder featured 14 drivers of which 6 were in their
first ladder of the season. Again you can see how this series is open to all to win. Good
job drivers.
Cash and Prizes awarded drivers courtesy of our sponsors.
- Event winner Ralph Savarese went home with $200 cash a gift certificates for a $100
from Pro Torque and the Event
Winner Shore Motorsports
sponsored Trophy. Shore Motorsports is located in Howell, NJ and can be reached at
732-370-2067 or on the web at www.shoremotorsports.com. Cartek Racing is in Garwood, NJ and can be
reached at 908-317-4496 or on the web at www.cartek.net.
- Runner-up Frank Fiori went home with $100 cash, a $50 gift certificate from Pro
Torque, and the event Runner-up Vette Doctors sponsored Trophy. The Vette Doctors are
located in Amityville, NY and can be reached at 631-841-0779 or on the web at www.thevettedoctors.com. Pro
Torque, in Bohemia, NY can be found at www.protorque.com or by calling 631-218-8700.
- Semi-finalists Dave Tortolani and John Mackey each won $50 cash for their semi-final
appearances.
- All winners of the first round were awarded a trophy sponsored by CFM Racing. With 57 Corvettes making 1st round Chris Coriell, Frank Schear, (Mr Mojo) and Mike Moran gave out 29 trophies.
 Frank Fiori won the Closest to Dial Award sponsored by Walden Farms by running
a 13.098 on a 13.10 dial. Though Fiori broke out he still took the win as his opponent
went red handing him the win. You are eligible for this prize even if you break out.
Unfortunately, Fiori's prize consisting of a beautiful gift package from Walden Farms
filled with low calorie low carbohydrate products was not available at the track but
will be mailed to him shortly. You can purchase Walden Farms products at local grocery
stores or on the web at www.waldenfarms.com.
 Keith Brownlee won the "Ohh so Close Award" sponsored by Zaino when he was edged out in the
1st round by the smallest margin of victory. That number is the MOV number on your time
slip. Although he lost in the 1st round by the smallest Margin of Victory, .026 he
earned a Zaino starter
package that includes Z1, Z2, Z6, Z7 and a polish pad. Brownlee also was the Quick 4
winner. Zaino products can
be purchased online at www.zainobros.com or at Shore Motorsports on Route 9 in Howell.
- John Policastro won the Almost Perfect Award sponsored by Marotta Racing when he
took himself out in the 1st round with the red light closest to .500. Policastro's light
was .498 and for that he earned a $50 gift certificate to the Raceway Park Souvenir
store donated by Lenny Marotta of Marotta Racing .
- John Mackey won the "John Panuzzo Jr. Memorial Trophy" donated by Team Panuzzo Racing for the best winning reaction time in the
1st round. Mackey was quickest on the tree in the 1st round when his RT was .522 taking
the win easily. Unfortunately, Panuzzo was not there to present the award.
Cartek Corvette Challenge helps Toys for Teens & Tots
The 50/50 raffle was held at the track and the racers and spectators hopeful of winning
the money while helping out a worthy organization put together $230. $115 was donated to
the St. Peters church in Jersey City to Sister Grace for the Toys for Teens & Tots
fund from the Cartek Corvette
Challenge. Special thanks go to Jaymie Shuleski and Mariana Trieschmann making the rounds
to collect the money. The 50/50 will be held at each of the Cartek Corvette Challenges
this year. Please see Jaymie or Mariana in the staging lanes if they do not find you
first. You do not have to be a Corvette Challenge racer to participate. Raceway Park
officer, Tim, thanks the Corvette Challenge racers and their fans for supporting the Toys
for Teens & Tots. To date we have donated $1,144. to the organization. Thank you for
your continued support.
Multimedia
Edgar's Pictures
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We couldn't do it without our sponsors
The Corvette Challenge gives thanks to all of its supporting sponsors for whom without
this series cannot be possible. Thanks go out to
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