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OCTA Roadeo Tests Driving and Maintenance Skills

At OCTA’s 39th Annual Bus and Maintenance Roadeo Competition on Nov. 1 at the Santa Ana bus base, Board members, dignitaries, and employees battled it out for recognition as they showed off their prowess in driving and maintaining OCTA buses. 

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46) joined OCTA directors Harper, Moorlach, Spitzer, Ury, and Winterbottom at the event.

In the driving competition, participants navigated buses through a challenging obstacle course designed to reflect real-life driving conditions. Competitors in the maintenance category concentrated intently as they fixed mechanical problems. One small slip can make the difference between first and last place. 

First-place coach operator Freddy Guerrero will join first-place maintenance team members Ernie Booe, Ray Consiglio, and Patrick Courchaine when they represent OCTA at the APTA International Bus Roadeo in Fort Worth, Texas in May 2015. 

OCTA 2014 Roadeo Competition Results

Coach Operator - Individual
1st Place - Freddy Guerrero 
2nd Place - Al Valenzuela 
3rd Place - Felipe Michel 

Coach Operator - Team
1st Place - Freddy Guerrero, Felipe Michel, Steve Swanson, Kenny Enwright (Alternate)
2nd Place - Jose Chin, Ron Galang, Al Valenzuela, Ricardo Pascual (Alternate)
3rd Place - Graden Alegre, Lauro Rubacalva, Bimaljeet Sandhu, Jose Rueda (Alternate)

Maintenance Competition
1st Place - Ernie Booe, Ray Consiglio, Patrick Courchaine
2nd Place - Ken Dionne, Chris Jordan, Paul Paretti

Executive Competition
1st Place – OCTA Director Todd Spitzer
2nd Place – OCTA Director John Moorlach
3rd Place – OCTA Director Matthew Harper
Turtle Award - Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez