Heavy equipment operators from public works departments across the state of Florida competed against each other April 17 at the 2019 American Public Works Association Florida Chapter Public Works Expo in Daytona Beach. The indoor equipment rodeo provided a full day of fun in the middle of the expo, which was held April 15 through 19.
When the smoke cleared and the results were in, the top three competitors were Maurice Dellafano of the city of Kissimmee, Fla., first place; Chris Greene, city of Gainesville, Fla., second place; and Shawn Bridges of Polk County, Fla., Roads and Drainage, third place.
Dellafano has now become a five-time winner of the equipment rodeo competition. CEG
David Albritton, equipment operator from Green Cove Springs, Clay County, had one of the best performances of the day on the Ring Power Cat 303E mini-excavator bowling challenge.
Dave Lecour (L), heavy equipment operator of the city of Palm Bay, Fla., gets some operational tips from Steve Tuton of Great Southern Equipment, Tampa, on the operation of the Kaiser S2 Gator in the APWA equipment rodeo.
As the contest began, there was quite a line waiting to operate the Massey Ferguson 5710 tractor with Diamond Mowers’ 23-ft. rear cradle boom and 50-in. rotary mower head in the Kelly Tractor event.
Victor Daboin, equipment operator of the city of Kissimmee, Fla., operates a Petersen Industries TL3 Lightning Loader mounted on a Freightliner truck in the rodeo competition.
Curtis Hamlin (L) of the city of Sanford, Fla., gets minor instruction on operating the Brush Hawg C-Model grapple truck from Joey Westberry of Southern Sewer Equipment Sales, Fort Pierce.
The remote-controlled Vac-Con machine basketball dunk event called “Vac-It Ball” was a lot more challenging than it looked.
Randy Shearin (L) and Mike Cabrera of Trekker Tractor kept busy throughout the day with the Case 580N backhoe loader tennis ball in the bucket competition.
Lots of high-tech machines were available for operating during the equipment rodeo, including this Vactor 2100i vacuum excavator.
For quite a few of the operators, this was their first time operating the Kaiser S2 Gator, a unique 4x4 mobile walking excavator.
