The teams raced against the clock to correctly diagnose and repair deliberately bugged indentical Fords.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

WARWICK Andrew Chilabato and Dmitry Kaplin from Newport Area Career and Technical Center took top honors in AAA and Ford’s annual auto skills contest Thursday.

“I’m on cloud nine, it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Chilabato’s mother Rebecca Vars from her home in Portsmouth.

“He didn’t think he was going to win and I’d been giving him the pep talk, so it was a very big surprise,” she said, adding that her son and Kaplin had been “practicing very hard the last several weeks with their instructor Daniel Pontes (bugging the practice car) every night” so they had new problems to solve in the morning.

Kaplin, from Tiverton, was part of a two-man team that placed sixth in the Ocean State Automotive Contest at New England Institute of Technology in February.

Nine teams of two students each had 90 minutes to diagnose and repair nine 2008 Ford Escape XLTs that had been donated by Hertz Rental and bugged with identical problems by the panel of judges.

John Paul, manager of traffic safety for AAA Southern New England, said the bugs included relays not doing their job, air conditioning not working, several bad bulbs, the window-washing system malfunctioning, power windows not working, a bad fuse in the starter motor and a lit check engine light.

The students had already completed written tests to earn the right to compete in the hands-on test, which was held in the parking lot of the Warwick Mall in front of a small crowd of parents, friends and instructors.

“(The students) took the written exam in February and the top two students from each school qualify,” said David Raposa, AAA’s director of public affairs.

On Thursday they were competing to not only solve the bugs but also against the clock as speed was taken into account.

The top prize included a trip to the Nationals at Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., as well as a year’s tuition at the New England Institute of Technology — although Vars said Chilabato and Kaplin have both been accepted at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, Ohio. UNOH’s College of Technologies offers degrees, diplomas and certificates in a variety of auto related fields.

Ryan Fennessy and Michael Hyatt, both of Woonsocket, and their instructor Phil Jacques from the Woonsocket Career and Technical Center placed second. Hyatt was part of a two-man team that won the Ocean State Automotive Contest in February.

Matt Jeff, Warwick, and Allan Kurtz, East Greenwich, from the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center were the first to complete the work, driving their green Escape round to the bays in the Firestone Tire & Service Center for the judges to check over.

Warwick Area Career and Tech, which was fielding two teams with veteran instructors William N. Cilli and David Tibbetts, went to the Nationals three years in a row — 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Cilli said he was a little concerned his students Jeff and Kurtz had completed the work so fast.

“One bug and it’s not perfect,” he said. “I’m hoping they got them all.”

As it turned out the judges found three problems — with the rear defroster, the air conditioning and the rear lift gate latch.

Kurtz said he was disappointed but not surprised. Indeed, he and Jeff had resigned themselves to at least one bug — the rear lift gate latch — by deciding to go for speed instead.

“I noticed the dome light was on,” said Kurtz, adding, “If everyone misses the same bug, it’s moot.”

Cilli said the team, which placed fifth, had been penalized a total of nine points, bugs cost three points and sloppy workmanship — untidy connections or caps not screwed on properly — cost one point each.

Tibbetts’ team — Craig Marino, who had the highest score in the written exam, and Andrew Lucini, both of Warwick — was the next to complete the contest and the judges found only two unsolved bugs in their Escape: the air conditioning and the rear lift gate latch. The team placed third

Marino said he was not too disappointed with the result. “It’s all right,” he said, adding that he had not felt any pressure.

(Not so Kurtz from Cilli’s team who confessed, “When I first got here, my legs were shaking. But then I just focused on the car.”)

One member of last year’s winning team, Burrillville High School’s Joe Makowski, was on hand to witness the competition. Makowski and his partner, Cory Carlson, traveled to Dearborn for the nationals where Burrillville placed 11th in the nation.

“It was an experience I’ll never forget,” Makowski said, noting that he had visited the Henry Ford Museum and the Ford Motor Company plant in River Rouge, Mich., while out there.

Makowski is now attending the New England Institute of Technology and said the scholarship money will allow him to go for a bachelor’s degree in advanced automotive studies.

pelsworth@projo.com