An Ontario inspection officer won the Ninth North American Inspector Championship.

Kerri Wirachowsky, transportation enforcement officer with the Ontario
Ministry of Transportation in Kitchener, won the Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion honors at the competition, held Aug. 21-25 in Minneapolis in conjunction with the National Truck Driving Championships.
Wirachowsky has been an officer with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation since 1990. She won the honor of representing Ontario by competing in local competition.
Wirachowsky and 52 other commercial vehicle inspectors from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico took part in the championship. When the inspectors were not busy in competition events, they attended training classes covering areas such as driver interviewing techniques, motor coach inspection, and cargo-tank inspection.
Wirachowsly took second place in the Level I Inspection competition, first place in the Motor Coach Inspection, and third place in Hazmat/Cargo Tank Inspection.
Winners of the competitive events were:
Level I inspection (vehicle safety and driver fitness): Don Tomlinson, California Highway Patrol;
Motor Coach Inspection: Kerry Wirachowsky, Ontario Ministry of Transportation;
Hazmat/Cargo Tank Inspection: Keith Stephens, Illinois State Police.
Matthew Zuzula was awarded the John Youngblood Award of Excellence. Youngblood, a Federal Highway Administration employee who was killed in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, was instrumental in developing the competition events for the first three inspector competitions.
In deciding the winner of the Award of Excellence, the contestants voted for the person who exemplified the following qualities: spirit of cooperation; leadership; professional image; dedication to profession; positive attitude; organizational ability; and congeniality.
The North American Inspector Competition is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, with support from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Canadian government, the Mexican government, and members of the trucking and motor coach industries.
For more information on the event go to www.cvsa.org/Events/NAIC/naic.html.