Saturday was a bad day to be a tennis ball, orange cone or traffic drum.
About 60 people gathered on the driving pad behind the Gainesville Regional Airport Saturday morning to watch some of Gainesville’s most daring bus drivers compete in the 12th Annual Regional Transit System Bus Roadeo.
Four Gainesville RTS drivers participated in the large obstacle course, which at times looked more like a demolition derby.
In his race around the track, Roadeo winner Eddie Bishop only destroyed or knocked over a handful of cones, barrels and balls, an accomplishment that will send him to the statewide bus-driving competition in Orlando next month.
Winners at the state tournament receive cash prizes and get invitations to participate in national and even international bus-driving competitions, he said.
Though navigating the tennis ball gauntlet was hard enough, the state-level competition is probably going to be more difficult, Bishop said.
“[The state level] is probably going to be some crazy stuff,” he said.
