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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-07-25, Page 13DUST, SWEAT AND TEARS — Boys of oIl ages leave the starting line in another motocross race. TEARING UP -". • THE TRACK — Motocross racers reduce the dirt track to a cloud of dust at Hully Gully. NUMBER 233 — Randy Ford jumps through the air at the finish line at Hully Gully near Var- na. DIRT BIKE — Mark Srokost stands with his Yamaha YZ 250. Mark is sponsored in his races by Port Franks Yamaha. FOLLOW ME — Instructor Aivars Rienfelds gives his students orders from his small motor boat. HOIST THE MAINSAIL — Michelle and Jason Adelman take the first step towards becoming expert sailors. They learned sailing techniques at Grand Bend last week. THE ARMADA Pupils of the Mobile Sailing School take to the waves on Lake Huron. Two or three students are sent out in each sailboat. Page lA JULY 25, 1979 Price Per Copy 25 Cents of the hills. Randy Collins runs the house league at Hully Gully every Thursday night which is gaining popularity with motocross racers. They travel from as far away as Kincardine or Sarnia to race, The riders range in age from eight to 40 and several dif- ferent categories are run, Collins says that all his helpers are volunteers on Thursdays. Randy's father Irvin calls the action over the loud speaker. Other fathers help with flagging Natives and visitors alike were given the opportunity to learn how to sail in Grand Bend last week, About 35 people signed up for the week long sailing school. The course is designed for first time sailors and sponsored by the Ontario Sailing Association. The association sends out a "mobile sailing school." Jeremy Alter a student at Queen's University and Aivars Rienfelds a student at University of Toronto are teaching the course. The students are divided into three smaller groups--a morning, afternoon and e" Your arms are yanked away from your body. The pain starts in your calloused palms as you grip the bar. Bones in your wrists snap with the ferocious jerk, and your elbow joints crack. The pain tears into your shoulders and across your back. Your legs wobble and weaken, And all the time you are being splashed with ice cold water, A prisoner being tortured while stretched on the rack in the dungeon of a medieval castle? No, just a water skier out for some fun on a Sunday afternoon. Someone once whispered that water skiing was a great sport and a lot of fun. The rumour spread and now thousands crowd into Bluewater Country to skim over the surface of Lake Huron and its tributaries. Actually it's a strange disease—waterski-itis--which can unexpectedly grip loved ones. There is no known cure, but relief can be found with a fast boat, a long rope, and two wooden slats. The disease is very masochistic in nature. The more one suffers, the more one longs to waterski. And to satisfy the sick person, in- creased doses of pain are necessary. People infected with waterski-itis particularly enjoy the first time they go out for the season. The next day, they usually find the pain almost unbearable. Stiff muscles make something as simple as scratching one's back impossible. But of course, that's the day they have a very itchy back. The stiffened skier can be seen hunting for trees with rough bark to use as back scratchers. Simply getting to a position on the surface of the water can cause some pain, to the pleasure of the waterski freak. The yank on the arms depends on the horsepower of the boat motor, and people with advanced cases of waterski- itis are continually buying more powerful motors. "Wiping out" is the next source of joy for the waterski freak, The harder the fall, the more they like it. Trip- ping over pieces of drift- wood, or getting swamped in a big wake are particularly nice ways to go. When skiing 011 two skies ceases to be a challenge and At the ripe old age of 14, Randy Ford says that motocross racing is in his blood, As he talks, it soon becomes apparent that he's addicted. Randy's pride and joy is his dirt bike--a Suzuki RM 80, The 80 means the number of cubic centimetres in the engine, and the RM? Well, "I like to think it means real motocross," Randy says. The bike was brand new this year; it's a '79 model. But someone looking at it would never guess that. The entire bike is caked with mud, and the gas tank is worn and scratched. The back plastic fender is broken, and the front one has already been replaced. Randy says the bike looked like that after his first race with it. "It's like going to war," he says. But he's quick to add that it's not really war, it's fun. Randy, who lives on the edge of Grand Bend has been racing for two seasons now. He placed third in his class at an all-Ontario race at Hully Gully near Varna last May. He also has about 20 first place ribbons that he's won at the Thursday night house league races at Hully Gully. Sunday is the big day for motocross racers. Races are held at a different place each week. For Randy and his father Irvin Ford, Sunday morning means they usually are on the road at 6:30 a.m. Popular spots for motocross are Tillsonburg, Durham, Wheatley, Copetown, Mosport, Kapuskasing, Sudbury and Oshawa. These Sunday races are sanctioned by the Canadian Motorcycle Association, (C.M.A.) and usually last all day. Randy says that some of the older racers have companies or bike dealers sponsoring them. "I have a sponsor," Randy says, "Dad." The bike itself is a big investment. One about the size of Randy's which would fall in the schoolboy classification would cost between $800 and $1,000. But that's only the beginning. The hard plastic knee-high boots which resemble downshill. ski boots cost about $150. The racer needs a kidney belt, shoulder pads, elbow pads and knee pads under his protective pants. He needs good gloves, and an approved helmet. The helmets usually have a visor and a sponge filtered face mask to keep out dust. The latest in wearing apparel for the motocross racer is the new tear-off goggles. These are goggles made out of a thin piece of cellophane that the racer fits over his regular goggles. When they get covered with mud, the rider can rip them off and throw them away, leaving his clean goggles underneath. The tear-off goggles save a lot of time in a race, Randy explains. Helmets are very im- portant, and it's also nice to have a gimmick so that fans can easily spot the rider in•a race. Randy has painted his helmet bright orange. He says he knows another fellow that wears Mickey Mouse ears on his helmet, and others that tie raccoon tails on the back, Randy says his idol is Gary Bailey, a supercross racer from Virginia. Bailey has taught classes in motocross at Hully Gully and Randy attended some. At age 18, Mark Srokosz is a four year veteran of motocross racing. Mark rides in the junior division on his 1978 model Yamaha YZ250. This is Mark's fourth bike, because "they get outdated so fast." Every year they come out with better machines, Mark explains. Mark, who lives on his father's farm at R,R. 2 Grand Bend, has a chance to go to the Canadian cham- pionship motocross races which are going to be held in British Columbia this summer. But before he would go, Mark says he would have to get a new bike. His present bike is a year old, and wouldn't be able to keep up in big competition, Mark is sponsored in his races by Port Franks Yamaha. "They give me a good deal on parts and we put up their sign in our van," he says. Mark says he's never been seriously hurt in a race, but two weeks ago he had to go to hospital for x-rays on his leg as the result of a race crash. "But it was just twisted real bad," he says. Mark figures he is in the top ten in his category for Ontario. He got interested in motocross after riding dirt. bikes on the farm with his cousins. He now has his own motocross trail in a pasture field. Like Randy, Mark insists that motocross racing is habit forming. "You get really hyped up just before a race," he says. He explains that the start is very im- portant because you have to get the jump on you com- petition, The slower ones will get squeezed out in the first corner. But once you're moving you just concentrate on racing he says. Dirt bikes are well named because it's never a clean sport. If dust isn't the problem, then it's mud. Randy Collins owner of the Hully Gully track says that a lot of work is involved in keeping .a,motocross He has to truck in sand and gravel to mix with the clay base, After a race day, the tracks have to be harrowed and cultivated to remove the ruts. On dry days the tracks are irrigated in advance, and when the track is wet, sand is brought in to fill the mud holes, Different areas of the track require different skills of the rider. The S-curve calls for quick reflexes, and the off cambre section requires good balance. There are numerous hills and jumps. Another section is called the "whoop-de- dos". This is a series of five little mounds in a row. If a racer is going too slow he wastes time by going up and down each mound. He must get up enough speed to bounce or "skip across the top Gibbs to come to council on beach offer The controversy over the ownership of Grand Bend's beach is likely to come up again. Reeve Robert Sharen says he was approached by Malcolm Alexander "Archie" Gibbs concerning the beach property. Gibbs wants to attend the next council Meeting on August 7 with a proposal. Sharen says he told Gibbs to see the village clerk and go through proper channels to appear before council. Archie Gibbs says he purchased the beach from his uncle Harold Gibbs last March. No purchase price has been revealed. The Gibbs family maintains that they have owned the beach in Grand Bend since the 1920's. Harold Gibbs has erected signs on the beach from time to time saying "private property." A few years ago the ownership question came up when Harold Gibbs at- tempted to sell the beach to a developer, The developer requested that the beach be zoned so he could build there. The sale was never made. Questions on the owner- ship of the property also came up in the early stages of sewer installations in that area. Reeve Sharen refused to comment On the ownership of the lakeshore area other than to ask if anyone else but the village has ever looked after the beach, and starting, The St. John's Ambulance is always in attendance and a hat is passed to give a donation to the ambulance workers. Even some mothers are volunteering to help during the races. Motocross mothers come in two kinds: there are those who are right there cheering their sons on, and wouldn't miss any of the action, while others avoid motocross races because they find it so ner- vewracking—not to mention dirty and noisy. evening class, They meet for three hours each day for five days. The sailing school is a non- profit organization. "We're not here to make money, just introduce sailing," Rienfelds- says. The course costs $29 for adults and $24 for children, which Alter described as "quite cheap." Sailboats are provided by the mobile school. In fact, for the two in- structors, the van in which they travel is everything. During the week, they sleep and eat in the van, and on top of it they carry their own MESESSMIta4 a source of pain, the sick person learns to drop one ski. Often the skier wipes out in the simple act of kicking off one ski. But once that trick is mastered, they go on for more dangerous things. "Getting up" on one ski is a must for all cases of waterski-itis. Each sickie has his or her own method. Some prefer the under-water style. This is where you put both feet in the holders on the ski, and put your head under water, waiting for the boat to pull you up. This results in the skier travelling for some time with his mouth open gasping for air, and swallowing water. Near drownings provide the skier with some thrills, before he gets air into his lungs. The other technique of getting up is called the drag- one-f oot-out-behind style. While your body and one leg is wrenched forward, your Other leg uselessly slaps the water's surface behind you. This results in funny purple bruises, but seldom actually breaks bones, as the skier hopes. While using one ski, or slalom skiing, the sick person hopes to hurt themselves more each fall. While skiing in the river, they swing wide from the boat's wake, tempting docks to jump in their path. Or they seek the big waves that oncoming boats make, pretending to jump them but secretly hoping to catch the toe of the ski and have a good fall in the waves. And then comes the ultimate--bare footing. The slalom skier kicks off his one and only ski, curls up his toes, and gets dragged behind the boat with nothing on but bathing suit and life jacket. They love the feel of the water spraying up from their heels. When they decide to come to a stop the fun begins. Usually a few cart- wheels on the water's sur- face are involved. So beware! As warmer weather hits us increasing numbers of these masochists will take to the water hoping to be plummeted through the air and smashed into the boat's wake. I'll tell you more about these crazy people as soon as the callouses on my palms go away, the stiffness leaves my neck and back, and the bruises On my legs clear tip. Fir • Motocross can be addicting. Mar-y-9s musings BY MARY ALbERSON sailboat. Behind them they haul (a trailer carrying) the five boats that are used for lessons, plus the motor boat they use while teaching. The boats for the students are "Petrels"--an aluminum boat made by Alcan that can tolerate the bumps and collisions that students sometimes have. After a brief classroom session, which usually consists of a lecture on saletyt at picnic tables out of doors, the pupils take to the boats and the learning begins. The instructor leads the group of new sailors around in a motor boat, calling out instructions from a megaphone. At the end of the week the graduates receive a cer- tificate from the Canadian Yachting Association showing their level of proficiency. Altssays that anyone can be taught how to sail, it's not something that requires a natural gift. He says it's like learning how to ride a bike, and the main thing is balance. Alter and Rienfelds travel Please turn to page 11A Beginners learn quickly in easy sailing lessons