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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-07-19, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, July 19, 1995 This Week in Sport • Underwater hockey - page 19 • Hole -in -one golfer - page 20 Lucan man crews for Herb Rodgers in Japan Lucan resident Kevin Burtch kneels in front of, left, Gord Overbaugh, Elaine Rod- gers and driver Herb Rodgers. The team are representing Canada at the Fuji In- ternational Speedway in Japan. �. Drag Racing Results Grand Bend Sunday, July 16 Super Pro: Barb Heslop, Thorndale, 9.124 at 144.22 defeated Les Sherwood, 14.67 RL at 51 MPH Pro: Terry Haugh, Hensall, 11.62 at 108.44 defeated Bill Ward, Blen- heim, 12.058 at 113.66 MPH Street: Eric Sampson, London, 20.24 at 63.83 defeated Shawn Glad - wish, Corunna, 17.851 at 74.01 MPH Pro Bike: Brad Buhrow, Stratford, 9.729 at 124.66 defeated Bill Wat- son, Sarnia, 12.157 at 106.12 Jr. Dragster: Clint McAdams (13), London, 10.38 (10.30 dial -in; .609 F,T) at 59.13 defeated Bill Dineen (13), Goderich, 11.949 (11.81 dial - in; .582 RT) at 52.38 MPH Thunder Series Points Leaders as of July 16 Super Pro: Peter Vander Burgt 56, Greg Fortin 55, Dean Schwemler 55, Larry Kilpatrick 54, Ken Brown 53, Barbara Heslop 52 Pro: Bill Ward 62, Tony Maniuk 57, Paul McInnis 51, Mark MacDon- ald 50, Pat Berthelot 50 Street: Dave Bryson 51, Kim Gillies 49, Tom Chatterley 47 Pro Bike: Norm McLaughlin 42, Doug Johnstone 41, Shane Yeoman 38 Jr. Dragsters: Jeff Roth 47, Bill Dineen 47, Nick Holmes 41 Saturday, July 22, Drag Racing Test and Tune, Gamblers Race Sunday, July 23 Thunder Series Event - Arkona Tire Day Exeter lawn bowling scores July 11 and Willa Williams Lawrence Russell John Batten Henry Drachenberg Barb Triebner Wilmer Adkins Howard Johns Ray Hodgson July 15 2W24 2W26 2W18 2W17 2W 16 IW18 IW16 IW16 Shari Palen Henry Drachenberg Marshall Dearing Marion Dearing Gordon Hoggarth Ernie Ross Audrey Burrows Stan Roth Doris Hackney 2W32 2W25 1W18 1W14 1W13 1W13 1W13 1W13 IW13 Sports- Lite • Claybird Gun Club holds trap shoot EXETER - The Claybird Gun Club held its annual trap shoot July 16, hosting 30 shooters from many area clubs. Winners were: A class - Brad Mann 98, Dennis Boyd 95, Jody Josurinjohn 94; B class - Paul Hoff 92, Karl Kol- smith 90, Jim Butcher 88; C class - Steve Honsberger 84, Ernie Marshall 84, Doug Moore 83; Veteran Class - Glen Mogk 83, Russ Beaver 72; High Lady Shooter - Pam Muma 75. Thunder undefeated in four games EXETER - The Exeter Thunder soccer team remain undefeated in league play following a 2-1 victory over London Marcon on Thursday. Brian McAllister and Chad Gilfil- Ian each scored a goal while Mark Bell led the defence to keep the London team to only one goal. Gilfillan, also had a goal in Exet- er's 3-3 tie with the Greek Canadi- ans last Tuesday while Jeff MacL- ean and David Farquhar chalked up the ether two. The Exeter Thunder have not lost a regular season game and now have a 2-0-2 record. Chris Skalkos T -A staff LUCAN - A few years ago Kevin Burtch traded in his baseball glove and hockey skates for a more ex- citing hobby. Now the 26 year-old from Lucan is travelling around the world with one of the most successful race car drivers in the country. Burtch is a crew member for Herb Rodgers' race team. Rodgers races a Top Alcohol Funny Car and he'll be taking his 392 km per hour car to Japan where he and his crew will compete against top Funny Car drivers from across the globe. Fuji International Speedway in Japan is hosting the international competition in August which will feature racers from Sweden, Nor- way, England Australia, New Zea- land and Japan. Rodgers' team was selected to represent Canada by the National Hot Rod Association head office in California. But that didn't come as a surprise to anyone. Rodgers is the first Canadian to drag his car down the 1/4 mile track in under six seconds. He set the record at London Motorsport with a 5.91 second run at 242 mph. Last month he set a new track record at Grand Bend Motorplex Thunder Nationals with a 6.05 sec- ond blast at 229 mph winning first place. Burtch, and crew chief Gord Overbaugh, will follow Rodgers and his wife Elaine to Japan on Au- gust 18. Their car, a 541 cubic inch 2,500 horse powered 1995 Ford Mustang is already on the way. "It's going to be a learning ex- perience," said Burtch who will see the country for the first time. "The car has been running fast all year and our time has been consistent...I think we'll do pretty good," he said. The car is equipped with an on- board computer that registers all engine functions. Burtch will be re- sponsi .le for diagnosing the output and relaying it to the rest of the crew for immediate adjustments. "The computer is like a lie detector, it tells us how Herb is driving all the time," Burtch said. Burtch said his involvement with racing came suddenly when Rod- gers asked if he would like to join his team for a race in New Jersey. Two years later, Burtch found him- self travelling throughout the Unit- ed States and Canada, totally ab- sorbed in the sport of drag racing. "I'm so involved in racing cars, all my friends are racers or else they're at the racetracks," he said. At 57, Rodgers will be taking a lot of racing experience overseas and according to Burtch, that's their ace -in -the -hole. "Everybo jy thinks this is a young man's sport, but Herb knows what he's doing and he runs the numbers all: the time," said Burtch. "Herb is the oldest and fastest drag racer in thio country and I'll be crewing for h!im until he retires." Jodee Grasdahl, left, delivers a kick to Robert Khamsouk during a sparring session on Thursday. The two martial art pupils from Sai Visouvath's school of Tae Kwon Do recently returned from the Canadian Jr. Tae Kwon Do Championships held in Toronto on July 8. Khamsouk won a silver medal in sparring and Grasdahl won a gold medal in sparring, a gold medal in form and the M.V.P. Female award. Lawn bowling - a family sport Chris Skalkos T -A staff Considering the time and effort he puts into promoting the sport, you can safely say Peter McFalls is an ambassador for lawn bowling. An avid lawn bowler, McFalls is currently a board member for the Ontario Lawn Bowling Association, a co -chairperson for the Ontario Lawn Bowling Committee and the Technical Director over the Of- ficiating and Coaching Committee. "When I started out I was just a little interested but then I got more involved and worked my way to the board," said McFalls who has been involved with the organizational end of the sport for the last seven years. McFalls estimates he puts over 200 volunteer hours into the sport but he doesn't mind because his work is starting to pay off. Indeed the Lawn Bowling Club in Exeter has come a long way. Over the lase'eight years Exeter has sent teams of fours, pairs, singles and novice lawn bowlers to the provincial championships. Not only are thelf winning but club membership is also growing and the age group is be- coming more diverse. "Lawn bowling is still considered an old person's game and it's hard to change that image. There still might be more re- tired people playing but it's gaining more popularity among younger people," said McFalls. According to McFalls, half of the club's 60 members are over the age of 65; however, it's not uncommon to see bowlers between 13 and 25 years -old. Although he admits it is difficult trying to get a large number of young people interested in the sport because many of them are inter- ested in mainstream sports such as soccer and baseball, which has an earlier registration date and a longer season. But this is starting to turn around as lawn bowling is becoming more popular among the younger crowd. "We're getting more participation among the younger bowlers," said McFalls. "Before we didn't have a lot of bowlers willing to com. pete and now we have 20 willing to compete and our junior and novice teams are doing very well." McFalls said the name lawn bowling is slightly misleading. He said the sport is more like curling than five or ten pin alley bowling. The balls, called "bowls" are not perfectly round and they are weighted on one side so when thrown they travel in a dis- tinct arch. The object of the game is to throw your bowls at a "jack" or a "kitty" that is tossed onto the green before a game. Bumping your op- ponents bowl is allowed and the one with the most bowls closest to the jack is the winner. "It's easy to learn. It would only take two nights of practice to give you an idea of how to deliver bowls and to get a basic understanding of the game," McFalls said. It sounds simple, however, for the experienced player there is a great deal of strategy involved. The jack is constantly moving and a good lawn bowler, like a chess master must be thinking ahead anticipating the next few moves. The main skill a lawn bowler relics on is a strong sense of coordination. "Some people go for the competition but I think it provides a good night out," said McFalls adding most people bowl for the recreational and social aspects. "I like to see young couples with children come out to play. It's a sport the whole family can play," he said. McFalls said the sport offers the opportunity for exercise since par- ticipants are constantly walking back and forth on the green to throw bowls, but it's not the type of sport where you are at risk from suffering a knee or a back injury like other more vigorous sports. "There's lots of physical activity hut it's not a rough and tough game, and there is no body contact," said McFalls. "It's a sport people can do without wor- ;'ing about getting hurt." The Exeter Lawn Bowling Club is unique as it offers bowlers the challenges of competing as individuals or in a team, but also provides the opportunity for mild exercise and friendly recreation. The club opens its greens three nights a week and it always welcomes new mem- bers. On a personal level, McFalls enjoys recruiting more people and watching them become interested in the sport. "Once they get the hang of it, they start thinking about competing and going to the pro- vincial play - downs," he said. But on another level, McFalls likes to play and compete himself. In fact, he and his wife Gloria won the Mixed Pairs title in 1993 and they are the first lawn bowlers in Exeter to claim a provincial cham- pionship. "It was a great feeling to have finally ac- complished some- thing like that," said McFalls. But for this lawn bowling couple, winning the On- tario champion- ship couldn't have come at a better time. "It [the vic- tory) was also on our wedding an- niversary," he added. r