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Times Advocate, 1995-07-05, Page 14This Week in Sports... • Centennials win the `battle for Exeter' • Powerboats roar into Grand Bend 1 Funny cars race at 230 mph Four of Canada's fastest cars raced at Grand Bend Motorplex on weekend Chris Skalkos T -A staff GRAND BEND - Grand Bend Motorplex held its official Grand opening on Sunday as four of Canada's fastest cars raced for track supremacy. Over 3,000 spectators filled the bleachers to capacity Sun- day afternoon to witness the first round of the Snap -on Sum- mer Thunder Nationals featuring the top alcdhol funny cars. It was the first time Motorplex hosted race cars of such mag- nitude since the track opened last spring. The funny cars sport 518 cubic -inch TFX-92 aluminum engines housed by a carbon fibre body. They are supercharged and methanol injected pro- ducing up to 2,500 horsepower at 8,500 rpms. Harnessing that much power, these race cars are capable of top speeds of 230 mph and are clearing the 1/4 mile track in just over six seconds. Professional drivers Todd Paton, Paul Noakes, Al Billes and Herb Rodgers, all from Ontario brought their Funny Cars to Grand Bend for the first time to square off down the track for $1,750 in prize money. They pitted their reaction times and their cars against each other on Saturday during the Canadian Bracket Champion- ships with Rodgers' 6.18 seconds @ 225.01 mph run defeating Noakes' time of 6.19 seconds @ 222.78 rnph. Paton's 6.08 second @ 224.99 mph run beat Billes' 6.70 second @ 222.78 mph run. Sunday's race proved to be a nail -biter as Rodgers improved his time to 6.13 seconds at 229.58 mph beating Noaks' slow 9.02 second @ 93.95 mph run. In an unexpected reversal of Saturday's performance Al Billes defeated the odds on favorite Todd Paton with a 6.14 second @ 230. 78 mph run. Paton ran n impressive 6.12 second @ 230.76 mph race but was slower off the start losing to Billes by .02 of a second. This set the stage for a showdown between Herb Rodgers and Al Billes in the final race. Billes had a slow race clearing the track in 6.77 seconds @ 148 mph while Rodgers lit up the pavement with an incredible 6.05 second @ 228.05 mph run. It was a personal best for Rodgers driving his Motion Lin- coln sponsored Mustang and his time of 6.05 seconds is now Grand Bend's Motorplex new track record. Rodgers took the $1000 first place purse while Billes claimed the $750 runner up prize. Saturday's race also set another record as Motorplex host- ed visiting teams from two other NHRA tracks - London Motorsports and Cayuga Dragway Park. Almost 200 com- petitors raced that afternoon for over 2;000 spectators who witnessed the very tirstover 200 mph runs at the Motorplex by the stars qualifying for Sunday's show. The tall -tale race of the weekend also occurred that after- noon in a bizarre race between Peter Vander Burgt from Ex- eter and Bud Samp- son from London in the Super Pro final. Sampson en- countered mechan- ical trouble and broke down 10 feet from the starting line but Vander Burgt ran too fast beating his own dial -time and was disqualified. Sunday's show also featured Canada's fastest Pro Bikes. Canadian Record holder Geoff Pollard was running between 7.00 and 7.15 at over 185 mph and Dan Butters was on hand trying to shatter the 200 mph barrier on his nitro top fuel 80 CU Kawasaki but fell short at 186 mph. Funny car driver Al Billes was busy fine-tuning his car for hours before his first race. He said travelling down the 1/4 mile track at 230 miles an hour is "the biggest adrenalin rush in the world...once you get used to it." "It's like being a speed junkie that has to have his fix," said Billes tying to describe what it's like being addicted to speed. "But this fix is legal and it's good clean fun," he added. Billes said he usually races in the Eastern and Central Unit- ed States where drag racing is very big but he was glad to be racing his funny car in Grand Bend, much closer to his home in Barrie. "It's really nice to see a track like this open up in Canada," he sahj. Todd Paton driving for the Ultimate team sponsored by Nupo pet products was the first Canadian to win an IHRA World Championship title in 1993. He comes from a family of professional drivers that has been racing for over 30 years. Paton usually races in South Carolina, Tennessee and Al- abama and his Grand Bend appearance is one of his only three Canadian dates. He estimates that it costs his race team between $80,000 to $100,000 a year to race his funny car. Paton also likes the idea of another NHRA track opening up in Ontario. "It's great having a track like this locally. I think it will help by giving racers and spectators a place to go when they don't want to travel far to get to the races," he said. Paton feels that racing would be just as big in Canada as it is in the United States if more organizers would follow suit with Grand Bend and open up more NHRA race tracks. "We need more tracks in Canada for our future pro- fessional racers. Most of them start of at this level of com- petition and track like this provides opportunities for racers to advance to higher levels. Not too many people start off with funny cars," he said adding that there are only eight fun- ny car racers in Canada. Paul Mooser from Michigan was at Grand Bend with his wife and two children visiting friends for the weekend. He planned to spend his time at the beach until he learned there was a racetrack nearby. "You should have seen the look on my face when they told me there were funny cars racing just three miles down the road. I was up here vacationing two years ago and there wasn't a track here then," said Mooser who is a long time race enthusiast. "I couldn't believe it, this track is just as good as anything I've been to back in the States," he said. Lack of registrations cancels soccer camp EXETER - Soccer Camp in Exeter has been cancelled this summer. The soccer camp was scheduled to take place at the Rec. Centre July 3-7. Organized by the Ontario Soccer Association in conjunc- tion with Exeter Minor Soccer, the camp has provided boys and girls from ages 6-13 the opportunity to develop basic skills taught by qualified in- structors. Only nine people registered by the cutoff date and they needed a minimum of 16 to carry through with the camp. Local organizers were con- cerned that an increase in the registration fee might have de- terred some people from sign- ing up since information about the camp was releases as early as March. The price for this year's camp was $95.00 com- pared to last year's $75.00 reg- istration fee. Exeter Minor Soccer offi- cials will try to organize the soccer camp again next year. Daskwood 519-231-3322 YAMAHA London Dri Centre The Alcohol Funny Cars are one of the fastest racing machines in North America. With 518 cubic -inch metha- nol injected engines they are capable of running down 1/4 mile track in six seconds at top speeds in excess of 230 mph. Todd Paton driving The Ultimate Alcohol Funny Car lines up against Al Billes in the far lane during the Snap -on Thunder Nationals on Sunday. It was the first time the Al- cohol Funny Cars raced at Grand Bend Motorplex. Sports - Lite Guardians of the Exeter pool Chris Skalkos T -A staff EXETER - When you visit the Exeter and district swimming pool, there are two main things you notice about the lifeguards; they love their job and they're good at it. Since the pool was built by the Lions Club in 1964, members of the community have been enjoying a refreshing swim every summer under the watchful eye of pool lifeguards. Over the years, many different peo- ple have had the opportunity to share lifeguard duties using their train- ing and experience to ensure your swim at the pool is a safe one. This year's lifeguard staff is no exception. Becci Farquhar, Laurie Coolman, Gavin Poole, and Kristin Strang are this season's pool lifeguards and together they share the responsibility of educating pool users on safe swimming practices. They all have the RLSSC instructors, RLSSC Nationals, Red Cross instructor and CPR/ First aid training needed to be a qualified lifeguard and swim instructor. Becci Farquhar is the head supervisor at the pool. She has been a lifeguard for six years. Farquhar says you have to like working with people to enjoy the job of a lifeguard. "I've always been a.real people person. I like the fact that I might teach someone something that might save their life one day," she says. During her time as a lifeguard Farquhar says she has had to jump in the water to help a swimmer in trouble four tinies but none of them were serious incidents. She is concerned that some people don't fully understand the the training and skills she and her colleagues have that enable them to do their jobs. "The community doesn't realize the qualifications we have, we're not kids we're adults," she says. Laurie Coolman agrees. "The community only see us out by the pool, but they don't see the time and effort that goes in to our training," she says adding that there is a tremendous amount of material to cover when learning and ex- ecuting emergency procedures. "We're not just out here for a tan." Gavin Poole says being a lifeguard means you have to be dedicated to learning. "Some people think this type of job requires less skills than most oth- er jobs but they don't realize all of the courses we have to take," he says. Kristin Strang says there are subtle things they learn that might save somebody's life some day. "We learn how to recognize potential victims. We know what a tired swimmer looks like and we know how to spot a weak swimmer," says Strang. Most of the swimmers that frequent the pool are young children and a vital part of the lifeguard's job is teaching them how to swim and ed- ucating them on safe swimming practices. However, the pool staff would like to see more adults come out and participate in some of their programs. "There are a surprising amount of adults who don't know how to swim," says Coolman. "A lot of people don't realize we offer swim- ming lessons to adults. We encourage adults to come out and swim," she says. Farquhar says she would like to sec more parents participating in their swimming programs with their children rather than just dropping them off. According to Farquhar, statistics show that more drownings occur in backyard swimming pools than guarded public swimming ar- eas. She feels that these incidents are less likely to happen if more adults visited the pool with their children to learn about safety. Pool staff are now offering night swims from 9:00 - 11:00 to ac- commodate mere adults who work during the day. The Exeter and district swimming pool lifeguards will be watching over your swim this summer. From left, Becci Farquhar, Laurie Coolman and Kristin Strang. Centre is Gavin Poole. •