Martin Millerchip
Open Road Editor

DANIEL Radmanovic is
beginning to dream the
dream of all boy racers.

The one where he’s stand-
ing on a podium spraying
champagne on the drivers who
came second and third behind
him. Interviewed after his win

?@efantasy Formula One he will
say, as many other top racing
drivers have done, “I got my
start in karts.”

The 15-year-old Argyle sec-
ondary school student is into
his fourth season ‘as a go-kart

sracer and. is beginning to
expand his ambitions.

“T started racing thinking it
was like any other sport. Boy,
was I wrong. It is one of the
most fun ‘and thrilling sports,
not to mention expensive. The
deeper I go into the sport the
more I can see. myself moving

up and one day making this a
career.”

Radmanovic’s father, Boro,

is his mechanic and his mother
js, well, nervous: ~
. “My mum;.¢vén though
'. she’s scared and-told me she
doesn’t like the idea of me rac-
“Sing, she’s still really supportive.
She came out to the track only

one time. and.saw’a' big acci-.

. ‘dent, the only serious one of
‘the year, and she won’t ‘come
again,” ee
“is Radmanovic races in two
Clubs: the Cultus Lake «Kart
-Chib and ‘the Westwood Kart
‘Club which races at the Tradex
‘parking lot in Abbotsford:

Out of:the the Westwood

»?Kare"Club* have.come. the late |“
Greg. Moore, David id Rutledge

and the newest kart sensation,
Michael Valiante, who is
already making the move to the
Barber, Dodge Pro Series.

There are approximately
seven club races at Cultus per
year and about nine at
Westwood, Then there are the
B.C. Regionals, the Chemainus
Grand Prix and the Nationals.

The Regionals are a three-
race event held at Tradex, Port
Alberni and Quesnel.

After that will come the
Nationals, coming to the West
coast for the first time after
being held in Ontario «and
Quebec. This one race event
will be held in Quesnel, August
18 to 20.

Meanwhile, Radmanovie
has his sights set on the
Chemainus Grand Prix, a one-
race event to be held June 16-
17. The streets of Chemainus
are closed and it becomes a
mini-Indy, complete with car
shows, big screen TVs to cover
the track and lots of other fes-
tivities,

There is also prize money:
$2,000 for first place. And
Radmanovic could use it.

He already has about
$5,009 invested in his kart and

_ Operating costs are mounting:

boots (a set of tires) cost $200
and might last three cr four
races, and of. course, since this
is B.C., he needs rain tires too.

“A weekend of racing will
cost approximately $300, with

- $100 of that going for entry

fees and insurance,
Radmanovic’ estimates that

there will be 19 such weekends .

this year. “Right now the
money is coming from just my
parents. That’s kind of hard,”
says Radmanovi ic.

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: 4
NEWS photo Julie fvorson |: °

ARGYLE student Daniel Radmanovic, 15, checks the computerized telemetry of his itallan-bullt go-kart.
Enjoying his best racing season so far, Radmanovic is hoping sponsorship will mean more wins on the track.

So he is hoping he can find
one or two sponsors this year
who would like to see their
names on a winning kart. “It’s
not so much for myself. It’s for
my parents, to say ‘Here, it’s to
help.with the costs’.”

And despite the fact »that
Radmanovic is racing against

. More experienced drivers and

teams that can afford profes-
sional mechanics and new tires

Doug Williamzon

Southam Newspapers
SPORT-UTILITY vehi-
cles are popular in part
because people think
they are safer than cars.

every race, the results are start-
ing to improve.

Last year he raced in one of
three junior classes, Junior
Intercontinental A (JICA), and
managed to come third in the
championships at Westwood.

This year he has made the
move up into the senior classes,
racing against people -aged
from 16 to 69 in two of the
nine senior classes,

Indeed they are, in cases of
collisions between the two
types of vehicles.

But the U.S, Insurance
Institute for Highway, Safety
has.a warning for SUV drivers:
they are much miorc likely to be
in fatal single-vehicle crashes,

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Ib. (159 i). Both classes. use

the same two-stroke, 100-c.c. -

race engine capable of 18,500
p.m, and almost 70 mp. h.

which in that country account ”
for half of all fatal accidents. ..

According to the institute, *
SUVs offer relatively poor pro-

‘tection in crashes into ‘solid~

objects such as trees or bridges, °

“land, of course, rollovers, which |

are nearly four times ‘more:
common _ among SUVs than

“cars.

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“It is very tough as most *
have been racing or driving for.’
alot longer than me,” says the
serious teen with the wide- -eyed
gaze. .
Tough or not, the season
got off to a great start with.a’:

‘first in his first race of the sea- *

son and a second in the second...
Unfortunately * Radmanovic

See Worn following page

Sport Utes are not always so safe

The institute’ says 90% ‘of
rollovers occur when the ‘vehi-
“cle is “tripped” by: striking a

“curb, guard rail or other vehi-

dese:
“And SUVs not t only protect:
‘their own: occupants less well ;
“than large ‘ cars, ‘they. Pose “a

danger to © other”.

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