momentum
will carry
him to

top spot

“SOME KIDS are born
with a silver spoon in their
mouth. I was born with
wheels.”’

By Patrick Raynard
Contributing Writer

Marty Knoll hopes that his
life-long fascination with fast
cars, and the skills he has learn-
ed in 13 years of racing, will
place him in the top running for
the Canon/Yokohama Series at
Westwood next weekend.

“) gotta win it,’ says the
cheerful 33-year-old North Van-
couver man of the fifth race in
the eight-race Formula 4 series.

“I'm close enough to the
second-place guy to move in
there, and it will take two wins
to get to first,’’ Knoll told the
News Friday.

“It’s like hockey,” he says of
auto racing. ‘“‘It's a game of
momentum. Once it happens,
there’s no stopping a guy.””

The purse isn’t bad either, in
that a team can break even if
they do well. The winner gets
$400, which neatly covers the
$200 entry fee and the $200 in
overall costs, Knoll says.

“Last year, I won 34,000,
against expenses of $1,000. Now,
1 could break even, after 13
years of trying, and that would
be outstanding.

“+b can't think of anything else
a guy could do to have so much
fun for so little money. To me,
this is cost effective.”

Knoll’s car is built on a 1981
Van Dieman Formula Ford
chassis, a single-seat and open-
wheel vehicle powered by a

Wedne.day, August 1, 1990 - Nortn Snore News - 13

EIS EAH ATS PRT ETI 8

1600cc Ford engine that
duces about 115 horsepower.

Weight is a ‘thuge factor’’ in
auto racing, Knoll says, especial-
ly in this tightly controlled For-
mula Ford series. The chassis
has to weigh at least 1,075
pounds, including the driver,
and Knoll and his car’s chassis
come in at 1,115. He is also rac-
ing against models as new as
1988 and 1990.

Knoll is proud that his equip-
ment is ‘absolutely legal. When
1 win, | know that [ won,

“The series is about sports-
manship,"’ and that includes his
team of three men led by Alex
Sekulovich. ‘‘Alex always thinks
ahead. He’s in the race as if he's

pro-

‘friendship

in the car. He’s the reason 1 won
in Calgary,’’ Knoll says, refer-
ring to a 1989 victory that put
him into the national spetlight.

But 3989 was also significant
because two North Vancouver
businesses agreed to sponsor the
promising young star.

Bakertime Systems is a diver-
sified company, run by Neil
Baker, that both markets woven
fabrics to Canadian clients and
consults on computers. [t has
lent its name to Knoll’s car, the
Bakertime Systems Van Dieman.

Al Dyke, of Al Dyke
Automotive, on Welch Street,
makes his shop and expertise
available to Knoll, after a
that began when

Pear SA eT eee Oe 3
NEWS photo Mike Waketield

GREG HAYWOOD is serving up tennis tips at the North Shore Neighbourhood House's Summer

Tennis Camps. Here, Haywood gives six-year-old Safya Julien some pointers on her forehand
grip. There is still time to register for the last camps which run Aug. 7-10. info: 987-8138.

Knoll worked there as a
mechanic in 1978.

That was the year Knoll came
out from his native Ontario,
where he had earned a diploma
in automotive technology from
St. Clair College in Windsor.

But his interest in cars began
far eartier.

“*My dad,‘* he says,
“remembers when | was two
years old | used to tell him how
to drive, and always to drive

faster.”” . .
Knoll started racing seriously

in 1978, from his new base in
North Vancouver, in a Formula
V race car powered by a Ger-
man-built 60-horsepower
Volkswagen engine that took

NEWS phot

NORTH VANCOUVER race car driver Marty Knoll and his formula 1609 racing machine.

_him to some major wins in the

United States,

He then moved to a Formula
Adantic, built agound a 225-
horsepower Cosworth racing
engine, a decision he says ‘‘re-
quired huge amounts of time,
skill, talent, perseverance and
money.’*

Knoll presently sells auto
diagnostic equipment for Allen
Test Products in Surrey.

What remains Knoll’s dream
for a street car? The 2.3-litre,
German-built Mercedes-Benz
190E. If this weekend at
Westwood puts him on the fast
track to the top, that dream
could soon become a reality.

Kitchen captures
sailing bronze

BRAD KITCHEN of West Van-
couver proved himself to be the
third fastest junior laser sailor
after winning a bronze medal at
the FYRU (International Yacht
Racing Union) World Youth
Championships in Meuiden,
Netherlands recently.

Kitchen, 18, was competing
against representatives from ap-
proximately 40 countries at the
championships. New Zealand won
the gold medal while the U.S. net-
ted the silver.

The championship was extreme-
ly competitive and Kitchen found
it tough going to stay within the
top ter: finishers, according to his
father, Bob Kitchen, commodore
of the West Vancouver Yacht
Club, who talked to him after the
championship.

The West
Club | sailor

Vancouver Yacht
posted consistent

finishes over the 10-race regatta,
with second places as his best
standing.

Bob Kitchen said the Interna-
tional Jury laid a protest against
Brad for the way he tied his Cun-
ningham (a sail control). Accord-
ing to regulations, the sailors were
supposed to be using stock, un-
modified boats.

However, Kitchen contested the
protest successfully and finished
third.

Kitchen qualified for the World
Youths after winning the Cana-
dian Youth Sailing Championships
held last month at Newcastle
Island, Nanaimo.

He is currently racing at the
North Anierican Laser Champion-
ships, an open regatta, at Rhode
Island before returning fo Van-
couver on Aug. 8.

5 NAAR Tet MEGS VRIES PAC IESE I,