B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 20,1995...

ROB BROWN

Nature surprises

n one of the clear, cloudless days

we enjoyed this summer my eight

year old daughter, Cait, asked if we

might go picnicking. Agreed:

Karen put away the garden tools and made a

robust lunch, I set down my guitar and picked

up my fishing gear, Cait invited her friend Kaali

— because picnics are always better with a

friend along — then we oiled ounelves with
sun block, donned our hats, and set out. -

Shames was my suggestion. The manicured.

sites set aside for family outings are drab. °

Ferguson’s Reach and its approaches are full of

delights: the pond left by the river has a soft .

bottom; a bouquet of wild flowers can be picked

from fields of grass tall enough to hide a moose
ora child; the sloughs are full of toads and fry; .
other wild life — birds to bears and everything *

in between — can be sighted, and ifany one of
them doesn’t show, you can map its route across
the soft sand and mud and ponder Its mission.
The same wind that stings the extremities late in
Fall is a comfortable, cooling breeze in July,
and to top'it all off there are fish for Dad, pos-
sibly one of the. first upriver giants bound for
Babine or Kispiox.

As we walked the trail I pointed to trees and

quizzed the kids, Cait rolled her eyes and made !
a here-we-go-again face, but to humour the old -
man, With his teaching reflexes, they played’

along gamely, correctly identifying every
species save for a subalpine fir, ‘

To get to the Skeena there was no choice but
_ to wade the Shames, I took equipment. and.

>+ finch ‘actoss while. “Karen rolled. ‘up, her j jeans ; .

‘and the gitls slipped on suitable shoes. I waded.

‘~~ back, We held hands: and set‘out far the- far

bank. The girls’ faces lit up and they squealed
like piglets as the cold, clear water. swirled
around their waists. Even when you do it olten,
wading is a pleasurable experience, for the girls
it was that as well as dangerous and exhilarat-
in

_ The Skeena shares deceptive distances. with
deserts and prairies. Though it looked like a
‘short walk it was a full fifteen minutes before
we were at the top of the high water channel
and-on the main river. Karen set out the lunch.
The kids frolicked and invented games. I strung
up the rod and threw flies at ickering sock-
eyes.

Four distinct valleys pour weather into’ the
area around Shames Bar. I Jooked down rod and
line to rain shadow in one, shafts of sun
streamed down another while distant thunder
told of a nasty storm rolling down the main val-
ley fom Terrace, Soon the enemy of all picnics,
a towering black cloud bristling with lightning
was directly overhead. Standing in water with a
fourteen foot lightning rod made of graphite —

~ one of the best conductors known to man, I’ve
been told — persuaded me that the sockeyes
could wait, I broke down the pole and we
huddled under trees and rain slicker as the earth
shook, and rain drops the size of golf balls
pelted down, ali of which set the girls squealing
in delight again.

“Firel”' Yelled Kaali as a bolt of lightning
nicked a mountain on the far side of the river in-
stantly sending shafts of flame and smoke
skyward. We watched the forest explode then
bum as the storm rumbled on and taking the
rain with it We passed my binoculars. The land
lit up but the stillness stayed, By now the fire
was crawling up a steep spine and starting to
leap through tree taps into a deep draw.

Karen and I looked at each other, thinking and
hoping the same thing, when we beard the faint.
drone of an scroplane engine reverberating
down the valley, In moments a gnat like craft
Shot from a narrow valley, banked, then buzzed
over the growing blaze. The sun caught the
flanks of the small craft as it circled, dove, then
passed through the smoke and dangerously
close to the orange flames again. As quickly as
it had come the small plane was gone. In mo-
ments another, deeper, guttural drone filled the
valley as a plane that locked as if it had once
been used for domestic flights burst into view
and began circling the blaze like an eagle clos-
ing in on a beached salmon.

Our vantage point made it appear as if there
was hardly enough room to squeeze a cigarette
paper between the wing tips of the big plane and
the mountain side. The kids were agog as the
pilot put on a show that may have been routine

‘for him, but seemed awfully impressive to us.

After a trio. of passes the belly of the plane
opened and a curtain of reddish orange unfurled
then blanketed the blazing target] expected
thunder when the retardant hit, but there was
none. The pilot repeated the performance six
times leaving us amazed at how much the plane
could hold, then left the valley and the dying
fire behind,

If you go out in the woods some days you're
in for a big surprise, .

THE TITLE of King of the
Grass stays in Terrace for an-
other year.

Ken Gibson successfully de-
fended his title at Grass Blast
’95, beating out Ian Black to
eam a $1,000 cheque and
bragging rights for the next 12
months. Gibson, piloting a
Yamaha, also outdragged Brad

-Koning to pick up the victory
in the Stock King of the Grass,

More than 60 riders took part
in the fourth annual grass drag
which drew more than 10
times that number of spec-
tators.

Race classes ranged from
Stock (no modifications to the
machine) to the Open
Modified: (anything goes) in
this sanctioned event run un-
der International Snowmobil-
ing Federation rules.

Although deprived of the big
payday in the King of the
Grass, Black emerged from
the day as the winningest
Tider, storming to victory in
the Stock A — he defeated
Ken Gibson in that one — the
Stock C and Open Modified
1000 on his Arctic Cat.

Beaten by Craig Fortune in
the ‘Improved Stock 800,
Trevor Gibson bounced back
to score victories in the Open
Modified 800 and Open Fuel

Gibson repeats in Blast —

TERRACE STANDARD &

LOCAL SLEDDER Trevor Gibson blasts off the line at Grass Blast '95. Quick as
he was, however, he couldn't catch Craig Fortune in this Improved Stock 800 final.

Unlimited.

Other strong performers in-
cluded Dan Coombs who
picked up a win and twa
places in the Stock classes, ad-
ding another victory in the Im-
proved Stock 600,

Another to pick up.a double
was Rob Maroney who got the
better of Paul Rodriques in an
all Ski-Doo duel for the Stock
E then added the Improved
Stock 500. Rodrigues got con-

solation by coming away with
the Stock D and Improved
Stock 400 trophies.

And Royden MacDonald
caught fire in the Pro-Stocks,
scoring in both the 800 and
1000cc.

Chris Brown beat out Kyle
McCann for the Junior B title
while Brandy Rafuse ran away
with the Ladies’. :

Pleased at how smoothly the
event had again gone, race

director Ron Neisner had a

-word of thanks for Mother Na-

ture, holding off the rain until
then end of the day.

He also paid tribute to the
work done by all the
volunteers and the sponsoring
support received from many
businesses.

For full results of Grass

Blast 95, see the Score Board
. on page B&.

Reinhardts rack up the victories -

IT WAS Reinhardt Day at the
: Aug. 20 Terrace Stock Car as- .

socidtion meet:

Debby: ‘Reinhardt opened the
scoring in the C Hobby Dash.
Caught late in the Heat by
Dawn . Tomas, Reinhardt
bounced back to win the duel
forthe Main,

Les Reinhardt, also piloting
#55, was best of the bunch in
the B Hobby Heat, then used
his experience to emerge vic-
torious from a Main bump-

and-pass battle with Howie

O’Brien. —

And in the A Hobby Main,
Dave ‘Reinhardt drove #55 to

‘its seventh chequered flag of:

the day. «

In that race Gord Klassen
was black flagged when gas
was spotted spilling from his
vehicle. A trip to the pits
revealed a missing gas cap.
Klassen had earlier won the
Heat.

Sportsman action saw Erie
Perkins open with a clean
Dash victory. In the Heat,

however, he lost an argument’

with the wall leaving Albert

Weber to score the first of his
two victories,
“In the:rough-and, stumble of

the A Street: events,.. honours -

were shared with Rick. Meyers
taking the Dash, Shane Meier
the Heat and James Michal-
chuk the Main.

There was more mayhem in
the B Streets with over-the-
banks, spin outs and flat tires.
Len ‘McAsthur gelting the
Dash and Fraser Sutherland Jr.
the other two races.

Back in the C Street for the
day, Elizabeth Cloakey cut

loose with a clean sweep. ;
The{meet closed out with a

brutal Jamboree that'saw only... :
“:SiX: cars complete the course.! °°"

Gary McCarthy got the nod
for Hobby cars, the Street
going to Sutherland.

Racers take a break. this
weekend, but return Sept. 10
for the season's grand finale,
Open Day highlighted by the

Demolition Derby,
Time trials begin 12:30 p.m.
with racing — including

novelty events — getting -un-
der way an hour later.

Hockey duo show ‘the way

IT’S AN annual pilgrimage
for Jeff. Sharples and Wade
Flaherty. »

A chance to come home and,
as instructors at the Hockey
Summer School, help young
players develop skills that

- might allow them to one day

follow in the duo’s footsteps.

“We take the kids through
the drills Wade and I do dur-
ing the season,” explains
Sharples, a one-time defen-
ceman with the Detroit Red
Wings who now plays in the
International Hockey League.

‘We try to show them any
goal is attainable, you just
have to keep on working for
it.”’

This year, however, they’ve
taken on an additional job —
beating the drum for construc-.
tion of a second arena here.

Flaherty emphasizes there is
no reason why other Terrace
minor hockey products can’t
also make it to the National

, Hockey League, assuming

they can get enough ice time,
Increased ice availability

_ would also allow more tourna-

ments to be held, important
because of the additional com-
petition and experience the
players would get.

Sharples echoes those senti-
ments, “‘If we're going to de-
velop more players, we need
that extra sheet.

“There are kids here (at the
Summer School) with out-
standing skills and ability,’’ he
adds, ‘‘but they need the ex-
posure to develop them.”’

Access to more ice would

also help the hockey. school to.
expand what it offers. “We

could work more on specialty —

units, and work on other fun-—

damentals,’’ says Sharples.
Pointing to the rapid growth
of Terrace in recent. years, he
says there are simply too many
people chasing too little ice.
And although his interest is
obviously in minor hockey,
Sharples points out the need

extends beyond that to all
other ice sports, even to public

skating.

The Summer School having
ended last Saturday, the pair
are now tuming their: full at-
tention to the fast approaching
new season,

Flaherty reports to camp for
the Sharks on Sept. 8: Noting
first string goalie Arturs Irbe
hasn’t signed a new contract
yet, he admits, “Everything” 8
up‘in the air.’

However, his focus will be
on having a good camp, not
what may or may not happen
with Irbe, ‘‘Whatever you did

last year won’t help you.

Yau’ve got to make it at
camp.” After that, hell just be
hoping for a fair shot at play-
ing time.

Sharples, meanwhile, will be
looking to break back into the
NHL ranks, ‘*You can never
give up on your goals,” he
says, emphasizing hard work,
dedication — plus some good
timing — were the keys,

Although he feels he’s a bet-
ter player now than he was
when he played with Detroit,
the 27-year-old concedes there
must still be something miss-

_ ing in his game. “‘I just have

to figure it out and push har:
der.’”

“ROLE REVERSAL. As a goalie with the NHL San
Jose Sharks, Wade Flaherty is usually on the receiv-
Ing end of shots. But over the past two weeks it was
his turn to be the shooter during the goaltender’s ses-.
sions at the annual Terrace Hockey Summer School,

bh petty (228