The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 5

iencouitrSun INSIDE PORTS Jots to fly south 2 Caravatta to start for Lions 3 Canada set to defend Dunhill Cup 6 Sports Editor Brad Ziemer 732-2395 FAX 732-2524 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1995 CC COLUMN Go-karts to IndyCar took Moore just five years Maple Ridge driver takes Villeneuve's spot on Player's racing team for '96 season 'MX I IAIN MacINTYRE with the Maple Ridge native brought the Indy Lights championship in 1995. Winning 10 or 12 races, Moore broke more records than an over-zealous evangelist in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Ostensibly, Moore next season replaces IndyCar champion Jacques Vil-ieneuve of Iberville, who switched to Formula One after carrying Player's colors in 1995. Forsythe has Moore under contract for four more years, and with an incentive-laden deal, Moore's earnings could push seven-figures. Only two years ago, he picked up pocket money during the winter by working in the service department of a Duncan auto dealership.

"People knew me as Greg The Service Writer," Moore said, dismissing the notion of stardom. "I'm just a 20-year-old kid; there's no celebrity status." Moore's first drive was in a run-of-the-mill lawnmower-engine go-kart, which his father Ric, a former amateur racer who owns Maple Ridge Chrysler, gave him at age five or six. Vancouver Sun His first pole as a driver had telephone wires at the top of it. Greg Moore was 16, had just recently received his driver's licence and got careless. I lis focus in the car hasn't wavered since.

Fiercely driven in motorsport, Moore was officially introduced Wednesdiiy by Player's Ltd. Racing as its driver for the 1996 IndyCar World Series. Moore is 20, and only five years removed from racing go-karts. "This is the show," Moore said. "We're going to the show.

"It's like my childhood dream has come true." What a dream, and what a show it will be if Moore succeeds in IndyCars the way he has at every level of racing during his lightning ascent to North America's most prestigious motorsport series. Moore will drive for the Player's-sponsored team of Illinois industrialist Gerald Forsythe, whose partnership Ml 1 4 Canuck director of hockey operations George McPhce said Monday rumors that Igor Larionov was headed back to Vancouver from the San Jose Sharks were "nonsense." We're about to find out. Larionov, the former Canuck who centred Pavel Bure in the Russian Rocket's rookie season, has been banished from the Sharks after asking for a trade. Larionov, who does not get along with authoritarian San Jose coach Kevin Constantine, made his trade request Wednesday and was willing to stay with the National Hockey League club until a deal was made. Constantine said no thanks, and told him to leave now.

The Sharks are in Winnipeg for a game tonight against the Jets. agent, Don Baizley, is based in Winnipeg. A trade could come as soon as today. But at age 34 and with a price tag of $1.5 million a year, many teams may not be interested. The Canucks, according to McPhee, were among the disinterested.

The Sharks, however, could make the deal more attractive by paying a chunk of Larionov's salary. Canuck general manager Pat Quinn wouldn't say much Wednesday night in Anaheim: "I'm not aware that he's walked out," Quinn said. "He's someone else's property. You know I can't comment on that." Last month, Larionov butted heads with the club over its handling of former Shark Sergei Makarov, who was released. The Canucks allowed Larionov to leave after the 1991 -92 season, as the player bolted to Lugano, Switzerland rather than re-sign with Vancouver, which would have owed royalties to Russian hockey officials.

IAN LINDSAY Vancouver Sun ALL SMILES: Proud father Rick Moore is joined by son Greg at a news conference announcing Greg's selection as a driver for Player's Ltd. IndyCar team in '96. "Back then the dealership was closed back then, it was fast." on Sundays," Greg Moore recalled. Moore became fast enough in special- "We'd put up blocks so no one could ly-built racing go-karts to win the North drive in and I'd do laps around the American Enduro championship in dealership. It was a little Briggs and Stratton one-horsepower motor.

But Please see MOORE, E6 Captain Kirk regains form as Mogilny scores twice Canucks burn Mighty sad Ducks ELLIOTT PAP Vancouver Sun ANAHEIM The Vancouver Canucks threw a defensive blanket on the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for two periods Wednesday, then they nearly threw in the towel. The Canucks dumped the Ducks 5-1 to spoil Disney's home-opening party before the 50th straight sellout crowd at the Pond. But they did it the hard way as they allowed the Ducks to storm Vancouver goaltender Kirk McLean in the final period. McLean, who bailed out his mates with a superb performance, faced 15 shots in the first 13 minutes of the third before Alexander Mogilny scored against the run of the play to make it 3-1. Jeff Brown and Mogilny added late goals to make it 5-1, the score flattering Vancouver.

l1 5 McLean lost his shutout bid early in the third on Paul Kariya's gimmee from the side of the net as Vancouver's SHARK ATTACK Golfer Greg Norman has attacked critics who say he's a money-grabbing Great White Shark. "Am I greedy? I don't think so," the Australian star said on the eve of leading his three-man team into the $1.5 million US Dunhill Cup golf tournament at St. Andrews, Scotland. Norman disputed a media report that he had demanded $375,000 to play in last week's world match play championship at Wentworth, England. "These sort of figures that are being thrown around are simply not true," said Norman, who didn't play in the tournament because of what he called "miscommunication" between the tournament organizers and his management team.

"As far as appearance money is concerned, people can speculate as high as they want to. I've heard speculation about figures of over half a million dollars. I laugh at those figures because people don't know the truth. got appearance money for the Swiss Open but I gave some of it back because I missed the of 24 tournaments I had eight with appearance money. But for two of those, I give the money to charity so it's really six.

"I give a lot of money away to charity. For the year, it would be over a million bucks." WORTH REPEATING Phoenix Sun star forward Charles Barkley on the replacements working during the NBA's lockout of its referees: "I never thought I would say it, but I want my old, terrible NBA officials back." MICHAEL CAULFIELDAP FIGHT FOR THE PUCK: Anaheim Mighty Ducks' Jason York (3) attempts to keep a puck away fromCanucks' Martin Gelinas down low coverage collapsed. McLean finished with 36 saves 17 of them coming in the third and was named the game's first star. "That was the Kirk McLean of old," said Canuck head coach Rick Ley, The Kirk McLean of any era wasn't impressed with the defensive shortcoming he was forced to endure. "It's something we have to look at," he grurtted as he peeled off his gear.

"We gave them way too many chances in the third. For 40 minutes, we played very well and it showed. Then in the third, it was like a fire drill." The bad habits of last week quickly resurfaced as forwards left the zone early, didn't play the man or attempted fancy plays. If the Ducks were a little more proficient around the net, they may have easily erased the Canuck lead. "We made a lot of risky plays," Ley said.

"People on the ice think you're going to make certain plays and you make a wrong one and everything gets disjointed and out of whack. Once you start running around, you lose your position and start playing with emotion instead of control. "We have to get our guys to believe the right thing is to stay in control because the other team is the one that has to take the chances," Ley added. "Obviously not all our guys are believers." Mogilny is making believers out of the opposition as his seven goals now lead the league. He was more concerned about the victory, however.

"This is an important part of the season because at the end the points are harder to get," he said. "Besides, if I finish with seven goals, you guys are going to be asking me what Trevor Linden, in the first period, and Jassen Cullimore, in the second, had staked the Canucks to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. The win extended Vancouver's unbeaten streak to four (2-0-2) and the team's road unbeaten streak to three (2-0-1). "I guess that's a good sign," said McLean. The Canucks opened the scoring at 14:35 of the first period on a tremendous solo dash by Linden.

The Canuck captain wheeled through the neutral zone with the Ducks on a line change, waltzed around defence-man Dave Karpa and beat Mikhail Shtalenkov with a backhander through the five-hole. The Canucks dominated the early part of the second period but couldn't beat Shtalenkov. Josef Beranek, back in the lineup, shot high on a wonderful chance while Roman Oksiuta, Russ Courtnall and Courtnall again were turned away. Gino Odjick also shot high and wide after busting in from the left side following a lovely Linden pass. Vancouver was finally rewarded for its industry at the 12:33 mark when Cullimore pounced on a loose puck in the slot after Jim Sandlak had thrown a pass out from the corner.

Odjick was parked to Shtalenkov's left and created havoc, enabling de-fenceman Cullimore to find the net with a low shot. Sandlak and Odjick each contributed one assist while Pavel Bure was held poindess for the second straight game. If they build it, there's no guarantee Seattle fans will fill new stadium are the problem. It is easy to forget there was no World Series last October and players and owners are still no closer to a collective bargaining agreement than they were a year Archie Mcdonald $30 million payroll was just over half of New York's. Whatever the sport (remember the New Jersey Devils?) good management can still triumph over big spending, sometimes.

Before the final game Jay Buhner said that the new-found success of the Mariners would pay dividends. Players who were once reluctant to have their careers placed in obscurity by coming to the Wet Coast would now be happy to come. For the right price, of course. That's the rub, keeping the team together, improving it, all at a cost that is acceptable to the owners. Despite the appearance of wild cards the world has unfolded at it should.

Adanta and Cleveland, with their superb pitching staffs, were the best teams over the entire season and they will happily meet in the Worid Series. And the winner will be fortunate to be cheered as warmly as the Mariners were this week. Who would have thought the wild card system, much maligned by purists, could have such far reaching results? The marriage of Seattle and its citizens may have been made in baseball heaven, but you have to wonder how life will be when this glorious honeymoon is over. Does a month of sellouts after 19 seasons make you an instant baseball town? A complicated tax proposal would raise $320 million (Do these projects ever come in on budget?) for a new stadium with a retractable roof to be built next to the Kingdome. Mariners' owners hope the new playpen will stop the financial bleeding.

They claim their losses could reach $30 million for this year. The operative word is claim, but even allowing for exaggeration the losses still figure to be considerable. After 52 sellouts in the new Jacobs Field, the Indians claim their profit will be less than $1 million. What will hap- Seattle Mariners may have added another arcane statistic to baseball's bulky record book: Longest ovation accorded a losing team. Fans demanded a curtain call from the Mariners after they went down swinging ineffectively against Cleveland Indians Tuesday night and the players responded by coming back onto the field.

It was a highly charged demonstration of mutual admiration. Fans thanking players for a magical month; players praising fans for coming out in numbers that were unthinkable at the beginning of this 19th season. Together they had saved baseball in Seattle. Which raises the question: Is baseball worth saving? Ask that in Seattle and the response would be an overwhelming yes But how will the citizens feel one year from now? Five years? There is nothing wrong with baseball as recent events have once again shown. It is the people who run it who pen if they have a bad team? The Seattle-Cleveland matchup proved that teams in small markets with depressing traditions can compete.

It was like a shouting match between Rodney Dangerfield and Phyllis Diller. Seatde didn't get any respect, but Cleveland was ugly. Four years ago the Indians lost 105 games. Dennis Martinez, their 40-year-old pitcher, had not been born the last time they were in the World Series. While Cleveland and Seattle were rising to the top, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, and Minnesota Twins, the American League champions during the last seven years, all finished last in their respective divisions.

A similar fate could also befall the Mariners in a couple of years should Ken Griffey decide to go elsewhere. George Steinbrenner spent lavishly to buy a championship for his New York Yankees but they lost to the Mariners ago. Baseball as a business remains in huge trouble and now Seatde is buying into it with taxpayers' money. Washington didn't know what baseball really was until the Mariners became involved in a race for a newly created wild card playoff berth in September. Rather than reducing their payroll by unloading high salaried players, as was their modus operandi in the past, the Mariners now had reason to keep them.

Rather than unloading they loaded up..