The Province from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 48

A48 Province Sports Wednesday, August 30, 1995 wm i Driving his best car ever Ross Bentley (centre) of Vancouver is making his sixth appearance in the city's lndy. His best finish has been 13th. He replaces Belgian Eric Bachelart on the LolaFord Cosworth entry with Walter Payton and Dale Coyne's team. Province file photo Bentley, 38, will be making his sixth appearance in the Vancouver race. While his best finish has been 13th, he's optimistic this year will be better, driving "the best lndy car I've ever had." By Don Harrison Sports Reporter Ross Bentley is into the Molson Vancouver lndy and The Province is one of the reasons why.

The veteran Vancouver driver put the finishing touches on a deal that im )Mf 4 J1 was 39 -er-cent done Bentley has bumped Belgian Eric Bachelart from the 1994 Agfa Lola FordCosworth entry of the Walter PaytonDale Coyne team from the qualifying field, which begins Friday on the streets beside able from that point of view." When not racing WSS in places such as Daytona, Seibring and Watkins Glen, Bentley has been working on that elusive sponsorship package to get him a fulltime competitive car for next year. "I've been at work on next year (for IndyCar) since the beginning of this year," said Bentley, who learned his craft at the late, lamented West-wood track in Coquitlam, "and I think that's the way to go." Of his chances this weekend with his new car, Bentley said: "I guess I'm fairly hopeful." "I had been driving a Spice with a Lexus engine," said Bentley. "To be honest, it was a little unreliable." In his first WSS start for his new employer Lee Payne of Kansas City, at Mosport outside Toronto on Aug. 13, Bentley placed fourth in an untested Mark II World Sports Car. This new deal is one without pain for Bentley.

"The deal with World Sports Car is: I just show up and drive," he said of the relief from all the sponsorship and managing duties that he's had to employ during an off-again, on-again IndyCar career. "It's enjoy- Le Physique fitness centre. While unable to secure enough financing to run any of the previous 15 races this IndyCar season, Bentley has been driving the World Sportscar Series that is popular in Europe, a circuit that features such Formula One veterans as Michele Alboretto, Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi. Bentley parted company with the Screaming Eagles team owned by U.S. television actor Craig T.

Nelson of the series Coach earlier this month and now has a new WSS deal through 1996. BENTLEY a good ride three months ago," but just completed on Tuesday when the stubborn last one per cent was signed, sealed and delivered. "It's been hectic, but I'm happy now," said Bentley who has spent the '95 season racing sports cars on the IMSA series. "I'm dying to get into the car. There are always too many (distracting, promotional) things this week.

I can't wait until about 11 o'clock on Friday when I put on my helmet and I can forget about those things." the old Expo site in downtown Vancouver. Beside The Province, other Bentley sponsors include NTN Bearings, Mutual Exchange Canada, Hankook Tire Canada, John Ladd BMW and The perfect combination: As a youngster growing up in Williams Lake, Trevor Seibert developed a natural love for fast cars and quick horses. His father Kirk was a familiar fessional race driving, Trevor's career is on the rise. He's been on the pole in Vancouver for the last five years with two different cars. Last year Trevor Seibert, who now lives in Langley got a big break: He 11 MZ stock-car driver on the local racing circuit and his mother Reta an accomplished equestrian rider.

Involvement with racing thoroughbreds came by accident to the car racer, who will compete in this weekend's lndy Lights competition. In 1980, Kirk Seibert, owner of a construction company, was giving a mare as payment for a bill, owed to him by a customer. signed to drive for Canas-ka Racing. "What happened was the last year I was driving Formula Atlantics I had a car that was pretty old," said Seibert. "While in Halifax I won both the pole and a race with a car everyone said would never win a race anymore.

That's kind of why I got the phone call to drive for this team." Canaska Racing's cre XiVr air under my car and I flew 25-30 feet in the air. When the car came back on the ground it continued to roll end over end six or seven times. "It was quite the crash and the car was totalled." The car was a $120,000 write-off, not including the engine. "The team had already experienced a couple of severe crashes before that," Seibert said. "Quite frankly, the budget had been very strained at that time and it wasn't looking very good for me to have a car for the end of the season.

Then Mrs. Sifton came forth and offered to purchase another car for the team in the sponsorship role. Which was very generous of her. And that's why we are here." With his experience riding horses and cars, he has enormous respect for jockeys. "I've gone a half mile in 14.6 seconds and hit speeds of 160 m.p.h.

So I see a lot of similarities between our jobs. You have to be physically and mentally prepared. Plus there's the element of danger. One time a rider told me I was nuts for driving race cars. I remember saying at least I can stop when I want to, most times.

And I don't have to jump off, when I want to get off." TOM WOLSKI Hoss Talk HI 1 "You could say we were successful in horse racing," Kirk Seibert recalled. "We won more than 50 races at various tracks in the States." Asked about his son's choice of horsepower, he said: "As a kid he was pretty good at show-horse riding. But, I knew when he cracked up my pickup truck at the age of six, his first love was going to be mechanical speed." Now in his seventh year of pro- ator, Victor Sifton, coinci-dentally has a horse racing pedigree. His mother, June, is a prominent horse owner. Among her trainers is Bill Shoemaker.

Three weeks ago, Seibert was involved in a spectacular accident in Cleveland. "On the very last lap, about a hundred feet from the finish line, I was trying to overtake another driver and he veered into my car," Seibert said. "And we touched tires. I got Staff photo by Colin Price California Jett might be faster than your average horse, but he's still no match for the 450 horses that driver Trevor Seibert of Langley has to harness every time he gets into his lndy Lights car..