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18 saturday july 6 2002 economist sun stouffville tribune sports illlllllllllk t i i sj i staff photosjoerd witteveen sizing up the situation markham lawn bowling club member verna rowat indicates how wide she was with her bowl in a match against whitby during the bluestone bistro tournament at the markham lawn bowling club on wednesday di leo hopes for home crowd inspiration at molson indy markham driver is gaining experience in his rookie year on the barber dodge pro series circuit by mike hayakawa staff writer daniel di leo hopes the sports adage of home field advantage will be a factor in auto racing with the molson indy set to take place this weekend in toronto di leo is returning home to compete in the barber dodge pro series race which takes place sunday at 11 am prior to the cartfedex cham pionship race at 130 pm currently in his rookie year on the circuit the 20yearold markham resident is coming off an impressive sedondplace fin ish in his last outing two weeks ago in portland oregon racing this weekend in front of family and close friends di daniel di leo markham resident finished second in his last race at portland oregon leo is looking forward to his homecoming of sorts im heading into the race with lots of confidence said di leo who just completed his first year of studies at ryerson university where hes majoring in business management the car is working good right now the set up is good and i know family and friends will be cheering for me currently sitting sixth in the series standings and second in the rookie standings di leo is quite happy with the progress hes made so far he acknowledged having a slow start part of it he said was due to inexperience i had to pay my dues with the car the veteran drivers have the edge in knowing their car and having more time in it and from there it all snowballs he explained reflecting on his season di leo said the most important thing hes learned so far is the amount of work that has to be put in not just on the track he said but off of it as well part of his offroad responsi bilities he said is in searching for sponsors to help pay the bills in an expensive sport ive been working pretty hard but for me racing is a job off the track just as well molson gives rugby dub a helping hand markham receives 3000 grant from molson canada to assist in clubhouse construction by mike hayakawa staff writer when the markham rugby club began the construction of its 3200- square foot clubhouse a year ago the goal was to make it as inviting as pos sible to players and spectators with the project at austin park nearing completion the club received some addi tional support from molson canada through its local heroes program molson gave the club a 3000 grant to assist in the installation of a new walkway and viewing deck club president jim monk said the timing couldnt be better every little bit helps said monk noting the grant came about in rather quick fashion monk praised the work of project coordinator colin campbell who had the initiative to contact molson canada colin found the brochure that molson had on the local heroes pro gram about six weeks ago and he filled out the application and the company approved it it was a bit surprising but i think molson is trying to be perceived as being good samaratins to the commu nity said monk whose landscaping company do exterior work on the clubhouse in explaining the walkway monk noted it will have three sections including one of interlocking brick from the players entrance another from the main entrance and a wheel chair ramp the viewing deck will be elevated and overlook the field monk noted it will be an area where spectators can watch the game from while having a meal or beverage at the same time if everything goes according to plan monk anticipates the walkway and viewing deck could be started during the next week and finished in just a day now in its fifth year the molson local heroes program enables volunteer groups from across ontario to receive funding to refur bish sports and recreational facilities in their neighborhoods on a separate note the club will be a busy place today as the markham under- 12 and under- 14 teams will make their home debut at austin park starting at 9 am following those games the firsts seconds and thirds host the oakville crusaders starting at noon stouffville loses in a slugfest the stouffville mennos got the offence they needed in wednesdays oshawa city and district softball con test against the claremont rebels at memorial park but their defence was another story as six errors paved the way to a 1615 loss trailing 90 after a half inning the mennos coun tered with a run in the first and sec ond innings and erupted for 10 in the third to take a 129 lead ips fell 8- tdi rino dambr0si0 drove in five runs in losing effort a runscoring triple by rich burkholder a threerun triple from rino dambrosio and a tworun triple by chris burkholder keyed the rally after claremont responded with five runs in the fourth to regain the lead at 1412 stouffv ille retaliated in the sixth to take a 1514 lead when scott eyre tripled in a run and dambrosio belted a tworun homer the advantage was shortlived as rebels scored twice in the seventh off losing pitcher terry reesor to win the game now 85 oathe season the mennos resume league play wednesday at home against the oshawa juniors at 830 pm and then play at mount albert on thursday cougars lose heartbreaker to new york in fastpitch tournament the markham cougars advanced to the final of last week ends civitan fast pitch jamboree in kitchener before being edged 3- 2 in a tiebreaker to the new york diamond girls trailing 20 through three innings against a team comprised of players a year older the cougars rallied with a run in the fourth and one in the sixth to tie the game left fielder meghan sullivan enabled markham to stay in con tention with solid defence includ ing four consecutive catches in extra innings after new york scored the goahead run the cougars came within inches of tying the game when sullivan slid home on a play with two out but was called out on a close call fnishing second out of seven teams in the roundrrobin with a 4- 1 mark markham received a three- hit pitching effort from charlsie searle to blank the seventhranked guelph gators 50 in a quarter final game facing topranked scarbor ough in a rematch the cougars were backed by a strong pitching effort from joey kyriazis who had a nohitter entering the final inning before emerging with a 5- 2 win and berth in the final the loss by scarborough was just its second of the season