Dunbar crowned power boat champ
It took 26 years for Shawn Dunbar to fulfill a desire to race power boats and he’s taking full advantage of it.
Better known in the Peterborough sports scene as a hockey coach, formerly with the Lakefield Chiefs and now with the
Port Hope Panthers, and for being the long-time DJ at Lakers lacrosse and Petes hockey games, Dunbar added power boat champion to his resume on the weekend. He went undefeated on both Saturday and Sunday, a total of 16 races, to win the Lake Racer class at the Ontario Power Boat Racing Association’s second annual Peterborough Power Boat Races on Little Lake.
Dunbar, 43, grew up on the water in Ennismore and his father John raced boats back in the 1960’s.
“I’ve always had that itch to do it,” said Dunbar. “I started driving boats when I was four years old and high-performance boats by 12. I wanted to race when I was 16 but mom (Carol) wouldn’t let me. She already had one racer in the family and he had a close call, almost getting run over, so she didn’t want her baby to have the same experience. Now that I’m a little older I decided, why not?”
His first race was at last year’s inaugural event on Little Lake with a heavier boat in a lower class. This year, in an STV River Rocket with a 280 horsepower Mercury motor, he’s stepped up to a faster division. His boat can reach 114 mph on open water and tops out at about 90 mph on the 800-foot OPBRA drag course.
“Living on the lake I’ve always had high-performance boats so I have that experience with fast boats,” he said.
His first race last year he forgot to watch the starting lights and got left behind at the line. He’s worked hard on getting the starts down pat.
“It’s all about experience,” he said. “Now my starts are pretty bang on. Your start is everything in racing. That first 300 feet wins a race.”
Dunbar, who is a multi-media coordinator at Fleming College, got out of his boat and headed to Port Hope for the Panthers’ home opener. He is general manager and head coach there after helping Lakefield win a Schmalz Cup Ontario junior C championship as assistant coach last year. He left the Chiefs for the challenge of rebuilding a young Port Hope team while also taking an assistant GM role with the OJHL’s Cobourg Cougars.
“I liked the challenge of trying to completely recreate a new team. We have only five veterans back in Port Hope. I like challenges,” he said. “It had nothing to do with Lakefield. I love Lakefield and I’m going to miss them. I loved coaching with Jamie (Arcand). He’s the best to coach with. It was a new challenge plus the connection with Cobourg is a career opportunity.”
He was also busy the last few weeks doing music at Lakers’ games in their run to a Mann Cup championship.
“A few people close to me are happy the Lakers are now done. Congrats to them. It was a lot on my plate,” he said.
Dunbar also ran the OPBRA races In Gravenhurst earlier this season finishing third overall. Next summer he plans to be back on the water with OPBRA who hope to expand to four events in 2019.
“It’s a great organization,” said Dunbar. “Brent (OPBRA founder Brent Valois) does a great job. They have tons of great volunteers. It’s a class act and I love it. “
Valois said 60 racers registered for the weekend races. While it’s hard to estimate attendance for an event with no admission fee, Valois said “thousands” of people passed through Del Crary Park on race day and up to 2,500 at any given time lined the shorelines.