STONY PLAIN, AB – As NASCAR kicked off the 2013 race season south of the border, the 15th annual AWANA Grand Prix took place north of the border at the East Parkland Bible Church Saturday afternoon. “This is their Daytona 500,” exclaims Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series announcer Gord Craig, “it’s a huge race for the kids and their parents. A lot of preparation goes into building one of these cars.” For the sixth consecutive year, Craig was special guest announcer. “It’s been fun watching this race grow the last few years. This is a fantastic family event.” Two months ago families were handed small blocks of wood and ‘spec’ wheels and axles. From these blocks of wood, 30 unique race cars were constructed and entered into this year’s race [26 in 2012].

Craig notes that some new technology made its debut this year. “The Awana leadership group acquired a new computer program which tracked the cars time and speed. The finish line scoreboard was also upgraded to show the actual finish order of the cars as they crossed the line.” Elapsed time, the speed of the cars and the finishing order was also projected onto a large screen behind the start line. “Most of the races took less than three seconds,” says Craig, “some of the cars were hitting scale speeds of over two hundred-eighty kilometers-per-hour. That’s clipping along pretty good.”

Each car got four runs down the track in each lane and was awarded points based on their finishing position. The top four cars with the most points after the Qualifying Races transferred to the Championship Finals.

Braeden Williams took the Championship in the SPARKS (age 5 – 9) class. “My sister won last year,” says the excited seven-year old, “I’m happy I got to win it this year.” The Spruce Grove, Alberta racer won four consecutive races in the final to claim first place. Stony Plain, Alberta’s Jordan Moncrieff won in the T&T class (age 9 – 13). Moncrieff won the SPARKS class in 2011. Braeden’s mother Thea won in the LEADERS division. Thea Williams finished third in the LEADERS division last year.

Official race results:
15th ANNUAL AWANA GRAND PRIX
> Saturday, February 23, 2013
East Parkland Bible Church
Stony Plain, Alberta

SPARKS (ages 5 – 9)
1st # 1 Braeden Williams – Spruce Grove
2nd # 4 Brie Kohut – Stony Plain
3rd # 6 Matthew Bueckert – Stony Plain (finished 3rd in 2011)

T & T’s (ages 9 – 13)
1st # 60 Jordan Moncrieff – Stony Plain
2nd #57 Caitlin Klassen – Spruce Grove
3rd #69 Adam Klassen – Spruce Grove (finished 2nd in 2011 / winner in 2010)

LEADERS
1st #100 Thea Williams – Spruce Grove
2nd #111 Shannon McGann – Spruce Grove
3rd #101 Ian McGann – Spruce Grove

AWANA is a Christian children’s ministry founded in 1950.