We had a beautiful day for racing…thank you Lord!
Put out the call for workers early to ensure we had judging positions filled. Had great response. Terry Houts was my backup starter…thanks Terry you did an outstanding job.
The following volunteers made the race a tremendous success; Lap counters: Curt McIntyre, Kerry Mayden, Michael Berzins and Ron Berzins. Cut Judges: Chris Webb and Kevin Mayden. Steve Fluhr also volunteered. Our volunteers made this a great event!
The UPROAR race had 2 entries. Stephen Adams had put a new one together and test flew it Friday…only to have a bad landing which ripped the engine off the plane. By default, Sid Kinzel was the winner.
FOUR-STAR 40 had 8 contestants and close racing ensued. Stephen Adams had his very first heat win(!) but snapped it into the crops in the second heat. (Editors note: The Four Star is almost ready to fly again. but the Uproar will take longer.) When it was all over there was a three-way tie, with 7 points each, for second place between Greg Teson, Dan Morrison and Steve Cross. Places were settled by a coin toss instead of a fly-off. In third place was Steve Cross, in Second place was Dan Morrison, and in First Place was Ralph Doyle. We had three DNF’s. But, overall close racing by all participants.
We had 2 participants in Unlimited WARBIRDS, Ralph Doyle and myself. Ralph didn’t want to change his prop as he was set up for stock racing. So, we opted to not race the class.
Stock WARBIRDS had 6 entries. Again, some close racing. We had a tie for second and third between Dan Morrison and Steve Ramonczuk…settled by a coin toss. Dan Morrison took Third place; giving Steve Second place. Dual Member, from the Phantom Flyers, Jeff Brundt took home First place! Certificates were given out to the winners.
Asked if there was anything we could do to improve the racing? One suggestion was to disallow the HV (High Voltage) batteries in the Stock WARBIRDS class These batteries have a base voltage 4.35 volts per cell…where standard LiPo batteries are 4.2 volts per cell. The current rule states:
Rules are pretty simple…when you open the box and put what’s in the box together…that’s STOCK! Use the recommended size battery…i.e. whatever cell size (i.e. 3, 4, or 5, cells) that is recommended by the manufacturer. Also, use the prop that came in the box…they are readily available at hobby shop and on-line.
This will be topic of discussion to clarify the rules. What do we want to do? Two individuals were unsure about giving beginners 1 or 2 laps head start. I countered that doing so got more entries and once they win a heat, they only get a 1 lap head start in the next heat. If they win the next heat with a one-lap head start they are from then on going to fly 7 or 10 laps like the proficient racers…bottom line is INCREASED PARTICIPATION.
Photo Credit: Jeff Brundt
