North Coast Challenge
We all had a great time in Ohio. Murphy tried to throw us a few curves again, but the resourceful group that we are, were able to improvise, adapt, and overcome! Tony Husak, Dennis Fuchs, and Holly Hollingsworth were able to keep things rolling out on the flight line even with a few full-scale delays. Off course we also kept Loren Tregellas busy working on his pylons and timing equipment. The MARCS club also had a good turnout of members to staff all of the race-officials positions, and Tom Keating, Chris Justus, and their families all pitched in to make things work.
Thursday was tech day with the usual routines. A few test flights were made late in the day before someone mentioned that the power was out in the hangar. It didn't take too long for word to spread that the whole North East portion of the U.S. was blacked out! This would have been a problem for us gypsies because we normally rely on restaurants to eat when we are on the road at a race, but thankfully Scott and Stacy Hanbury had scheduled their BBQ that night and we all ate very well! Thanks Hanburys!! By the time we all got back to our motels after the feast, the power was back on.
Friday we cranked up the heat races and got in two rounds despite some glitches with the timing equipment. The racing was surprisingly fast in the humid conditions. Terry Williams picked up a couple of heat race wins in Biplane, as did Archie Snider in T-6. Tom Easterday, Diego Lopez, Tom Keating, Fred French and myself also scored wins in F-1. In F-1GT, Denny Baker picked up where he left off in Kansas with Peter Goldsmith and Scott Hanbury also notching victories. Experimental saw 4 airplanes line up for the first heat with Fred Sattler grabbing the win and Daniel Goldberg serving notice that he would be in the hunt this weekend with Ed Rankin's Polen Special.
Some notable entries to mention included a new Knight Twister flown in biplane by John Westbrook and the entry of Tim Redelman in T-6 and Experimental with airplanes from Ralph Braun's stable. We also saw the season debut of Chris Justus flying a Mong biplane owned by Tony Husak, and Tom Keating flying a GR-7 previously owned by Mark Chapman. One of Mark's other GR-7s was purchased by Paul Towkach, who flew it in F-1 GT. Speaking of F-1GT, there were 12 aircraft including new racers Pete Bergstrom and Peter Goldsmith from Horizon Hobby. Also new in F-1GT were Chris Justus with Tony Husak's Proud Bird and Dominator Pilot Dean Cranston. Even Kirk "Wildman" Wicklund got into the fun with Loren Tregellas' Polecat. All totaled, we had 47 airplanes with 11 of those Dominators. Speaking of Dominators…These guys had a bunch of good races with John Lockwood, Mark Zeal, Mike Tallman, Matt Weibe, Dean Cranston, and Myron Clark all picking up heat wins. Friday night we all headed to Roman's restaurant where we had so much fun last year. This year we had even more people show up and lots of crab and wings were devoured.
Saturday started off slow with some full-scale traffic and a few equipment problems, but ended up moving along very nicely later in the day. Weather stayed moist, but sunny and the car show was a big hit. Awards for the car show were handed out just after some great lunchtime entertainment. Pete Goldsmith gave us a glider-tow demo, and Tim Redelman flew his JetCat Turbine powered F-4. The airport manager even flew his full-size Yak for the crowd…and I thought I spotted "Wildman" riding shotgun in that thing! The crowd turned out pretty good and stayed for the last round of racing for the day. There were some very good races in F-1GT, F-1, and Dominator. Heat winners in F-1 were consistently turning times under 95 seconds, and F-1GT races were very tight the entire race. Saturday night is the big BBQ under the stars night in Ohio and we all got down to the business of eating and reliving the day's glory. The feast this year included deep roasted beef, pork, chicken, and of course that famous Ohio corn! Tony even included the corn on the cob holders in our "goodie bag" for race entrants. The dessert contest was also held, and everything was extremely tasty. The Ashtabula weather gods then swept in and dropped some giant buckets of rain on us while we were still eating in the tent, trapping us for twenty minutes or so. It did let up enough to allow us all to dash for our vehicles and we weren't bothered with moisture the rest of the weekend.
Sunday dawned a beautiful cool and dry day with the humidity easing up. The wind was a little cross to the runway, but light enough to not cause too many problems. Round 5 went smoothly and the airshow acts took over. The trophy races were up next and ran smoothly. The Dominator race was looking real good until Mark Zeal and Mike Tallman had a mid air, and Biplane was a hard fought contest with Terry Williams taking the win over Chris Justus. In AT-6, Archie Snider steamrolled everyone to complete an undefeated weekend. Denny Baker did the same in F-1GT, but not before Peter Goldsmith took him to the limit with a very good run. The start in F-1 was a hairball with Fred French and myself separating ourselves from the tight pack at the first pylon. We then flew within one second of each other for the next 5 ½ laps where I nipped him for first. Experimental was going to be an interesting duel between Fred Sattler and Daniel Goldberg. During the week, Daniel had really kept the pace with last year's champ and had even picked up a heat race win. Sadly in the final, Fred's spinner bolt failed and its departure wiped out the prop necessitating an immediate landing. Daniel and Tim Redelman completed the race with a 1-2 finish.
All in all, a great weekend in Ohio. Formula 1 winners divided up a $2500 purse provided by Tom Easterday and CRT. F-1 GT split up $350, and a new Zenoah GT-80 engine went to the winner. The AT-6 purse was $400 with the winner receiving $100 and a G-62. Biplanes divided up $175 and Experimental's share was $325, with both classes also in the raffle for a GT-80 which was won by newcomer John Westerbrook. The winners in Bipe and Experimental also received a new JR 8411 digital servo and JR Matchbox from Horizon Hobby. The GT-80 raffle for F-1 pilots was won by Diego Lopez, and John Lockwood, the winner in Dominator, also won a GT-80. The raffle for F-1GT pilots was won by Pete Bergstrom who generously donated the GT-80 to the workers raffle where it was won by (?), who coincidentally is a young man who has the "fever" and is putting together a racer!
Another great event, and everyone is already looking forward to next year. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event possible. It was great to see an increase in the number of entries, and it has been good to see F-1GT really take off with more entries in this class than any other in only the second race. There are already a couple of 'GT pilots making plans for F-1 next year, and some Dominator and AT-6 guys are headed to 'GT as well, so it looks like our "development ladder" is beginning to work. I would encourage everyone to get some of your modeling friends involved in our sport somewhere on this ladder. One race weekend is usually enough to get them hooked, and now we have a class for everyone's pocketbook and/or skill level. I would also like to commend everyone for the great "vibe" at the races this year. More than a few newcomers have commented about this and a couple are getting involved in the sport because they are impressed by the warm welcome that they have received, and the good time that everyone seems to have. Keep up the great work everyone!!
Blue Water River Run
The Parker AZ race is fast approaching and rooms at the Blue Water Casino and Resort are going fast. Get your reservations soon before they are all gone. The special discount code for reservations at the Blue Water is "Blue Water River Run 158016" and make sure you mention that you are part of the Giant Scale Air Racing group. All the race info is on the website at www.usrainfo.org and the link for the Blue Water is www.bluewaterfun.com . Denny and Barbara Baker report that everything is going great and it looks like the purse and prizes for this event will rank among the richest in Giant Scale history. Do not miss this race!
Elections
Elections for the Board will take place in September, and the nominations have been made. It looks like there is only one person currently nominated for each position and each candidate looks to be a very good choice for each office. Here are the nominees for the 2004-2005 term.
West Coast Rep
Scotty Baker
West Coast Race Coordinator
Denny Baker
Central Region Rep
Julius Miller
Central Region Race Coordinator
Loren Tregellas
East Coast Rep
Tom Keating
East Coast Race Coordinator
Tony Husak
Vice President
Fred Sargent
President
Scott Hanbury
That wraps it up for this report, here's the final results from the 2003 North Coast
Challenge Trophy Results are HERE and Heat Results are HERE. Congrats to everyone.
Ken McSpadden