Wow, can anybody believe it is already October! The 7th Annual North Coast Challenge is now but just a memory. Tony, Dennis and all the MARCS modelers did a great job! With the help of the new airport management staff at Lakeside Aviation, the airport was closed for us for the first time in seven years which made the racing run very smoothly. Tony had predicted that he would be able to run seven rounds; if not for some weather delays he would have a shot at making it. The race plane count was down as many of the west coast racers were unable to attend due to the skyrocketing gas prices. Regardless, everyone who attended had their race faces on and the competition was fast and intense. The Astabula County Airport is a great flying site and with the new airport operators support we all need to make Ohio a must stop on your racing schedule next year, you will not be disappointed.
The racing was intense and spectacular! Like Rantoul, there was an unusually high lost rate with at least three mid-airs. On the first day of racing nine airplanes were lost. Formula GT was as close as ever with all the entrants battling for the top spot. After flying nearly perfect all weekend, Craig Greening was able to keep it going and taking the GT Gold race, congratulations Craig! With Kenny Mac mid-airing with Tom Easterday in the first heat, Formula 1 was left wide open. Mike McConville worked through some adversity in the heat races to take the Formula 1 Gold race, congratulations Mike! Unlimited was again exciting with Fred French again bringing out a fire-breathing NA-50! The other Unlimited pilots were slowing working up to the speed of Fred. Dave Smith was again in the best position to push Fred in the final but had a take-off issue and lost another plane, congratulations Fred. Tim Sparks was the class of the Bi-Planes, congratulations Tim!
If you haven’t heard there was just as much fun off the race course at Ohio as on. You may have heard the words: motor home, dancing, dangling, KM, MM, Speed Demons, Fred, peanuts or boy scouts to describe the action. The bottom line was that many of the various teams gathered and socialized late into the evenings and had some good clean fun! For me it was such a pleasure to spend time with great people like Fred and Linda French, Bobby and the Speed Demon team. It appears that Parker may be continuing with this theme, I hear there may be some team hospitality nights planned in addition to the great banquet Denny and Barb host every year! Keep your ears open for updates.
As most of you have seen, the Rantoul race is the cover story in this month’s Model Aviation. From what I understand this is the first time in all of the years of giant scale racing that an article has been done, let alone a cover photo! A special thanks needs to go out to Steve Goodreau of Horizon Hobbies for coordinating all the media coverage at Rantoul, Thanks Steve!
The board was able to hold a meeting Wednesday night before the race with all but Pete in attendance. Once again my main goal was to discuss issues that we will have to address in future meetings. Our meeting went very well with everyone once again providing positive input. The meeting lasted 1-1/2 hours.
Being that the USRA has a two year rules cycle which will be up at the end of this year it is time to start discussing any needed rules changes; so if you have any concerns please contact your district rep so they can be put it on a future agenda for discussion, time is rapidly running out.
Parker is just around the corner and from I hear it is going to be a barn burner. All the west coast pilots are bouncing off the walls in anticipation! Denny and Barb have some BIG plans so if you have a old race plane collecting duct, blow it off it out and join the fun!
Everyone have a safe trip to Parker and we will see you there!
Fly fast, turn left……………………………………
Martin Treat
President