Scaramento, (10/7-8/06)! 32 Pilots, the largest attendance in District 7 thus far, attended the 2 day, 17th Annual, Bud Garric Pattern Classic (Sacramento) contest, hosted by Frank Capone and Bob Obergon. Wind conditions made it challenging on Saturday with only the strong surviving - putting in decent flights. Many zero's were handed out by the alert judges for being 'out of the box' as the stiff wind pushed you in if you did not use the rudder constantly. Several pilots had real problems flying left-to-right while dealing with the wind. Condolences to Dick Beldon and Mark Byrne for, what I hear, was one of most spectacular mid-air's of all time - nose to nose - sorry guys. The new Sherriff was 'crowned' here - see Morgan Hill contest below.

Sacramento, CA
Click on "Class" to see all the winners!

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Don Atwood 3976	Jerry Budd 3977	Ken Nelson 4000	Gary Fontaine 3936	Tim Sorenson 3998
2nd Place						Jim Kimbro 3850	Richard Verano 3912	Bob Hixson 3735	Mike Miller 3924	Dave Wick 3974
3rd Place						Derek Koopowitz 3816	Roy Speights 3857	Jim Brown 3205	Rob HeitKamp 3872	Vic Anderson 3610

Morgan Hill, (9/23/06)!21 contest pilots. Where to start? I suppose yesterday, Tom Messer and I get in a few practice rounds on Friday. Tom has practiced the FAI pattern a few times and is doing very well. He's flying his new Pinnacle (Thanks Mr. Newman - Tom bought it from Troy in Gardnerville) with a AXI 5320/26 motor - not the FAI motor, just doing some "testing" as Tom puts it. From observation, the plane is flying well and Tom will be competative in FAI. He decided to enter FAI, and to make a long story short(er) he placed 3rd today - Great Job Tom. The other TOP STORY is in Masters. You may recall Jon Carter won a round last week at the Hollister contest. We could all see Jon was getting close. Well, today, "There's a new Sheriff in Town" and he's out making arrests!! Jon flew very well this weekend. Jon won all four rounds against seasoned Masters pilots. Jon will have a Trophy 'viewing' at his house on Sunday (1-4pm), where the hardware will be proudly displayed, front and center, in his living room! Jon has had to 'relearn' many areas in pattern to get to this point, and it's been a struggle, but it's paid off! The point here is, Jon has come a long way, so can you. Get someone to fly with and help each other. Flying by yourself, making the same mistakes over and over, does not help you. Blackbird RC was ready to fly electric! Kevin Sung returned after a long layoff. He's got a Evolution about ready to fly. Hope to see him at more contests. A new pilot, John Gorsich, placed 3rd in Sportsman. Gary Stanton was back flying the Abbra. Dick Beldon gets ready to help Dennis Kanamura.

Click on the group picture for a message from District 7

Morgan Hill
Click on "Class" to see all the winners
Click on the picture or the name to see video of the awards

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Scott Covey 3000	Jon Carter 3000	Ken Nelson 3000	Ron Davies 2969	Dave Wick 3000
2nd Place						Don Atwood 2881	Chris Fitzsimmons 2943	Bob Hixon 2732	Kevin Sung 2910	John Ribbie 2739
3rd Place						Tom Messer 2648	Bob Obergon 2896	Jim Brown 2620	Chris Beldon 2635	John Gorsich 2707

Hollister is history (9/16/06)!Ron Davies wins the Bob Whitacre Memorial Trophy, best flyer above his average score computed over the last 2 years - Congratulations Ron. Noted Pilot performances by Derek Koopowitz (winning a round in FAI), Jon, "wings sometimes level", Carter (winning a round in Masters), Scott MacAfee - Gary Fontaine and Mike Miller, for providing the closest Intermediate scoring in years, Chris Atwood and Rusty Fried for showing us what the up-and-coming FAI pilots will be like, and Dave Wick for winning Sportsman with a 20 sized Temptation electric plane! I gotta tell ya, being CD had it's moments, here's Jon getting his award - shoot, you would think he just won the Worlds! Hey, guess who's back? Typhoon Bill Sneed - Good to see you back Bill; and Chris Atwood seems to be getting the bug again. Chris Atwood lost his plane due to elevator problems - however they (Don and Chris) took home the $240 Sheldons raffle prize, so I'm sure this eased the pain a bit.

Hollister Results
Click on "Class" to see the winners

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Scott Covey 3999	Rusty Fried 4000	Ken Nelson 4000	Mike Miller 3974	Dave Wick 4000
2nd Place						Don Atwood 3955	Chris Atwood 3910	Jarvis Johnson 3952	Scott MacAfee 3956	David MacAfee 3568
3rd Place						Derek Koopowitz 3860	Frank Capone 3800	Bob Hixon 3235	Gary Fontaine 3943

Read about Hemet California Pattern

Hemet Results

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Greg Frohreich 4000	Rusty Fried 4000	Bill Wallace 4000	Mike Austin 3997	Alvaro Dalton 4000
2nd Place						Frank Kelly 3873	Jerry Budd 3979	John Contreras 3955	Kendall O'Brian 3985	Chris Johnson 3833
3rd Place							Jim Oddino 2691	Dave DeHart 3920	Noah Yaney 3920	Wayne Lovett 3738

High Sierra Shootout - Gardnerville, NV.
Click on the picture to see the scenic view

High Sierra Patern Shootout 8/5/06 - Gardnerville.. 29 multi-state pilots converged on Gardenerville to make this the best attended contest to date in District 7. Tom (CD) and Al Messer put in a lot ot effort (as all CD's do) to make this a great contest! George Asteris was here from New Jersey! as was Frank Kelly from Las Vegas and Rusty Fried from Phoenix. Richard Verano flew in Masters in his first pattern contest in years. Roy Speights was presented with a NAT's award, placing 4th in Judging! FAI was the largest class with 9 pilots and we had 6 pilots in Masters. Several pilots that had problems which can be read about here. Tom also had many great prizes donated for the raffle!! Thanks to all the sponsors! (And Craig Blodgett thanks you too!!)

High Sierra Shootout Results
Top 3 place winner pictures can be seen by clicking on the 'class' below.

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Troy Newman 4000	Richard Verano 3995	Jim Brown 3975	Bob Heitkamp 4000	Matt Kimbro 4000
2nd Place						Craig Blodgett 3898	Rusty Fried 3937	Bob Hixon 3949	Gary Fontain 3858	Dave Wick 3744
3rd Place						Scott Covey 3783	Tom Messer 3743	Bob Litschner 3860	Al Messer 3759	Ray Brindos 3365

Jevan Fitzsimmons Memorial Pattern Contest
Riverside 6/17 /18 - Complete

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Mr. Greg F. 4000	Mr. Jerry Budd 4000	John Contras 4000	Harry Gould 4000	Matt Kimbro 4000
2nd Place						Frank Kelly 3969	Rusty Fried 3984	Dave DeHart 3896		Noah Yaney 3969
3rd Place						Jim Kimbro 3690	Chris Fitzsimmons 3819	Jarvis Johnson 3843		Alvaro Dalton 3849

SACRAMENTO (6/10) 1 day contest, 3 rounds in a sunny-light wind day.
Here's what I know. Masters was again the class to be in for number of contestants
and competition. Frank lead after 2 rounds, but Tom and Roy were close, and Jon Carter
was only about 30 points behind them. Roy was in 3rd going to the last round. Tom flew
well, but Roy won the round, and the standings changed as you see below.

Sacramento 6/10 - Click on name to see picture and award

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Craig Blodgett 2000	Tom Messer 1991	Ken Nelson 2000	Mike Miller 1988	Dave Wick 2000
2nd Place						Don Atwood 1884	Roy Speights 1986	Bob Hixon 1821	Scott MacAfee 1986	Tim Sorenson 1932
3rd Place						Adrian Wong 1602	Frank Capone 1985	Jim Brown 693	Gary Fontaine 1960	Dave MacAfee 1644

FRESNO 5/27

All Winners shown here

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Craig Blodgett 3000	Chris Atwood 3000	Jarvis Johnson 3000	Mike Miller 3000	Could B U
2nd Place						Don Atwood 2878	Tom Messer 2877	Jim Brown 2795	Al Messer 2866
3rd Place						Jim Kimbro 2852	Roy Speights 2871		Joe Franks 412

LAS VEGAS 5/20

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Frank Kelly 4000	Rusty Fried 4000	Tom Collins 4000	John Graham 2000	Chris Johnson 3983
2nd Place						Greg Frohreich 3378	Mike Middleton 3537	Jarvis Johnson 3807	Joe Franks 1595	Tony Rodgers 3867
3rd Place							Lynn Burks 3073	Jim Brown 1817

IONE - Dick Beldon runs a great contest! Part of this was an excellent scoring crew by Luke (Masters Flyer), Sharon (Daughter) and Mark (son) Peng. Mark was amazing - using a small foot-powered scooter to get the scores to Sharon, working the computer, and most of the time, deliver them back to the pilot BEFORE they could put the plane down after landing. Our thanks goes out to Luke, Sharon, and MARK!! and of course Dick for keeping things moving. Ione Pattern Movie Ione Pattern Flyers

Click on CLASS to see pictures of all the winners

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Craig Blodgett 3981	Jerry Budd 4000	Ken Nelson 4000	Gary Fontaine 4000	Vic Anderson 3968
2nd Place						Scott Covey 3887	Rusty Fried 3972	Bob Hixon 3892	Mike Miller 3816	Philip Salz 3888
3rd Place						Don Atwood 3800	Tom Messer 3870	Jim Brown 3247	Joe Franks 3365	David Wick 3813

Richmond, 4/22-23

The Richmond Group Who says Pattern is dull and boring? Click the picture to see the group sing-a-long before the contest. Carter's on the first verse already, didn't wait for the rest of us and Miller and Fitzsimmons have started the harmony. Next time, wait for the 'and-a 1, and-a 2.. and watch the conductor!

* Heading titles below show top 3 place picture * ** Click on the Flyers Name to see the flyer and their plane **

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Scott Covey 4000	Frank Capone 3992	Gary Stanton 4000	Mike Miller 4000	Dave MacAfee 4000
2nd Place						Derek Koopowitz 3742	Tom Messer 3926	Jarvis Johnson 3872	Gary Fountaine 3899	Philip Salz 3950
3rd Place						Don Atwood 3703	Chris Frizsimmons 3910	Jim Brown 2732	Scott McAfee 3875	your name here

Riverside, CA 4/8-9/06 * Heading titles below show top 3 place picture *

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Greg Frohreich 4000	Rusty Fried 4000	Bill Wallace 4000	Harry Gould 4000	Noah Yaney 3996
2nd Place						Frank Kelly 3882	John Lees 3761.94	Dave DeHart 3966		Alex Shim 3942
3rd Place							Ralph DePalma 3761.61	John Contreas 3887		Vic Anderson 3888

Lancaster 2/12

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Tony Frackowiak	Jerry Budd	Bill Wallace	Phil Waul	Peter Carbin
2nd Place						Greg Frohreich	Chris Fitzsimmons	Bruce Brown	Harry Gould	Vic Anderson
3rd Place							Ralph De Palma	Jim Brown		Chris Johnson

---

Phoenix 1/28/06

						FAI	Masters	Advanced	Intermediate	Sportsman
1st Place						Troy Newman	Rusty Freid	John Contreras	Todd Wheeler	Brent Stephenson
2nd Place						Greg Frohreich	Mike Middleton	Dave DeHart	Tony Watkins	Sam Gaglio
3rd Place						Frank Kelley	Ralph De Palma	Ken Melbye	Brad Schrimsher

Trophy Pictures... Sportsman: L-R 2nd Sam Gaglio, 1st Brent Stephenson Intermediate: L-R 3rd Brad Schrimsher, 2nd Tony Watkins, 1st Todd Wheeler Advanced: L-R 3rd Ken Melbye, 2nd Dave DeHart, 1st John Contreras Masters: L-R 3rd Ralph DePalma, 2nd Mike Middleton, 1st Rusty Fried FAI: L-R 3rd Frank Kelley, 2nd Greg Frohreich, 1st Mr. Troy Newman Other places: Intermediate: 4th David Borrow, 5th Harry Gould Advanced: 4th Tom Collins, 5th Jim Brown Masters: 4th John Lees, 5th Dennis Suding, 6th John Wisniewski