RAMS R/C Club
Northwest Spring Nationals
RAMS R/C Field, Aubern, WA
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President

The 2004 Rams contestants group shot

The Pacific NW Nationals was held in Auburn, Washington at the RAMS field June 12th and 13th. Dave Villwock was the Contest Director with Gary Pugh helping him run the event. The contest would not have been possible without the help of Pam Villwock and Debbie Pugh. Several RAMS club members also provide very needed support running the scoring program and posting the results. Thanks to all of those that made this event possible. It is a huge effort organizing an event and we all appreciate the energy and effort that goes into organizing pattern contests.

I would also like to thank all of the fliers who travel to the D8 events, for many of you this represents significant effort and expense. Packing up your airplanes, renting a motel room, food, supplies, it all adds up, even the fellows that bring their campers have a lot of prep work and clean up work. The CDs would not bother to run an event if it were not for your willingness to attend. Thanks to everyone for making the RAMS contest happen!

Gary Fowler, Gary Pugh, and Dave Villwock tune up Gary Fowler's YS

My wife, Meri, and I arrived at the field Friday about 10:00AM; it was about a 3 ½ hour drive for us to western Washington from our home in eastern Washington. When we got to the field Rex Lesher from central Oregon was waiting for us. We set up our planes and each got in a practice flight and the people started to arrive. Kevin and Walter Wong arrived in the afternoon and Kevin had several practice flights working on the Intermediate sequence. Kevin hasn't had very much time to fly pattern but he was doing a very respectable job. We sure did enjoy Walter and Kevin's company; they are a lot of fun! We got to get Walter to fly in one of these contests. How about it Walter? We saw a couple new Sportsman pilots practicing Friday and a few of the local fliers. The gang from Canada arrived in the afternoon and evening. Fridays weather was OK, overcast and a little drizzle on and off but not bad.

Saturday was a pretty nice morning we had to deal with a little wind all day but not bad. The conditions can change pretty fast and the sky did change from clear to cloudy throughout the day, in fact as soon as the 4th round finished on Saturday it started to rain.

Saturday night a bunch of us gathered at the local Mexican Restaurant for dinner. We had a lot of fun telling stories a chatting about the hobby.

 

Mike Lance's new Olympian Medal, only had 6 flights before this contest

There were 15 pilots: 2 Sportsman, 1 Intermediate, 4 Advanced, and 8 Masters. We managed to complete 4 rounds on Saturday and 2 on Sunday for a full 6 round contest. We were all pretty surprised because the weather forecasters were calling for rain all day on Sunday. Sunday morning was raining and we thought it was going to be a no fly day but that all changed in minutes. The weather in the northwest can change very fast! We were flying a little after 10:00AM. We took a lunch break and finished the two rounds a little after 2:00PM. It was a little more challenging day to fly. The sky was very turbulent and everyone was getting bounced and blown around.

It was great to see a couple of new Sportsman at this event. Jeff Smith was only able to fly 2 rounds on Saturday due to equipment problems. Brian did an outstanding job and won every round. I sure hope we see more of these guys in future events.

We only had one Intermediate pilot, Kevin Wong. He flew every round and learned a lot from the judge's feedback. I am sure Kevin had a great time event without a competitor.

Rex Lesher dominated in advanced he won all but the last round, that one I managed to win. He was doing an outstanding job, this was his weekend. John Foglesong was only able to fly 3 rounds on Saturday or he would have made the event even more interesting!

Dennis Cone's new Olympian Medal only about 2 weeks old

Dave Villwock dominated Masters winning all but the last round, which Gary Pugh won. Gary Pugh is doing a very good job constantly posting very high scores. Dave better look out! Lots of good fliers in Masters with some close battles. Dennis Cone and Michael Lance both had new airplanes with only a few flights on them, so they were still trimming the planes and getting used to the way they fly. Gary Fowler was back after a year away from competing. His placement does not do justice to his flying; he was making mistakes because he was relearning the routine and dealing with engine problems. With a little more practice he will be a strong competitor.

Dennis Cone's high visibility color scheme, allows the judges to see every mistake!

The standings for the contest are listed below:

Sportsman     1st Brian Keith             2nd Jeff Smith           Intermediate     1st Kevin Wong       Advanced     1st Rex Lesher                 2nd Gordon Anderson      3rd Hartley Hughson         4th John Foglesong        Masters     1st Dave Villwock         2nd Gary Pugh              3rd Lyle Laughery         4th Gary Klassen          5th Dennis Cone          6th Mark Byrne          7th Michael Lance      8th Gary Fowler

4000.0 1526.8     4000.0     4000.0 3833.2 3433.5 2686.1     4000.0 3913.0 3746.5 3676.1 3625.4 3586.2 3579.2 3519.1

 

Again, thanks to all the people who made this event happen and made it very memorable.

See you in the pits!