Oregon Aerobatic Challenge-- Molalla RC Association
Grant Sharp's Green Acres Field, Molalla Oregon
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President

The Molalla Aerobatic Challenge was held June 26th and 27th at Grant Sharp's beautiful grass field near Molalla, Oregon. This is a new pattern event organized by the CD Bill Carder. We flew 4 rounds on Saturday and 2 on Sunday with everyone on the road home by about 2:00PM. The weather was pretty good all weekend with some mild to moderate cross winds at times and temperatures in the 70s to 80s. The flight direction was right to left for 95 percent of the flying. There was a threat of rain for the weekend but it never happened, broken clouds both Saturday and Sunday. The field was great, large grass strip about 60 feet wide and several hundred feet long with a big open over fly area.

Molalla Aerobatic Challenge contestants

It was nice to see contestants in all AMA classes at this event, we had 12 total contestants. All three of the contestants in the sportsman class were a direct result of the Pattern Primer that Gary McClellan organized in April.

Bob Walker had a bit of trouble early Saturday morning and did repairable damage to his aircraft. This kept him out of the action Saturday but he returned on Sunday with a backup aircraft and won both rounds. If Bob had not had trouble Saturday morning he may well have won the event. Grant Sharp and Jerry Green had a great battle on Saturday exchanging rounds all day. At the end of the day less than a point separated the two! In the end Grant edged out Jerry by 14 points to take first place in Sportsman.

1st Place Sportsman Grant Sharp

We had a couple of our D8 regulars back competing in Intermediate, Steve Sterling and Bill Carder. Steve won all but the second round to take a very decisive win.

Bill Carder holding Jerry Green's Eclipse, nice shot of the field!

Another great battle unfolded in Advanced, Rex Lesher won the first 3 rounds on Saturday and it looked like he was going to walk away with first place. I won the last round Saturday and the first round on Sunday. First place in Advanced came down to the last round. Both Rex and I flew a pretty good last round and we did not know the results until the awards were handed out, great fun! Only 25 points separated 1st and 2nd.

Archrivals Rex Lesher and Gordon Anderson Call For Each Other

We had a pretty small showing in Masters with only 4 fliers. Ray's Hydeout was damaged late on Friday by an unfortunate incident involving a dog and his leash getting tangled up in the Hydeout's tail. The Hydeout is repairable but Ray spent most of Saturday getting his backup Angel's Shadow ready to go, he did not have a chance to fly until Sunday so he was only able to complete two rounds. Mike had a bit of excitement when an aileron linkage broke in flight; he safely landed his Olympian Medal and repaired the damage. Fortunately this happened on the 4th round Saturday and he had Saturday evening to do the repair work. Gary McClellan also had some engine problems; his YS 1.40 was not making enough power. With lots of help from Rex and a borrowed pipe from Gary Pugh the problem was solved. This required a couple of hours of work Friday afternoon. The engine work did the trick; Gary had no engine problems through the event. Gary Pugh won all but the 5th round to take a very commanding lead in Masters, he won by nearly 200 points!

Ray McClellan getting his backup aircraft ready to fly

I would like to again thank Grant for his hospitality and use of his field for this event; we all hope this becomes a D8 regular event. Grant and Bill arranged for the Boy Scouts to setup concessions Saturday and Sunday, so we had great food including breakfast and snacks all day!

If you would like to see more of Grant's field please checkout his web site at http://www.molrca.com/. Lots of great pictures of the field and even a live web cam so you can get a glimpse of the field.

See you in the pits…

A pair of Angel's Shadows, Ray and Gary McClellan's

Gary & Debbi Pugh in the Judging Chairs