RAMS R/C Club
Northwest Spring Nationals
RAMS R/C Field, Aubern, WA
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President
The D8 2006 Pattern season has officially started with the opening contest held at the RAMS field in Auburn, Washington on June 10th and 11th. The contest had 14 pilots competing in Sportsman, Intermediate, Masters, and FAI. We were delighted to see two new pilots in Sportsman for a total of 4 pilots in this class. Both Sportsman and Masters were very competitive with some close battles that were not resolved until the last round.
The RAMS contestants.
The weather was pretty good all weekend. Saturday was overcast most of the day with lights winds, Sunday was beautiful! No weather challenges at this contest. We were able to fly 4 rounds on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, finishing the contest around 3 pm.
Most of the pilots arrived on Friday for a day of practice and visiting. We were privileged to have four pilots from Canada joining us for this event, Dave Reaville, Mark Byrne, Hartley Hughson, and Sydney Byrne. They brought their families and camped in their trailers at the field. Part of the contest fun is the evening activities. A bunch of us went to an Italian restaurant Friday night and a Mexican restaurant on Saturday night; this is getting to be a tradition for this contest. The Canadians had a feast they prepared at the field. I think the social activities are at lest half the fun of the contests and are likely the most memorable part.
Mark Byrne, Dave Villwock, and Dave Reaville, the FAI pilots.
Contests provide a great opportunity to learn from the experienced pilots. A great example is my new Temptation; I have been struggling with this airplane and just could not seem to get it “dialed in”. Dave Villwock spent a little time on Friday flying my plane and adding some mixing. This had a huge effect on my performance and I learned a lot about trimming a new airplane. Friday saw a lot of practice activity; Rex Lesher finished his new electric Impact and flew it for the first time. The plane flew very well but a persnickety speed-controller plagued him all weekend.
The RAMS Pits.
The sportsman class saw some great competition, on Saturday 3 different pilots had won rounds and the lead had changed hands several times. This was the first pattern contest for Todd Cook and Darren Kuhn we sure hope to see them in the future. We saw some very nice flying in sportsman this weekend and I think some of these pilots will be making the move to intermediate very soon. This is great to see and exactly what we need to grow pattern. After 6 rounds and Todd’s consistency he won the event. Nice job!
Todd Cook on landing approach after his first contest round.
Masters was a blast! It was too close to call all weekend and was decided on the last round. The last round was won by Gordon but not by enough to win the contest. Brett won the contest with Gordon in 2nd place, only 11 points away, and Gary in 3rd. You can be sure these guys will be practicing for the next battle in the Tri-Cities.
The full contest standings are listed below:
Sportsman
1st Todd Cook 4000.00
2nd Darren Kuhn 3851.63
3rd Sydney Byrne 3684.88
4th Ray Gauthier 3516.08
Intermediate
1st Bill Carder 4000.00
Masters
1st Brett Bowen 3973.28
2nd Gordon Anderson 3962.49
3rd Gary McClellan 3863.89
4th Bill Bowen 3714.49
5th Rex Lesher 3507.98
6th Hartley Hughson 2767.94
FAI
1st Dave Villwock 4000.00
2nd Dave Reaville 3752.53
3rd Mark Byrne 3387.37
Click here to see scores for all rounds.
I would like to thank Dave Villwock, the contest CD, for everything he did to make this event a success. I would also like to thank all the RAMS club members for their hospitality and support. The club helped organize the event, cooked lunches, and helped keep score. It takes a lot of work to make these contest fun and all the pilots really appreciate the efforts.
See you in the pits…
Gary McClellan in the ready box with Bill Carder.
Click here to see more pictures!