Field of Dreams R/C Field, Redmond, OR
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President
The first High-Desert Pattern Classic contest was held in Redmond Oregon on August 11th and 12th. This contest was hosted by the Redmond Field of Dreams RC club. We are very grateful to the local club for their hospitality. The club members helped to make this contest a huge success and made sure the event ran smoothly, this included preparing a great lunch for us both Saturday and Sunday.
The Redmond Field of Dreams!
We had a total of 12 pilots competing including Hartley who made the trip from Canada, it turns out he was in the area vacationing and decided to join us. We also had a first time competitor from the local club, Sean Wilson. This young man did a great job flying Sportsman. He is a very good pilot and we will see him move up the classes very soon.
Sean Wilson, our newest Pattern pilot.
We flew 4 rounds on Saturday and 2 on Sunday in very nice weather. The field elevation is 3200 feet so we did have to do a bit of engine tuning due to the altitude change at this field. The runway is a very nicely manicured grass field with a nice pit area including a covered pilot’s lounge where we setup the scoring computer. The weather was very nice with clear sky and light winds resulting in great contest conditions. We were not able to start flying till late morning, 10:30, due to the morning sun. This meant we could sleep in! With the small number of pilots we ran only one flight line and enjoyed a very comfortable contest pace.
Advanced pilots, Bob Walker, Steve Sterling, Bill Carder, and Jim Hiller.
Redmond Oregon is a fairly small town with a population around 22,000. The weekend of the contest was also the weekend of a huge motor home show. This resulted in full hotels and lots of traffic! It was a little difficult to find a room if you did not make reservations several weeks in advance.
Maters pilots, Ray McClellan, Brett Bowen, Bill Bowen, and Hartley Hughson.
We found several great restaurants in Redmond and Friday night a bunch of us met for pizza at Pappy’s a really good place and close to the field. On Saturday night we enjoyed a great meal at Sully’s, an Italian restaurant. We invaded Sully’s with a total of 15 hungry pilots and wives, everyone had a fantastic time.
Sportsman
1st Sean Wilson 4000.00
Advanced
1st Jim Hiller 4000.00
2nd Bill Carder 3620.32
3rd Bob Walker 3423.49
4th Steve Sterling 3413.64
Masters
1st Brett Bowen 4000.00
2nd Bill Bowen 3761.95
3rd Hartley Hughson 3242.94
4th Ray McClellan 2690.59
FAI
1st Gary McClellan 4000.00
2nd Gordon Anderson 3903.98
3rd Rex Lesher 3900.50
Click here to see scores for all rounds.
This contest saw a couple of new airplanes, Bill Bowen flew his new Pinnacle and Ray McClellan flew his new Focus II. Sean, our newest member of the D8 pattern family, flew his IMAC model. Ray Gauthier made the trip to Redmond but was not able to compete due to aircraft damage on Friday. His engine died at the worse possible time and resulted in significant airframe damage.
FAI pilots, Gordon Anderson, Rex Lesher, and Gary McClellan.
I would like to thank the local club for their support of this first High-Desert Pattern Classic. We all felt the club went out of their way to make us welcome and help make the contest a huge success. The local fliers showed a lot of interest and we even fill a small bleacher with spectators! We hope this is the first of may contests in Redmond!
Hartley cozying up to the scorekeeper!
Thanks to Meri Anderson for running the scoring program, she does an outstanding job keeping the paperwork moving, the pilots have their score sheets back in their hands after a flight before they carry their aircraft back to pits! Also thanks to all the pilots for supporting this contest and providing judging support. A special thanks to Linda Sterling for the support she provided at this contest. Linda has taken the judges training for the last two years and is now spending significant time in the chair.
See you in the pits…
Click here to see more pictures!