Northwest Spring Nationals
RAMS R/C Field, Auburn, WA
Written by Gordon Anderson, NSRCA District 8 Vice President
The 2007 Pattern Season has officially started in District 8 with our June 2nd and 3rd RAMS contest. We had a total of 17 pilots attend this event with competitors in every class. The contestants included 3 of our friends from Canada that made the trip south to help D8 get the season going.
The RAMS contest pilots!
You never know what kind of weather you will experience in the Pacific Northwest this time of the year and I think we were all surprised to see how great a weekend we had; sunny both Saturday and Sunday with light winds. Due to the orientation of the field we could not start flying till about 10AM and even that was a bit early. The first hour or so of flying was pretty challenging due to the sun.
We did manage to fly 4 rounds on Saturday but it
took us till after 8PM to complete all the flying. We were only using
one flight line and with 17 pilots we should have setup for two lines.
We really wanted to complete four on Saturday so we could get on the
road as early as possible on Sunday. We flew two rounds on Sunday and
finished the contest around 3:30PM. This contest had the best
attendance we have seen in the last several years even with missing a
few of our regular competitors. Saturday we had a BBQ at the field and
Dave Villwock cooked steaks while the FAI pilots were wrapping up round
4.
It was a beautiful evening and a fantastic dinner.
It is funny how this changes from season to season. Last year we had very few pilots in Advanced and most contests had only one competitor or none in that class. This contest we had 5 Advanced fliers! Another surprise was FAI, 7 pilots total! We only had one Masters and Sportsman pilots but I am sure we will see these numbers improve at the next contest, which is in Molalla.
This was the first time I had CD’d this contest and I forgot a few critical items when I packed the truck for the trip to Auburn. I left the score sheets at home and forgot the printer cable! So Friday my wife, Meri, spent a fair amount of time getting the missing supplies! The RAMS club was very helpful and ran a concession stand both days serving lunch and snacks all day.
We were very happy to have a new Pattern pilot at this contest Brian Keith. Brian was flying a 90 size Showtime and did a fantastic job taking 2nd place in Intermediate at his first contest! We hope to see Brian at more events this season. Jerry Green won the Intermediate class flying his new Pinnacle.
Jerry Green in the ready box with his Pinnacle with his brother Carl helping.
Rex Lesher calls for Brian Keith flying Intermediate.
A number of pilots moved up to Advanced this season including Jim Hiller. Jim dominated Advanced at this contest winning every round with his Option 120. The Option is his design and is featured in Flying Models magazine; in fact Jim and his Option are on the cover! Unfortunately John Gaylord was not able to fly very much due to engine problems. John did discover the problem and got his Prophecy going so I am sure we will see him at another contest this season.
Ray McClellan was the only Maters pilot but I know that will change at the next contest where the Tri-Cities gang will be present. The new Masters routine is very complicated and it was the first time a lot of us have seen this routine flown. Ray did a great job of executing a very difficult pattern.
Bill Carder and Gary McClellan help Ray McClellan prepare for a flight.
FAI was the largest class with 7 pilots. Dave Villwock won the battle but only by 54 points. Dave Reaville was very close all weekend. There was lots of great flying all weekend. I was not able to complete the contest due to engine problems and I had to abort on my 4th round. I will have it all fixed and flying in Molalla.
Gordon Anderson and Dave Villwock fueling up Gordon’s Temptation.
Standings
Sportsman
1st Carl Green 4000.00
Intermediate
1st Jerry Green 4000.00
2nd Brian Keith 3876.03
3rd Ray Gauthier 3617.27
Advanced
1st Jim Hiller 4000.00
2nd Bill Carder 3536.33
3rd Bob Walker 3326.94
4th Andrew Beranek 3315.69
5th John Gaylord 316.05
Masters
1st Ray McClellan 4000.00
FAI
1st Dave Villwock 4000.00
2nd Dave Reaville 3945.97
3rd Mark Byrne 3725.32
4th Gary McClellan 3655.18
5th Rex Lesher 3562.84
6th Pavel Safarik 2913.50
7th Gordon Anderson 2679.85
Click here to see scores for all rounds.
Dave Reaville and Mark Byrne’s camp site with Twisters!
I would like to thank the RAMS club for hosting this contest and providing the concessions. This was a fantastic start to the 2007 season and one of the best RAMS contests I have ever attended. I would also like to thank all the pilots for attending this contest and for all the time you spent in the judge’s chair! Finally I would like to thank my wife Meri, she was score keeper and ran to the store on Friday to get all the supplies I forgot to pack!
That’s it for this month and I hope to see you in the pits at Molalla…
Click here to see more pictures!