First contest of 2003 season!

[Woodward James R Civ 412 TW/DRP (Test Ops)]

	The first pattern contest of the 2003 season was CD'd by Jerry Budd
the weekend of February 1st & 2nd in Lancaster, CA.  The weather leading up
to the contest was absolutely pristine, and 30 contestants arrived on
Saturday morning to compete.  The day started off just as the days before,
when all of a sudden a dust storm of biblical proportions swept through the
valley and ended Saturday's flying with 1 round complete.  A cloud of dirt
reminiscent of that scene from the movie, "The Mummy," blanketed everything!
Sunday was much nicer and we finished the contest with 4 rounds flown.  
	The 30 entrants were spread through the classes: 4 sportsman, 4
intermediate, 10 advanced, 7 masters, 5 FAI.  The "Tailwinds" sponsored the
event and had 6 members flying in the contest.  In sportsman, Brian Fink and
Chris Kinsinger battled for 2nd and 3rd spots.  Brian flew to a strong third
place and Chris took 2nd with a 4th round win.  Jarvis Johnson won 3 rounds
and took first.  
	The intermediate class had long time competitor Jim Brown holding
third, and Phil Waul and Tom Collins were battling for the win.  In the end,
Tom won 3 rounds for 1st, and Phil won 1 round and placed 2nd. 
	The Advanced class ranks swelled with several flyers moving up from
Intermediate.  Ten flyers in the class included pattern new-comer Mark
Leseberg.  Mark is a well-accomplished IMAC flyer, and his talents
transferred right into his pattern flying.  Mark took all 4 rounds in his
first pattern contest.  Jon Carter of nor-Cal flew to a solid 4th place.
New Advanced flyer Andy Busutil of Las Vegas finished 8 points ahead of Jon
for 3rd place.  Mike Middleton also of Las Vegas flew very well and placed
second.  
	The Masters class was hotly contested between several flyers.  Bob
Whitacre of Hollister, CA flew well and held onto third place.  Jerry Budd
and Jim Woodward each won two rounds and carried a 996.8 and 998.3 forward
respectively.  In the end Jim squeaked by Jerry for 1st place by a mere 1.5
points.  
	FAI had 5 flyers performing some very good sequences.  Greg
Frohreich (Phoenix) opened up the contest with a first round win, and
finished in third place.  Trent Byrd (Las Vegas) won round three and
finished 43 points out of first.  Kenny Lauter won two rounds and carried a
999.011 for the final tally and first place.  
	Planes and equipment:  3 Angels Shadows, 2 EMC^2, 1 EMC^3, 4 Focus,
1 Phase One, 1 Zen 120, 1 Hangar 9 Edge 540, 1 Midwest Extra 300, 1 Desafio
2000, 2 Giles 202, 1 Olympian, 2 Hydeaway, 1 Hydeout, 3 Sequels, 1 Smaragd,
1 Vertex, to name a few.  The 2-cycles were heard humming in all classes.
Tom Collins of www.buyrc.com brought out a few of the new twin plug 3-M 140
Mintor engines.  These engines were bought on site by interested flyers.  
	Judging:  The contest ran very smoothly with a mix of contestant and
club judges.  All of the contestant judges were NSRCA certified, and the
club judges were former pattern flyers who had reviewed the judging video in
the week prior to the contest, to everyone's benefit.  Contest photos can be
viewed on Jerry's website, www.buddengineering.com.

Jim Woodward
D7 AVP




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