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<P>Wow.....</P>
<P>Well, after getting some sleep, and digesting the weekend, I suppose it's
time to give a CD's report.</P>
<P>First I have to thank a few people. The GMA club first. They were extremely
supportive, and have one of the most awesome facitities in the southeast.
Without them, this would not have happened. Thanks to Cameron Smith and Marcio
Jorge for helping me get the field ready!</P>
<P>I want to thank Chris Hinson and Extreme Flight...not only for giving away a
full vanquish package, but for having the foresight to design this thing in the
first place. Everything the Brio 10 should have been, this plane IS. Chris is a
great guy, and this plane is fantastic. If you're interested in a small electric
pattern plane that flies similar to your 2 meter ship, THIS IS THE
PLANE!!!!!</P>
<P>Thanks to Mercury Adhesives. These guys are brand new to the market, but
thier dedication and willingness to listen and actually take action is unlike
anything else in the glue industry. The products are second to none, and are
full industrial grade. I have been using this stuff exclusively for the last 6
months and I love it. Thanks to them, we were able to give away a lot of free
glue to anybody that wanted it. These guys are the best!</P>
<P>Thanks to Atlanta Hobby for thier support. These guys are the best in the
business at electrics, so give them a call!</P>
<P>Now on to the contest itself....</P>
<P>I woke last Wed morning to a particularly disturbing email....contractors
were installing new power poles on the access road to GMA, and were shutting
down traffic. At the time it was rumored that they were going to completely shut
off all access to the field for the weekend. They had a helicopter in the area,
and the police were already shutting down the road. So, I spent the better part
of Wed and Thursday on the phone with police, the helicopter contractors, the
pilots, everyone I could find...and we worked out a solution. I was sitting on
the "cancel" button all day for 2 days straight, but in the end it all worked
out.</P>
<P>38 pilots showed up for the contest. Of particular interest there were 11
sportsman pilots, about half of which had never flown in a pattern contest
before! Advanced also had 11 pilots. Although only 4 FAI pilots were in
attendance, they were Bryan Hebert, Brett Wickizer, Ryan Mc Laughlin and Cameron
Smith. That's a STRONG 4!!!!</P>
<P>Friday's practice opened to outstanding weather. The police were
intermittently shutting down the road, but most people seemed entertained by the
helicopter's presence. by the end of the day, they were done and gone for the
weekend.</P>
<P>Saturday morning broke to almost textbook perfect srping Ga weather, and we
got underway as soon as the sun was up. It was difficult keeping judges in the
chair with such uneven classes, but we managed to pull it off. Thanks to
everyone who judged! Without you, there would not have been a contest at
all.</P>
<P>The quality of flying was superb. The level of flying in sportsman through
advanced is downright amazing. All of the competition was very strong. by the
end of the 3rd round, 7 points seperated 2nd through 7th place in advanced!!!!
Watching that class was like watching the nationals. More on that later...</P>
<P>We got 4 rounds in for sportsman and intermediate on Saturday, and on Sunday
we continued on to get a total of 5 rounds for all classes. FAI flew 4 rounds of
P on Saturday and 2 rounds of F on Sunday. We dropped the loset P and the lowest
F to tally the final score.</P>
<P>We had quite a few out of district visitors. Brett and Mike Wickizer drove in
from Texas, John Pavlick drove in from Conneticut, Mike Doud and family drove in
all the way from North Carolina, and Bryan Hebert and Brian Clemmons traveled
all the way from Louisianna. Along with the contest, we stayed up socializing
and working on planes in my shop until 3 AM both nights, it was a lot of fun! Of
course lack of sleep was really getting to me by Sunday, but it was worth
it.</P>
<P>Cameron and Bryan Kennedy managed to sell a good bit of stuff to raise money
for the world team. These guys got in there and rolled thier sleeves up, and we
managed to sell everything on hand. Thanks to them and to everyone who now has
cool stuff to support our World team members this fall!</P>
<P>Sportsman was a dogfight, but in the end Blake proved he's on a mission with
a perfect score of 4000. He's a great kid, and a lot of fun to be around. I did
ask permission to be his friend, and he reluctantly granted me the status
(inside joke). Second place was won by Kirk Sutherland, also a newcomer to
pattern. As mentioned above, third place was won by Travis Bellows, who dug
randy Beardon's crashed Eclipse out of the garbage in Ocala after a mishap with
a tree, repaired it and added a set of wings that I had made for Jason last year
(replacement Impact wings with a bit of a "massage"), and incredibly flew it to
3rd out of 11 in his first pattern contest. YEAH now that's what I'm talking
about! Fourth place was won by Robert Campbell, also a newcomer and very
talented pilot. Fifth place was won by a local GMA member and good friend Fred
Henry, who was incidentally flying my old Typhoon 2000 that I scratch built for
my own sportsman season. That's just cool to me!!!</P>
<P>Intermediate was yet another dogfight between Marcio Jorge and gary Courtney,
with Marcio edging Gary in the end. This will be the matchup to watch in
intermediate this year. But these guys may have company soon, because third
place was won by Mike Wingo, who is steadily getting better and better and
returning to his form of years past. A little more fuel and a few more green
bottles and things could get even more interesting!</P>
<P>Masters was a good contest in itself. Joe Walker had returned from FAI, and
won it out with a perfect 4000. Emory Schroeter nailed second, and it still
amazes me how smooth he is with as little practice as he manages to get. John
Fuqua won third place, after losing his Impact a couple weeks ago and flying the
contest with a Focus borrowed from Ron Van Putte. </P>
<P>FAI might have been a small class, but it was not small on talent. Brett
Wickizer had come over from Texas. If you don't know who Brett is, you've been
under a rock. I had the pleasure of competing with Brett at the nationals last
year in advanced where I placed second to him, so when I gave him the trophy I
gave him a little ribbing. Second place was won by Cameron Smith, and third
place was won by Ryan McLaughlin (first and second place at the Nationals in
masters last year). bryan Hebert was a bit out of practice, but he did show what
a fantastic plane that Shinden is!! </P>
<P>Advanced was hands down the story of the weekend, if not the story of the
year. Keep reading, this is why I love what we do and the people who do it so
much.</P>
<P>With 11 advanced pilots, ALL of which are easily national contenders, we knew
this would be the show. it was that and much much more. By round 3, the scores
were only 7 points apart through 6-7 places. With only 2 rounds left, the heat
only grew and intensified. by the last round, Steve Homenda and Erik Newsholme
were on top only a few points apart, and mathematically any of the top 7-8 were
still in contention for the wood. it doesn't get any better than that. Or does
it?</P>
<P>When the dust settled, Erik had stepped up, focused, flew with everything he
had, and took the last round. Fighting from 5th to first, Erik had stayed the
course and won the most heated class of advanced flown in the southeast that I
can remember since I have been flying myself. Steve Homenda had clinched second,
followed by Jon Lowe who had flown into a tight battle for third place.</P><FONT
size=2></FONT>
<P>When we were handing out the trophies I noticed Erik holding the wing of his
old beater Focus. I knew that he had recently lost his Symphony to a battery
failure, and had gone back to the focus that he flew at the Nats last year. The
plane was well weathered to say the least. Erik and his wife have always been
supporters of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and he had the "Live Strong" logo
on the wing. When I announced his name and he came up to recieve his trophy, he
told us all why he was carrying the wing.</P>
<P>Erik's mother was diagnosed with Cancer in late march of this year. She began
treatment, but 10 days later she passed away. She had been planning to attend
this contest as she had never seen Erik fly at a pattern contest. he dedicated
his victory to his mother's memory, and the never ending fight against cancer.
The fact that he lost his Symphony and had to fly his not quite as trimmed Focus
was difficult enough, but to manage this feat under the pressure of his mother's
death and to do it in the most competetive class of pattern I have ever seen
this side of Muncie still overwhelms me.</P>
<P>I had not been told a word about it, I learned it just as most others did,
standing there handing him his first place trophy. It brought me to tears as
well as many others, and I'll again say what I said immediately following: "It
sort of puts all of this in perspective doesn't it?" I'm proud to know Erik, and
words simply cannot do this any justice. We were all honored to fly with him
this weekend. This is why I love pattern and the people who fly it. And if I
seemed like I was in a daze after that, well, I was.</P>
<P>Thanks to ALL who attended and supported this contest, made the drive and
flew in one of the most memorable pattern contests in recent memory.</P>
<P>-Mike</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>