Great weather – great people – great competition – no mishaps – what else could you ask for in a Pattern contest. This is what we had for the Harry Gould Memorial Pattern Contest in Hemet. And for the second time for me, a contest where everyone took home an award. Nancy and I also had a group of about 9 from the contest over to the house on Friday for a pre-contest dinner – everyone seemed to have a great time and much airplane conversation (as Nancy calls it) ensued. The club did a great job hosting the contest and handling Lunch duties – as the CD, taking over this function is a big help. Everyone loved the field and facilities and the weather couldn’t have been better. A special thanks go to John Bentley and Rex Lesher for helping out all weekend. So – on to the results.
In Sportsman we only had one contestant – our intrepid female pilot Marta Horvath. She is really doing well and just started working with a new to her Integral, graciously donated by Jerry Budd. Once she gets comfortable with this plane, she will really be a force to be reckoned with.
In Intermediate – returning pilot Jamie Schoolcraft showed he still has it by winning 5 of the 6 rounds – Scott Lenover from Arizona won the other round and finished 2nd, losing by 60 points. Russ Nichols rounded out the class in 3rd.
In Advanced – Armageddon happened (as Jarvis tells it) as Jarvis Johnson won 5 of the 6 rounds – Glen Dean, flying in one of the few contests he attends each year, did very well and won the other round then finished 2nd 63 points behind. Dan Burns from Fresno rounded out the class.
In Masters – Cliff Bradford and Gary Switala came over from Arizona, with Cliff dominating the class winning 5 of the 6 rounds, Jerry Budd won the other round and finished 2nd 65 points behind. Gary rounded out the class.
In FAI Silver – yours truly had some good luck and managed to win all 6 rounds ( a first for me). John Bentley came in second 58 points behind with Rex in 3rd. I have to mention one other thing in regards to these guys, on Thursday before the contest, I was practicing with them, and unfortunately I inadvertently hit my snap switch on landing. As you can imagine – nothing good comes of that and I ended up breaking out the landing gear on my Element. Well these guys wasted no time in jumping in and working out a fix and in a couple hours my plane was airworthy again. I can’t express enough my gratitude to these guys. And it is just another example of the support and camaraderie we have in this hobby. In what other competitive endeavor would your direct competitors work so hard to get you back in the competition. You gotta love Pattern.
In FAI – we had 2 competitors – perennial leader Tony Frackowiak and returning D7 flyer Jim Woodward. Jim has spent the last number of years on the east coast and has just recently returned to So. Calif. Flying the only glow plane in the contest – Jim put up very competitive rounds against Tony and will be formidable competition in the future as he gets more and more practice in. But Tony ended up winning all rounds this time.
That’s it for this year – be sure to put this contest on your calendar for next year – you won’t be disappointed.
Pictures from the event are below.
