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7th Annual Cass Underwood
Memorial Because of the tragedy, Dan Dougherty's wife Janie, who became an Angel just a few days prior to this contest, some "good Samaritans" in the person of Mr. May (Scott Sappington) and some friends in the Paulding County Model Association fell into the role of conductors of this annual, eagerly anticipated event. Dan, avowed, "I just cannot thank my flying friends amptly for the filling-in on my part of this contest's anatomy." "They just relieved me of an enjoyable chore, when I needed them during the grieving process I am enduring"! At the outset, let me rid this report of it's "bad stuff". Tom Stennis drove from Ocean Springs, MS prepared to compete with his good looking Tigertail 4, but, alas, discovered the engine mount was broken and he departed early. Probably one of the most talked-about "crashes" occured on Friday afternoon as our host, Mr. Mac Hodges was operating the field "roller" attached to his big tractor and was going to roll the area surrounding his fish and RC boat pond, when, he misjudged the firmness of the bank and about 50% if his roller wound up in the pond. Your PIO, purposely hustled to the scene....shot a good picture of the dilemma and quizzed Mac...."who soloed you on this machine?". We had a good hearted laugh over it and he managed to eventually rescue the roller and tractor. Early on Saturday morning, Mac, in his J3 Cub (full scale) shot a couple "splash & goes", just to demonstrate, his talents really lie in piloting an airborne craft a tad better than the tractor and roller. At the beginning of Round One on Saturday morning, Larry Hill flew his EVO 10 gasoline powered ship down to the East side of the area and it became a profile in the bright morning sun, fllying itself into terra-firma and eternity. Round one claimed Bill Dodges' pretty bird when it contacted Mother Earth almost wide-open. Bill exclaimed, "it must have been the transmitter, I just don't know exactly what happened". At the pre-registration, it looked as if we'd field a good contest of Novice pilots, but, bad luck took all 3 of the pre-registered Novices out. Pete Coleman was kind-enough, at the CD's and my (PIO) urging to step up just for this contest to join fellow clubber Roy Thompson in the Sportsman class. Roy "aced" 5 of the rounds, Pete claimed 1. Thanks for making it some good competition Pete. The Advanced class was hotly contested with Ed Kirtley K'ing 3 of the 6 rounds for a total of 3978 and the "win". John Nessler, Jr. (Dad) amassed 3950 and a 2nd place finish, with two rounds K'd. Ken Blackwell took 3rd with 3940. What a great class with Charlie Johns finishing 4th. As expected, the Expert class was just a contest of "little-bitty" errors determining the scores each round. Dave Phillips, Chief Judge made sure each round in this close class was judged by Sr. experts with years of experience. Look at the scores for example of the competition.....Eric Nessler was number one with a 4-out-of-6 total of 3993. Brother John Nessler right with him at 3961 for second and Greg Hoke's total for 3rd was 3945. Some of the best flying I've seen, ever. Jerry Black only flew 4 rounds which netted him 4th place with 3886. Jamie Strong only flew 4 rounds for 5th, having to depart early to attend the funeral service of a friend back home in Prattville. Kevin Clark was 6th. Kevin flew his Sun-Ray biplane (see photo) a round on Sunday. What a joy watching this. In the "old guys" class, Senior Expert, Jeff Owens won 5 of the 6 rounds for a perfect score of 4000. Jeff's DB with the 2 stroke looked like it was on rails. Bruce Underwood got it together for one K on round 5 for a finish of 3966. Keith Watson, fllying his Mr. May DR copped 3rd with 3630. Russ Chiles, Dave Phillips and Bill Dodge finished in that order. Kevin Clark and associates at Carolina Custom Models donated the raffle prize of one of their lazer-cut Curare model kits. Excellent quality and supurbly packed. A photo of this fine kit is included on the website. The raffle ticket drawn at the conclusion of the awards was held by John Nessler III who carried it home to Ohio. In addition to the winners awards, CD Scott Sappington, presented the SPORTSMANSHIP award to Mr. Jim Johns who proved his love for this game by scoring every round and posting just a few minutes after a round was completed. Johns is just an example of the kind of sports that participate in this sport/hobby. Most deserving. As is the case, many of the wives were present and many times you'd overhear a loud laugh originating in their circle of cool-spot association. I think they were revealing some deep dark secrets of the humerous nature about their mates who were out playing with the airplanes. You ladies know, we wouldn't be able to do this sport/hobby without your' total support. We are most grateful, thanks for being the nice companions you are! Dan Dougherty, who will CD the "Hotlanta meet in July", was able to drive Mickey and Rebekah Walker down from near Atlanta for a few hours of fellowship on Saturday. As usual, we swapped a few modeling stories from "the good-ole days" while they were there. This past week-end, the 7th Annual Cass Underwood Memorial was a huge success proving there's no better friend, that I know of, than folks that fly SPA contests. Scott and helpers, you saw to it, we enjoyed a wonderful weekend doing what we enjoy at one of the premier RC flying sites in this nation. Cass would have been really proud of you for your' hospitality and "good deed". Bruce Underwood, SPA PIO |
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